Americans are about to head to the polls to vote for president on November 5, but US election day is far from the end of the electoral process.

Almost a quarter of a year passes between ballots being cast and the next president being sworn in.

These are the key dates you need to know about. Note all dates are listed in local US time, roughly half a day behind AEDT.

READ MORE: Why only 538 people out of 330 million get to decide the US election

November 6-December 11: States certify election results

After votes are cast, states have to certify them. This happens both at a local or county level, and a state-wide level.

Because electoral law differs from state to state, exactly when each jurisdiction completes certification varies across the US, but the process must be complete by December 11.

READ MORE: 50 states will vote in the US election. Only seven actually matter

December 17: The Electoral College votes

The US election isn't a direct vote for president. Rather, voters are technically voting for which Electoral College electors will represent their state.

On December 17, those electors meet in their states to officially record their votes for president and vice president.

Those vote certificates must be received by the US Senate president no later than the fourth Wednesday of December – which this year happens to fall on Christmas Day.

READ MORE: US election poll-tracker: Who will win on November 5?

January 3: Congressional representatives and senators sworn in

The congressmen and women and senators who won their elections on November 5 are sworn in.

Vote certificates also have to be transferred to Congress by this date.

January 6: Congress counts Electoral College votes

A special joint session of Congress is held to count the Electoral College votes – whichever candidate gets 270 votes or more is then declared to have been elected president, and the same goes for vice president.

January 6 is, of course, an infamous date in American history. It was during this joint session four years ago when Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop Joe Biden from being declared president.

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There will be a slight quirk this year in that Kamala Harris is both running for president and, as the current vice president, will preside over the joint sitting.

A similar occurrence happened after the 2000 election, when Al Gore declared George W. Bush had been elected president after an extraordinarily close and controversial election between the two men.

January 20: Inauguration day

The candidate who wins the most Electoral College votes is sworn in as president at midday, Washington time, taking the Oath of Office and beginning their four-year term.

The new vice president is also sworn in.

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NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb has said she is 'confident' that a dog squad officer is not to blame for the deaths of two police dogs, which were found dead in a police vehicle in Sydney's south.

Their handler made the tragic discovery when they went to check on police dog Xtra and development dog Soldier about 12.30pm yesterday, NSW Police said.

They were at a development day at a Lucas Heights facility and were "in the air-conditioned pods of their purpose-built police vehicles", police said.

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NSW Police said the animals were found dead when the handler carried out a "routine check".

The canines were taken to a specialist veterinary clinic but couldn't be revived.

Commissioner Webb said today that an investigation has been launched, but she was "confident" there was no wrongdoing by the officer.

"I am confident that there has been no human error … we are looking at a technical, engineering type problem," Webb said.

"I spoke to the officer this morning, he is devastated, he had the very difficult task of going home yesterday … and telling his family."

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Assistant Commissioner Stephen Hegarty explained that the police dog squad vehicles have a dedicated pod in the back of the car where the dogs are kept.

A specially designed engine system keeps running and pumps air-conditioning into the pod, even when the officers aren't inside the car.

Hegarty said upon the discovery of the dogs, officers realised that the engine had stopped running, which stopped the air conditioning in the pod.

"At this stage, it seems like the engine and aircon were operating correctly at 10.30am," he said.

"We have really good equipment we don't understand why that has taken place."

"It's standard for the dogs to be in the pod for that amount of time … those dogs can be in the rear of that car at nighttime for a long amount of time."  

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He also said there's an alarm system that goes off when the engine stops, and the alarm had been triggered.

"It did go off at that time, but when they got down there it was too late." 

The probe will be overseen by detectives attached to Sutherland Police Area Command and Fleet Services, which takes in the Lucas Heights area.

Webb paid tribute to the German shepherds, which she said were highly trained.

"Today is a very sad day for the dog unit and the thoughts of the whole police family are with them," she said.

"We owe it to PD Xtra and DD Soldier to conduct a thorough investigation."

The temperature in Lucas Heights peaked today at 27 degrees about 12.30pm. The RSPCA warns it can be 47 degrees in a car within an hour when it's just 22 degrees outside, but police would not comment on whether heat was a factor.

Hegarty said the loss would be felt deeply.

"Our focus is on the welfare of all staff involved with ongoing support services made available to them," he said.

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Xtra had been with the force since 2018 and was working out of the Newcastle and Central Coast region while Soldier only started with the dog unit in February this year for training and development.

He was involved in several arrests publicised by the dog unit, including finding an alleged offender hiding under a house in Mereweather and tracking a man and woman through heavy bushland in 2021.

Xtra was among a crop of five canine recruits named by chronically ill kids from The Children's Hospital at Westmead in 2017.

At the time, police said involving the community in naming was a long running tradition and the hospital said it was a "special" memory the patients would treasure".