Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are locked in an extraordinarily tight race for the White House. They are courting each and every vote – with so-called “persuadable” Americans a particular prize.
Throughout the campaign, the BBC has been speaking to undecided voters who for one reason or another hadn’t made up their minds.
We went back to them just before election day, and while most had come to a decision, others were still on the fence.
First, a voter who plans to vote for Harris or Trump but isn’t sure which one. She will decide, she says, when she walks into the ballot booth.
Felicity voted for Trump in 2020 but has yet to decide if she’ll back the former president a second time.
I have no freaking clue man. It’s so hard. When I voted for Trump, it came down to who would I trust with my kid alone and it wasn’t [President Joe] Biden.
I’m still undecided.
All of my family is voting for Kamala and my friends are voting for Trump.
I’m going to vote for one of them. I’ve got no idea which one.
I’m still super-duper undecided. I think I’m leaning toward Kamala over Trump, if I think about who I would trust alone in a room with my daughter.
I’m going to make up my mind when I go into the ballot booth.
‘It’s not the proudest vote I’ve ever cast’
graphic of Jeremy Petersen, 26, of Utah, an independent
Jeremy doesn’t like Trump but he didn’t vote Democrat either in 2016 or 2020. After the intense rhetoric of this campaign cycle, he ultimately cast his ballot for Harris.
Especially having seen what’s transpired over the course of the last two weeks, I think it’s moved from a fear of an erratic prideful person to the actions of someone that [if elected president] I truly would worry for the future of American political discourse.
In the rhetoric from that Madison Square Garden [event] – and I know they’re technically not [Trump] but his campaign chose them, they had to pre-vet the speeches – someone literally called Kamala Harris the anti-Christ.
I feel OK about voting for Kamala. It’s probably not the proudest vote I’ve ever cast, but I do feel like she’s at the very least a level-headed person who will surround herself with other level-headed people who I would trust.
‘One is a bully, the other wants to give the country away’
Graphic of Tracy Murdock, 64, of South Carolina, an independent
Tracy was impressed with Harris after her TV debate with Trump, but remained undecided. Now, she’s still not sure – so she’s not voting for either Harris or Trump.
I have definite plans of who I’m going to vote for, but I can’t tell you the candidate’s name because I don’t know the candidate’s name. I’m voting for a third party.
Hopefully that [candidate] is an adult. I’m not happy with either of our [major] presidential candidates.
I know the third-party candidate doesn’t stand a chance to get in. It’s just to send a signal to Washington that I’m not playing their game and if they want me to vote Democratic or Republican, they better put somebody in there with brains.
One of them is a bully who wants to own the country and the other one wants to give the whole thing away.
‘Immigration needs to be fixed’
Graphic of Vanessa Pierce, 33, of Wisconsin, an independent
Vanessa was impressed with Harris earlier in the campaign but is throwing her support behind Trump.
I believe that the immigration issue has not been fixed during the Biden presidency. So I am looking for a change.
Kamala is trying to run on a “change” platform, but it is difficult for her to do so when she is coming from the same administration. I haven’t heard her talk about much of a plan.
I believe Trump has surrounded himself with competent leaders such as Tulsi [Gabbard], RFK, and [JD] Vance.
I don’t hear Kamala address any of the above issues. She is not an eloquent orator – and does not seem to have much of a plan to improve our country.
Since the debate, I’ve really seen [Harris] take a more neo-con war stance.
So Liz Cheney, John Bolton, these are the people she’s going around touring with and doing campaign events with, and if you look at their geo-political history, they’re really hawkish when it comes to Iran.
And that’s just a position I cannot get behind at this point, given our problems in America.
I’m going to be putting America first, and when we’re talking about people who are actively promoting that, they’re going to be sending arms and funds to these foreign nations that don’t have our interests at heart. That’s just a core conviction of mine, that we need to reinvest those funds into America.
‘I didn’t hear enough substance’
Graphic of independent voter Jessi Mazzoni, 31, from Pennsylvania
Jessi voted for Biden in 2020 but this year, she was leaning toward a third party candidate. She’s now also going to vote for Jill Stein.
My mind would have been changed to maybe vote for Harris if I had heard more from her that was substantial.
Nothing she said, I felt, throughout the campaign really sounded like it had any substance, and there were some key issues I don’t support her position on.
I would say the same for Trump, so I’m going to stick with third party.
If enough voters in swing states decided to go third party, Democrats and Republicans would have to realise they have to choose candidates who we can support.
Chance previously wasn’t impressed with either of the candidates but he’s since made up his mind for Harris.
After Trump went after the Puerto Rican community during one of his rallies, I thought that was very inappropriate. I felt like that was something he shouldn’t have done, especially when running for election.
It will be good to see, if [Harris] does become president, how she does, and [to] have our first female president.
I hope elections in the future are less aggressive and become more of a debate instead of a fight.
‘I switched from Harris to an empty ballot’
Graphic of Mat Sokol, 32, of New York, an independent
In September, Mat told the BBC that Harris “very likely” had his vote. He’s since left his ballot for president blank.
I ended up casting an empty ballot for president. It was tough but I felt like no candidate really offered any policy that resonated with me.
It didn’t feel like any candidate offered anything that was very substantial.
I don’t think Kamala’s plans broke away from what Joe Biden has been doing so far and Trump made some claims that he would resolve the conflict without actually specifying what he would do.
A lot of times, [Trump] makes several big claims and then never follows up on them. I’m still waiting for Mexico to pay for that border wall.
BBC