The first polls have closed as Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump conclude their campaigns. Florida and Pennsylvania are in the next group of states at 8pm ET.
The economy and the state of US democracy are among the top issues cited by voters in NBC News’s exit poll, according to the preliminary results.
Thirty-five percent said democracy was their top issue while slightly fewer, 31 percent, said the economy. Abortion was the top issue for 14 percent of voters while 11 percent said immigration. Four percent said foreign policy was most important to them.
Meanwhile, Trump dismissed critics who expressed concerns that he would not concede an election loss as “crazy” as he cast his vote in Florida.
The former president told reporters as he voted with his wife Melania Trump: “If I lose an election, if it’s a fair election, I’d be the first one to acknowledge it.”
Trump later declared that his supporters are “not violent people.”
The first in-person votes were cast in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, at midnight on Monday – a tradition going back almost 65 years – with the town’s six registered voters split evenly between the two candidates.
Race calls in multiple states
The Associated Press has called Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Florida, and South Carolina for Donald Trump.
Kamala Harris has won Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
Oliver O’Connell6 November 2024 01:04
8pm ET — Polls close in 16 states and DC
It is 8pm on the East Coast and polls are now closed in the following states:
- Alabama
- Connecticut
- District of Columbia
- Delaware
- Florida*
- Illinois
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- New Hampshire*
- New Jersey
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Tennessee
*Florida and New Hampshire saw some results at 7pm ET.
Joe Sommerlad6 November 2024 01:00
How did Trump spend Election Day?
Donald Trump will barely have slept going into election day, if at all, having wrapped up his final campaign rally at 2am.
Based in Mar-a-Lago, Trump then spent the day ‘peppering aides with questions’ and hitting the phones to speak to Republican allies and officials, sources told CNN.
Michelle Del Rey reports for The Independent.
Oliver O’Connell6 November 2024 00:57
Why the threats to polling places in Georgia’s DeKalb County matter
I chose to go to DeKalb because more than half of the population is African-American. When speaking to some of the residents, particularly the elderly ones, they talked with me about the importance of casting their ballot.
“My ancestors died so I could have an opportunity to vote,” Renita Woods told me last month outside the Hairston Crossing Library in Stone Mountain. Woods used a mobility aid to get into the library to cast her ballot.
Voting has a special salience in Georgia, the home of Martin Luther King Jr and the late John Lewis, who famously led the march in Selma Alabama to enact voting rights.
Eric Garcia6 November 2024 00:54
Independents swing towards Trump in Georgia
CNN reports a big shift among independents towards Trump in Georgia, according to its exit poll.
A stunning 20-point swing toward Trump compared to 2020 puts him 11 points up among independent voters, according to the poll.
To put that into context, Biden won independents by 9 points in 2020.
Richard Hall6 November 2024 00:50
Broken tech, printer problems, staffing issues
Election Day issues are a common problem at polling places, and election officials or the courts step in to make sure those ballots are counted.
But this year, a handful of polling locations in Georgia, including several sites in Atlanta, will stay open slightly longer this evening following noncredible bomb threats.
Tech issues at precincts in Pennsylvania’s Cambria County that caused voting software to malfunction have prompted courts to order locations there to stay open until 10 pm.
Oliver O’Connell6 November 2024 00:47
Preparation underway for Harris campaign event at Howard University in Washington, DC
Oliver O’Connell6 November 2024 00:45
Republicans flip West Virginia Senate seat
Republican Governor Jim Justice of West Virginia has won his US Senate race in West Virginia, flipping a seat after the retirement of Joe Manchin.
He was up against Glen Elliott of the Democratic Party and David Moran of the Libertarian Party.
Oliver O’Connell6 November 2024 00:43
Watch: Trump tells Republican voters to stay in line
Oliver O’Connell6 November 2024 00:42
Could young voters help Harris over the line in Pennsylvania?
Long lines are being reported at universities in Philadelphia. Driving up numbers here could help Harris win this crucial swing state.
Lucas Eisen, a 25-year-old political science student at the University of Pennsylvania and political director of the University of Pennsylvania Democrats, told The Independent that enthusiasm was high.
“I think there’s a lot of enthusiasm on campus. I’m seeing ‘I voted’ stickers all over,” he said after voting for Harris at the Philadelphia campus.
“I think there have been consistent lines all day and we’re just really glad to see this kind of enthusiasm for politics and frankly for our future.”
Eisen said reproductive freedom was the most important issue for him when casting his ballots.
“From that issue flows so many issues that are deeply important to me. I’m an LGBTQ+ man and my right to marry, my right to have children, my right to sex, is all dependent on abortion rights being protected.
“And I think that the fight now is gonna be a fight that reverberates for decades to come.”
Kayla Mengden, a 19-year-old nursing student at the University of Pennsylvania, also said reproductive rights and the protection of the Affordable Care Act were the most important issues in guiding her vote for Harris.
“I think her plans are much more suited to normal people. As a nurse in the future, this election could very possibly very directly affect how I can treat my patients and how I can provide health care,” she added.
Richard Hall6 November 2024 00:40
