KAY BURLEY IN Las Vegas, BBC reporters at Melt Bar & Restaurant in Ohio or Richard Downes from Washington – political junkies will have ample choice later tonight as they pull a overnighter to find out who will be President of the United States of America come January 2013.

• Read Hugh O’Connell’s handy guide to watching the election coverage tonight

Coverage will kick off on RTÉ One at 9.35pm with Miriam O’Callaghan in Dublin co-presenting Prime Time with Richard Crowley, who will be in Washington.

There will be a couple of hours break before Bryan Dobson returns for the US Presidential Election Special at midnight. He will be bringing us live results until 3am with the help of Robert Shortt in Washington.

Following the curtain closing on that programme, there will be a live feed of CBS News until 7am.

Shortt will be back at 8am, this time with Una O’Hagan in Dublin.

Across in Ballymount, TV3 will begin their live coverage on Tonight with Vincent Brown just after 11pm. There will be panel discussions and analysis before handing over to rolling coverage of the results as they come to hand from CNN.

From 7am on Wednesday morning, IrelandAM will continue the coverage with live reports, analysis and declarations as they are made via CNN.

From 11.35pm to 6am, David Dimbleby will present the BBC’s US Election 2012 programme live from DC. The panel of experts will include Katty Kay and Jeremy Vine. There will also be live broadcasts from reporters in the key states of Ohio, Virginia and Florida, as well as reaction from Obama’s HQ in Chicago and Romney’s campaign team in Boston.

Sky News has already kicked off with Kay Burley reporting live from Las Vegas. Jeremy Thompson will take over the mantle, hosting the night time and early morning coverage from the Trump Tower in Chicago until 6am. Dominic Waghorn will be keeping the Obama team company, while Greg Milam will be reporting from the Romney camp. There will also be correspondents in each of the swing states.

And, of course, if you’d like some company while watching the coverage – or if you would prefer to get your updates on your smartphone/tablet/laptop while cosied up under your duvet - TheJournal.ie will be live-blogging all the action through the night.

Here’s what you need to know if you’re watching the US election tonight

9 things to do while Americans cast their votes

USA 2012: Irish thoughts on an American election

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