Watch our Never Mind the Ballots US election special with Andrew Neil as Trump and Harris make final push [Video]

BY Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter

The Democratic and Republican parties nominate their candidates with a series of votes – called state primaries and caucuses – in the run up to the election in November, held every four years.

This gives members the opportunity to choose who they want to lead the party into an election – this year, Donald Trump and following Biden’s resignation, Kamala Harris.

There are also some independent candidates running for president – arguably the most well-known was Robert F Kennedy Jr who pulled out in August and endorsed Trump.

In US elections the winner is not the candidate who gets the most votes across the country.

Instead Trump and Harris will compete to win smaller contests held in each of the 50 states.

Many of the states often vote the same way – but seven of them – Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona – tend to go …