- Election Day in the United States is officially under way. The spotlight is on the race for the White House between President Donald Trump, who is seeking a second term, and his rival, veteran Democrat Joe Biden.
- Trump held five rallies in four states – North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin – on the final day of campaigning on Monday. Biden spent most of Monday in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
- Trump and his team have continually pushed baseless claims that votes counted after Election Day are evidence of malfeasance.
- Early voting surged to levels never before seen in US elections – 98.7 million early votes have been cast either in person or by mail.
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the US elections. This is Jihan Abdalla taking over from Shereena Qazi.
Have questions about how US elections work?
Why is Election Day today? What is the Electoral College? Which states should we be watching? to find the answers to those questions and a few more read here.
Election Day march planned in North Carolina
North Carolina residents were outraged after police pepper-sprayed a group, which included children, taking part in a march to the polls on Saturday – at least eight people were arrested.
Video of the incident went viral.
Now, the organizer of that group says voters will march again in the city of Graham on Election Day. “We are cast down, but not defeated,” Reverend Greg Drumwright tweeted.
Graham Police defended their actions, saying Drumwritght did not get permission to block roadways, and marchers were told to disperse multiple times. The ACLU-NC sued.
What time are election results?
The earliest we could know whether a presidential candidate is projected to have won the 270 electoral votes needed for victory, is likely to be 23:00 EST (04:00 GMT). That is when polls close in California, which has the most electoral votes of any state – 55 – and that could put a candidate over the 270 threshold.
Read more here.
Trump says big rally crowds are ‘ultimate poll’
Trump said he believes his large rally crowds during his fast-paced weeks of campaigning are the “ultimate poll” and translate into a lot of votes for his reelection.
Trump told Fox News Channel’s “Fox Friends” he will spend Election Day making phone calls to people who have been loyal to him and will go to his campaign headquarters in suburban Virginia to thank the staff.
Trump said he would declare himself the winner of the election “Only when there’s victory.”
There has been concern that Trump will declare victory early – before vote counts are definitive. But the Republican president told Fox there is no reason to “play games” and that he has a “very solid chance at winning.”
Trump also says he understands why businesses are boarding up their storefronts but thinks it is very sad they feel the need to do it. He predicts that if there is violence and unrest, it will be in Democratically run cities.
Biden visits his son’s grave
Joe Biden and his wife Jill, with two granddaughters, Finnegan and Natalie in tow, went to St. Joseph’s church in Wilmington, Delaware, early on Election Day.
Biden then went across the street to a cemetery where his late son Beau, his first wife, and his daughter are buried.
Beau died of brain cancer in 2015. Biden’s late wife, Neilia, and infant daughter, Naomi, died in a car crash in 1972, shortly after Biden was elected senator.
Next, Biden is scheduled to head to Scranton, Pennsylvania as he makes a final push to get out the vote.
Trump: ‘We’re seeing trends’
Trump, spoke Fox News Channel’s “Fox Friends” on election morning.
“We did not think we were going to take these big rallies back and we got them back. And they were amazing I mean they were amazing and we got it all together,” he with a raspy voice.
“We think we’re winning Texas very big,” he added. “We think we’re winning Florida very big. We think we’re winning Arizona very big. I think we’re going to do very well in North Carolina, I think we’re going to do very well in Pennsylvania. We think we’re doing very well everywhere, and it’s more than talking you know we’re seeing trends.”
Processing of early votes already under way in North Carolina
Unlike many other states, North Carolina has already started processing its early and absentee votes. More than 4.5 million – about 61 percent of eligible voters – took advantage of absentee ballots or early voting.
Reporting of those results are expected to start after polls close at 7:30pm (00:00 GMT).
Read more about what to expect in North Carolina here.
Polls open in battleground North Carolina
Analysts say the road to the White House must run through North Carolina for Trump, but does not necessarily need to for Biden.
The state is “more important for Trump than for Biden because a number of the other swing states, particularly the northern states in the Rust Belt, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, are traditionally several points more Democratic in their voting behaviour than North Carolina,” Eric Heberlig, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina Charlotte, told Al Jazeera.
The latest polls showed Biden with a slim lead in the state heading into Election Day.
US Election Day begins as polls open
Polling stations opened in New York, New Jersey and Virginia, marking the start of US Election Day as Trump seeks to beat forecasts and defeat challenger Biden.
The vote is widely seen as a referendum on Trump and his divisive presidency that Biden urged Americans to end to restore “our democracy”.
Read more here
Iran’s supreme leader, quoting Trump, mocks US election
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reiterated a long-standing Iranian position that it didn’t matter whether Trump or Joe Biden wins the vote, but the stakes couldn’t be higher for the Islamic Republic.
Another four years could see Trump’s maximum-pressure campaigns further expand as it crushes the Iranian economy and stops Tehran from openly selling its crude oil abroad.
Biden meanwhile has said he would consider re-entering Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, providing possible relief to the beleaguered Iranian rial.
Prayers held for Harris in ancestral Indian village
Residents living in and around Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, gathered at a temple for special prayers ahead of the elections.
One local politician conducted an “Abhishekam,” a practice that involves pouring milk over a Hindu idol amid recitation of religious verses, in the presence of about 20 villagers.
Harris was born to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father who both immigrated to the US to study.
Puerto Rico cannot vote but could be important in US election
Islanders cannot vote, but both parties have sought to win Puerto Ricans on the mainland.
Read more here
Everything you need to know about US elections – in infographics
The key contests, Electoral College and battleground states explained here ahead of the vote in the US.
US business leaders urge calm, brace for mayhem around election
US business leaders are calling for calm even as they brace for potential trouble on the streets and inside their companies in case of a disputed result.
The fears were highlighted in many US cities where retail stores were being boarded up, as some key executives expressed concerns about public reaction.
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg last week warned of the potential for civil unrest as votes are tallied in a US election that will be “a test” for the social network.
Khamenei says Iran’s US policy not affected by who wins election
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the US election’s result will not impact Tehran’s policy towards Washington.
“Our policy towards the United States is clearly set and does not change with the movement of individuals. It does not matter to us who comes and goes,” Khamenei said in a speech carried live on state TV.
Texas drive-through voting upheld as judge blocks Republican bid to reject ballots
A federal judge in Texas denied a bid by Republicans to throw out about 127,000 votes already cast in the election at drive-through voting sites in Houston, a Democratic-leaning area.
The plaintiffs had accused Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins, a Democrat, of acting illegally when he allowed drive-through voting as an alternative during the coronavirus pandemic.
In a written order, US District Judge Andrew Hanen said the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the case and waited too long to sue.
“To disenfranchise over 120,000 voters who voted as instructed the day before the scheduled election does not serve the public interest,” the judge wrote, adding that drive-through early voting was permissible under Texas law.
Trump predicts ‘another beautiful victory’ in final campaign stop
Trump predicted a “beautiful victory” in his final reelection campaign stop hours before polls open across the US.
“We’re going to have another beautiful victory tomorrow,” he told a crowd in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the same place where he held the climactic rally of his 2016 campaign, when he upset the polls to beat Hillary Clinton.
“We’re going to make history once again,” he said.
Polls open in US as Biden seeks to unseat Trump
Election Day in the United States is officially under way, as two small towns in the north-eastern state of New Hampshire kicked off the vote with their traditional midnight opening of polling stations.
Some major cities on the east coast will see polling stations open at 6am (11:00-12:00 GMT) and then polls will continue to open across six time zones.The final polls will close in Alaska, in the far west, when it’s already morning in the east.
New Hampshire hamlet casts first US Election Day votes
Voters in Dixville Notch, a village of 12 residents in New Hampshire, kicked off Election Day at the stroke of midnight by voting unanimously for Biden within minutes: five votes for Biden and none for Trump.
The tiny northeastern town in the middle of the forest has traditionally voted “first in the nation” since 1960.
Neighbouring Millsfield also began voting at midnight but a third village in the area, which typically follows the same tradition, cancelled overnight voting due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden and Trump gird for possible court battle
Trump and Biden made a last-ditch push for votes as their campaigns prepared for post-election disputes that could prolong a divisive presidential election.
Trump – trailing in national opinion polls – has continued his unfounded attacks on mail-in ballots, telling reporters that Pennsylvania’s plans to count mail ballots that arrive up to three days after Election Day would lead to widespread cheating, although he did not explain how.
He urged the US Supreme Court to reconsider its decision that left the extension in place. The court has left that possibility open.
