As the sun began to set on the East Coast Tuesday in the closing hours of a historic and extraordinary election, voters across the country were preparing for what could be a long night of ballot counting, in a race that appeared to be a toss-up all the way to the end.
In Pennsylvania, a critical brick in the "Blue Wall" that Vice President Kamala Harris needs to hold together, Election Day turnout was high in Democratic strongholds like Philadelphia and the college towns that dot the Keystone State. Videos circulating on social media showed long lines at polling places in Lehigh County, while one election worker in South Philly told the Inquirer he was seeing the highest turnout in 30 years of working the polls.
In Cambria County outside Pittsburgh, there were reports of malfunctions with voting machines that the county solicitor confirmed was the result of a software glitch. Polls in the county will stay open two hours later to account for the issue.
No widespread voting problems had been reported by the late afternoon, and the complications in Cambria did not appear reflective of bigger problems elsewhere.
Across the country in another battleground, the secretary of state of Arizona, Adrian Fontes, told reporters that "as far as I know right now, everything in the state of Arizona is running as smoothly as it could be."
The FBI, meanwhile, said a series of bomb threats to polling locations in several battleground states were hoaxes that appeared to originate in Russia. In the nation's capital, where businesses boarded up in preparation of possible protests, a man who "smelled like gasoline" was arrested after entering the Capitol complex carrying a flare gun and torch. The Capitol Police later said the incident did not appear to have anything to do with the election.
And so it goes in a country riven by polarization, where the violence at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was still top of mind. Voters were tasked with delivering a historic night regardless of outcome: either reelect former President Donald Trump, a convicted felon who has vowed "retribution" against his political enemies but who remains the favored candidate to deal with some of the most vexing issues facing the nation, or send the sitting vice president, who did not begin her campaign until late July when her boss bowed out, as the first woman to occupy the Oval Office.
Some 84 million people already cast their votes before Election Day, with the outcome set to come down to seven swing states: the "Blue Wall" of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin as well as the Sunbelt states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.
Going into Tuesday, the major polling averages all suggested the race was as close to a 50-50 split as any in modern history. That, however, does not automatically mean the race will be close. Trump famously benefited from polling errors that underestimated his support the last two times he was on the ballot. But Democratic candidates overperformed in the 2022 midterms, largely thanks to women voters furious over the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
While Trump gained strength in the polls around mid-October, Harris appeared to gather late momentum going into Election Day. A well-respected poll of Iowa voters showed on Saturday Harris leading Trump by 3 points in the state that Trump won last time by 8 points. Another highly touted poll from Marist College showed Harris with 51 percent support to Trump's 47 percent.
Early exit polls also gave conflicting signs. NBC News found that the state of democracy was the top issue for voters, with 35 percent of voters choosing that, to 31 percent who chose the economy — potentially a bright spot for Harris. Though a CNN exit poll found nearly three-quarters of voters saying they were unhappy with the state of the country — an ominous sign for any incumbent party.
CNN's Chris Wallace said Harris would need a "miracle" to overcome those headwinds.
Republicans had other reasons to feel confident, too. Early voting numbers in Nevada, where about half of eligible voters cast their ballots early, appeared to favor the GOP. After the final day of early voting, registered Republicans had a lead of nearly 50,000 votes over registered Democrats in the battleground, according to state data released Friday.
Karl Rove, the Republican strategist, suggested on Fox News Tuesday that Virginia, New Hampshire and New Mexico were in play for Trump, too. Should he carry any of those previously safe Democratic states, it would suggest a return of the polling error that has favored the former president for the last two cycles—and an early night for the country.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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