Updated November 05, 2024 at 20:45 PM ET
This story originally appeared as part of NPR's live coverage of the 2024 election. For more election coverage from the NPR Network head to our live updates page.
As Americans cast their ballots in this historic election, some votes — as usual — matter more than others.
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This election, there are seven states widely seen as competitive: the "Blue Wall" states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and the Sun Belt states of Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia.
The U.S. doesn't elect presidents by popular vote, but rather through the unique electoral college. In the vast majority of states, that means the winner of a state gets all that state's electors, regardless of the margin of their win.
In practice, that means that voters in these swing states — states where the race between the candidates is very close, and could be swayed one way or another — have disproportional impact on the national results.
The list of swing states is far from static: It changes as voting patterns shift. Florida, for instance, was a key swing state for many years, but has trended increasingly Republican and has lost that status. The same is true for Ohio. Meanwhile Georgia was once reliably red, but is now in play for Democrats.
Read more about the 7 most-watched swing states this year:
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