𝕀𝕥'𝕤 𝕌𝕊 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝔻𝕒𝕪 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝔸𝕞𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕒 𝕗𝕒𝕔𝕖𝕤 𝕒 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕜 𝕔𝕙𝕠𝕚𝕔𝕖

𝔸 𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕒𝕝 𝕔𝕒𝕞𝕡𝕒𝕚𝕘𝕟 𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕜𝕖𝕕 𝕓𝕪 𝕦𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕧𝕒𝕝 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕒𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕤 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕌𝕊 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝔻𝕒𝕪 𝕒𝕤 𝔸𝕞𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕤 𝕕𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕕𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕕 𝔻𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕕 𝕋𝕣𝕦𝕞𝕡 𝕓𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕥𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕎𝕙𝕚𝕥𝕖 ℍ𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕖 𝕠𝕣 𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕧𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝕂𝕒𝕞𝕒𝕝𝕒 ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕆𝕧𝕒𝕝 𝕆𝕗𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕖.

V

oters faced a stark choice between two candidates who have offered drastically different temperaments and visions for the world's largest economy and dominant military power. Tens of millions of Americans cast early ballots — voting by mail or in person prior to today.

Those voting on Election Day mostly encountered a smooth process around the country, with isolated reports of some hiccups that regularly happen, including long lines, technical issues and ballot printing errors.

Harris, the Democratic vice president, stands to be the first female president if elected. She has promised to work across the aisle to tackle economic worries and other issues without radically departing from the course set by President Joe Biden.

.

.

Trump, the Republican former president, has vowed to replace thousands of federal workers with loyalists, impose sweeping tariffs on allies and foes alike, and stage the largest deportation operation in US history.

Today’s news chat: If you could vote in the US election who would you vote for? pic.twitter.com/SnxbHzfNs8

— NZ MAGA Mike #MAGAMEMEmarathon (@NZMAGAMike) November 5, 2024

The two candidates spent the waning hours of the campaign overlapping in Pennsylvania, the biggest battleground state. They were trying to energise their bases as well as Americans still on the fence or debating whether to vote at all.

Donald Trump has previously said how he feels about the poorly educated. file: 𝕵𝖔𝖍𝖓𝖓𝖞 ᴴᴰ

In Scranton, Pennsylvania, Liza Fortt arrived at her polling location in a wheelchair and not feeling well. But she ventured out anyway to vote for Harris.

"It means a lot to me and my grandkids, my granddaughters, my nieces... I was just waiting for this day to come," said Fortt, who is 74 and Black. She said she never thought she'd have such an opportunity, to cast a ballot for a Black woman in a presidential race.

"I'm proud, to see a woman, not only a woman, but a Black woman," Fortt said.

Harris and Trump entered Election Day focused on seven battleground states, five of them carried by Trump in 2016 before flipping to Biden in 2020: the "blue wall" of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin as well as Arizona and Georgia. Nevada and North Carolina, which Democrats and Republicans respectively carried in the last two elections, also were closely contested.

Tommy Ray Brewer, a 72-year-old auto mechanic, voted for Trump in Black Mountain, North Carolina, which was hard-hit by Hurricane Helene.

"People are really divided right now. They're mad, they're angry because of the situation that the United States is in," Brewer said. "I have heard people say we're in the best shape we've ever been in. But I say, 'Have you been to the grocery store, have you been to the gas station?'"

The closeness of the race and the number of states in play raised the likelihood that once again a victor might not be known on election night. There was one early harbinger from the New Hampshire hamlet of Dixville Notch, which by tradition votes after midnight on Election Day. Dixville Notch split between Trump and Harris, with three votes for each.

In the 2020 presidential race, it took four days to declare a winner.

Regardless, Trump has baselessly claimed that, if he lost, it would be due to fraud. Harris' campaign was preparing for him to try to declare victory before a winner is known or to try to contest the result if she wins. Four years ago, Trump launched an effort to overturn the voters' will that ended in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.

Trump planned to vote in his adopted home state of Florida, then spend the day at his Mar-a-Lago estate in advance of a party at a nearby convention centre. Harris already voted by mail in her home state of California. She'll have a watch party at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington.

.

.

Each candidate would take the country into new terrain

Harris, 60, would be the first woman, Black woman and person of South Asian descent to serve as president.

She also would be the first sitting vice president to win the White House in 32 years.

A victory would cap a whirlwind campaign unlike any other in American history. Harris ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket less than four months ago after Biden, facing massive pressure from his party after a disastrous debate performance, ended his reelection bid.

Trump, 78, would be the oldest president ever elected. He would also be the first defeated president in 132 years to win another term in the White House — and the first person convicted of a felony to take over the Oval Office.

Having left Washington abandoned by some allies after January 6, Trump defeated younger rivals in the Republican primary and consolidated the support of longtime allies and harsh critics within his party. He survived one assassination attempt by millimetres at a July rally. Secret Service agents foiled a second attempt in September.

A victory for Trump would affirm that enough voters put aside warnings from many of Trump's former aides or instead prioritised concerns about Biden and Harris' stewardship of the economy or the US-Mexico border.

It would all but ensure he avoids going to prison after being found guilty of his role in hiding hush-money payments to an adult film actress during his first run for president in 2016. His sentencing in that case could occur later this month.

And upon taking office, Trump could end the federal investigation into his effort to overturn the 2020 election results.

.