The US general election on November 5 will determine the course of the country, but it is far from a nationally run contest. The 50 states and the District of Columbia hold their own elections, and each does things a little differently.

Here’s a look at some notable changes in the 2024 elections:

Maine and Nebraska distribute electoral votes by congressional districts

To win the presidency outright, a candidate must receive at least 270 of the 538 votes in the Electoral College. In 48 states, the statewide winner receives all of that state’s electoral votes, and that’s true in the nation’s capital, too.

In Maine and Nebraska, the candidate who receives the most votes in each congressional district wins one electoral delegate vote from that district. The candidate who wins the statewide vote gets two more votes.

In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden received three of Maine’s four electoral votes as he won the popular vote in the state and the 1st Congressional District. Republican Donald Trump received one electoral vote from the 2nd Congressional District. Trump won four of Nebraska’s five votes, winning the popular vote in the state and the 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts; Biden gained one electoral vote by winning the 2nd Congressional District.

Alaska and Maine use ranked-choice voting

In ranked-choice voting, voters rank candidates for an office in order of preference on the ballot. If no candidate is the first choice of more than 50% of voters, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Voters who choose this candidate as their top choice have their votes redistributed based on their next choice. This continues with the elimination of the candidate with the fewest votes until someone with the majority of votes emerges.

Maine uses ranked-choice voting for federal offices in state-level primaries and general elections. This means Maine voters can rank presidential, Senate and House candidates on ballots that include leading Democrats and Republicans from their party primaries, as well as qualifying third-party and independent candidates.

In addition to Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, there will be three other candidates in the presidential ballot. In the six years since ranked-choice voting was implemented, the state has used it twice in Congressional races in the 2nd Congressional District. The 2020 presidential race did not advance to ranked choice voting, with the winners of the state and each congressional district exceeding 52% of the vote.

Alaska holds open primaries for statewide offices and sends the top four vote-getters, regardless of party, to the general election; here the winner is determined using ranked voting. In all legislative and statewide executive offices, Alaskans can list up to four names, which may include more than one candidate from the same party.

The exception is presidential, which is the first time Alaska has ranked-choice voting. There will be eight presidential tickets on the ballot this year, and Alaskans will be able to rank all the candidates if they wish. The last time the winner of the presidential race in Alaska failed to surpass 50% of the vote was 1992, when third-party candidate Ross Perot won almost 20% of the national popular vote.

But in 2022, both Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski won their elections after both went to ranked-choice voting.

Another wrinkle this year? In Alaska, where ranked-choice voting was implemented via ballot measure in 2020, there is a voter initiative to repeal it on the ballot this fall.

Candidates from the same party may face each other in California and Washington

California and Washington hold open primaries, in which all candidates run on the same ballot and the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the general election. There are two House races in Washington this year that feature candidates from the same party; one with two Republicans and the other with two Democrats. California has four: three comprised solely of Democrats and one comprised solely of Republicans.

The winning party in these six districts will be reflected in The Associated Press’ online chart showing the balance of power in the House of Representatives at the close of the poll, rather than the winner being declared once as the winner’s party is a foregone conclusion.

‘Primary elections’ are being held in Louisiana on November 5

Louisiana is holding what it calls “open primaries” on the same day the rest of the country holds its general elections. In Louisiana, all candidates are running on the same open primary ballot. The candidate who receives more than 50 percent of the votes in the primary election wins the seat directly.

If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the two candidates with the most votes advance to a head-to-head runoff that could result in two Republicans or two Democrats facing each other. Louisiana refers to these contests as “general elections.”

This will change in the US House of Representatives elections starting in 2026; congressional races will have earlier primaries open only to registered members of the party. Some state races will continue to hold open primaries in November, but this change will prevent future members of Congress from having to wait until December (a month later than the rest of the country) to find out whether they’ll be heading to Washington.

Nebraska has two abortion-related measures, but only one can become law

In Nebraska, any measure that receives approximately 123,000 valid signatures qualifies for the ballot. This year, two abortion-related measures crossed that threshold.

To protect the health of the pregnant woman, the Nebraska Constitution would include the right to have an abortion until or after the fetus is viable. The other will write the current 12-week ban into the constitution, except for rape, incest and saving the life of a pregnant woman.

This is similar to Roe v., where a state had measures aimed at both rolling back abortion rights and preserving abortion rights on the ballot at the same time. It’s the first time since the 2022 Supreme Court decision that overturned the Wade case.

It’s possible that voters will approve both measures. But since they are competing and therefore both cannot be included in the constitution, the measure with the most “in favour” votes will pass, according to the Nebraska secretary of state.

If a candidate does not win a majority of votes in Georgia, there will be a runoff election

In the primaries, a handful of states, mostly in the South, advance to runoffs if no candidate receives at least 50 percent of the vote. Runoff elections are common in these states in races with more than two candidates. Primary runoff elections were held in many states this year.

Georgia uses the same rules in general elections. The last three Senate races here have gone to runoffs because a third-party candidate won enough votes to prevent a Republican or Democratic candidate from exceeding 50% of the vote.

But runoff possibilities this year may be limited to down-ballot races like the state House. There are no Senate races there this year, and there are only two candidates on the ballot in U.S. House races.

Texas, Florida and Michigan report large numbers of votes before final polls close

This is common in states that span multiple time zones. In most states, polls close at the same time in every time zone.

The AP will not choose the winner of a race before all polls in a jurisdiction are scheduled to close, even if votes reported before that time clearly indicate who will win the race. So, if there is a statewide race in a state where the polls close at 8pm local time but part of the state is in the Eastern time zone and some counties are in the Central time zone, the earliest the AP can declare the winner is 8pm CST/9pm. EST.

AP will continue to show results from counties where polls are closed.

Some of the largest states with split poll closing times include Florida, Michigan, Texas and Oregon. Tennessee is an exception; Although the state is in both the Eastern and Central time zones, all counties coordinate to conclude their votes at the same time.