Election Day is here. Voters are gearing up to head to the polls to cast their ballots for either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris in one of the nation’s most historic presidential races. They'll also be determining which party will control the House and Senate.
Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
Here’s the latest:
Federal judge says Missouri can’t block federal election monitors in St. Louis
A federal judge says Missouri can’t block federal officials from observing elections in St. Louis.
At issue is a settlement agreement with the St. Louis Board aimed at ensuring people with mobility and vision impairments can access polling places. The settlement was reached in 2021 under Trump’s Justice Department after federal officials found problems, such as ramps that were too steep and inaccessible parking, according to the court papers.
But Missouri is among several states pushing back against federal election monitors. And on Monday, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft argued in a lawsuit that state law “clearly and specifically limits who may be in polling places.” He also accused the federal government of “attempting to illegally interfere in Missouri’s elections.”
U.S. District Judge Sarah Pitlyk wrote Monday night that the case boils down to two individuals at one polling place to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, as has happened at least twice before without any problems.
“Being prevented from enforcing its election laws may also be a harm to the State of Missouri, but that harm also has a counterweight in the United States’ interest in enforcing the ADA,” Pitlyk wrote.
Bernie Sanders seeks a fourth Senate term representing Vermont
Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent beloved by progressives, is seeking to win a fourth six-year term in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.
The 83-year-old senator is a self-described democratic socialist who caucuses with the Democrats and twice came close to winning the presidential nomination. More recently, he’s worked closely with the Biden administration to craft its domestic policy goals on health care, education, child care and workers’ rights.
The longest-serving independent in Congress is being challenged by Republican Gerald Malloy, a U.S. Army veteran and businessman. Also on the ballot are independent Steve Berry, as well as minor party candidates Mark Stewart Greenstein, Matt Hill and Justin Schoville.
Sanders says he’s running again because the country faces some of its toughest and most serious challenges of the modern era. He described those as threats to its democratic foundations, massive levels of income and wealth inequality, climate change, and challenges to women’s ability to control their own bodies.
“I just did not feel with my seniority and with my experience that I could walk away from Vermont, representing Vermont, at this difficult moment in American history,” he said at a recent WCAX-TV debate.
Malloy, 62, who served 22 years in the Army and was a defense contractor for 16 years, said he thought Sanders was going to retire — and thinks he should — after 34 years in Congress. Malloy said Sanders isn’t delivering results.
▶ Read more about the Vermont Senate race
Most Florida voters cast their ballot before Election Day
When polls opened at 7 a.m. local time in Florida on Tuesday, a majority of the state’s registered voters had already cast a ballot early — including voting by mail and early in-person voting, according to an analysis of state data by the University of Florida Election Lab.
Of those who waited to vote on Election Day, many were getting their civic duty out of the way early, according to elections officials.
In Orange County, home to the city of Orlando, more than 4,700 people voted in the first 20 minutes of polls being open, according to a social media post by the county elections supervisor’s office.
Attorneys general urge a ‘peaceful transfer of power’
The attorneys general from 47 states and three U.S. territories are urging people to remain peaceful and to preemptively “condemn any acts of violence related to the results.”
The statement, released Tuesday, was signed by chief prosecutors from every U.S. state except Indiana, Montana and Texas. Attorneys general from the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands and U.S. Virgin Islands also signed.
“We call upon every American to vote, participate in civil discourse and, above all, respect the integrity of the democratic process,” they wrote. “Violence has no place in the democratic process; we will exercise our authority to enforce the law against any illegal acts that threaten it.”
Fears of election violence persist nearly four years after Trump supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the election certification. Rather than condemning the violence during his campaign, Trump has celebrated the rioters, pledging to pardon them and featuring a recorded chorus of prisoners in jail for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack singing the national anthem.
Where are Trump and Harris?
Trump spent the very early hours of Election Day in Michigan, where he wrapped up a late-night rally in Grand Rapids. The Republican candidate plans to spend the day in Florida, where he is expected to vote in person — despite previously saying he would vote early. He’s scheduled to hold a campaign watch party in Palm Beach on Tuesday night.
Harris plans to attend an election night party at Howard University in Washington, a historically Black university where she graduated with a degree in economics and political science in 1986 and was an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
Aside from Howard, she has no public schedule announced for Election Day.
Harris said Sunday that she had “just filled out” her mail-in ballot and it was “on its way to California.”
▶ Read more on what to watch on Election Day
DC braces for potential election-related violence
Businesses around the White House on Tuesday morning continued to board up windows and erect temporary fencing, precautions being taken amid worries that Election Day — and the days ahead — could lead to unrest.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser says the police department is also stepping up its presence in commercial districts in all eight wards of the city. Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith at a Monday new conference also sought to assure the city’s residents that her department is prepared for whatever Election Day might bring.
“Our team has been fully engaged and vigilant,” she said. “We are the best in the country at what we do, and we will keep working around the clock to keep Washington, D.C., safe and keep our residents safe.”
How Harris and Trump wrapped up the final day before the election
Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump both spent the waning hours of their campaigns in the well-trodden swing states of Pennsylvania and Michigan, widely seen as critical to winning the White House.
Harris wrapped her day in Philadelphia, where Lady Gaga sang “God Bless America” and Oprah Winfrey appeared on stage with first-time voters. Ricky Martin, who is from Puerto Rico, was also there to draw out Puerto Rican voters turned off by a comedian who called their homeland a “floating island of garbage” at a recent Trump rally.
“Our people-powered movement reflects a simple and undeniable truth: that we are all in this together,” Harris said.
Harris didn’t arrive at the vice president’s residence, the Naval Observatory, until 1:41 a.m.
Trump, meanwhile, spent the final hours of the day in Grand Rapids, Michigan, wrapping up around 2 a.m.
He took shots at Harris for campaigning alongside celebrities.
“We don’t need a star because we have policy. We have great policy,” he said. Later, he boasted of his own stars: “So many celebrities here, it’s incredible: Mike Pompeo, please stand up,” introducing his former secretary of state.
Trump landed in Florida around 6 a.m.
North Carolina voter reveals how he voted: ‘Carefully’
In Black Mountain, North Carolina, soil conservationist JD Jorgensen, 35, did not reveal what his presidential choice was after he voted around 7 a.m.
But when asked how he voted, he said, “Carefully.”
“I tried to do it as informed as I could be,” he added. “I tried to stick to my values and just tried to pick candidates that align to those values and who I thought were going to be best for the offices they were running for.”
Jorgensen said the choice he made was “not really that tough.”
“I think that the candidates, both being in the public eye for as long as they have been, if you were on the fence you’re not really paying attention,” Jorgensen said.
Who’s winning the election right now?
Americans are anxiously awaiting the results of the election. So much so, that they’re Googling this question before most polling sites are even open.
The answer is: No one, yet.
▶ Read more on how tabulation works
US Rep. Lauren Boebert will find out whether switching races worked in Colorado
Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert will soon find out whether her political gamble, abruptly switching congressional districts in Colorado mid-election, will cost the GOP or reinforce its position in the U.S. House.
Boebert, a far-right standard-bearer whose following reaches far beyond Colorado, won by only 546 votes in 2022. Facing a rematch against the same, well-funded Democrat in 2024, and suffering a scandal where she was caught on tape vaping and causing a disturbance with a date in a Denver theater, Boebert left the race.
As an outspoken patron of presidential candidate Donald Trump, Boebert said Democrats were targeting her. Her exodus, she said, would better help Republicans retain the seat.
Boebert then joined the race for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, a more conservative area of the Great Plains, arguing that her voice is still needed in Congress.
The packed and dramatic Republican primary was the biggest hurdle. Boebert maneuvered around a major political threat, weathered accusations of carpetbagging and tended the bruise of getting booted from the Denver theater. With a near household name and an endorsement from Trump, she pulled through the Republican field.
▶ Read more about the Colorado U.S. House race
Democrat Ruben Gallego faces Republican Kari Lake in US Senate race in Arizona
Democratic Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego, an Iraq War veteran, faces well-known former television news anchor and staunch Donald Trump ally Kari Lake in Tuesday’s election for U.S. Senate in a state with a recent history of extremely close elections.
The race is one of a handful that will determine the Senate majority. It’s a test of the strength of the anti-Trump coalition that has powered the rise of Democrats in Arizona, which was reliably Republican until 2016. Arizona voters have rejected Trump and his favored candidates in every statewide election since then.
Arizona is one of seven battleground states expected to decide the presidency.
The winner of the Senate race will replace Kyrsten Sinema, whose 2018 victory as a Democrat created a formula the party has successfully replicated ever since.
Sinema left the Democratic Party two years ago after she antagonized the party’s left wing. She considered running for a second term as an independent but bowed out when it was clear she had no clear path to victory.
▶ Read more about Arizona’s Senate race
The DNC says it’s launching an Election Day persuasion campaign urging people to vote
That includes more than 100 new billboards in battleground states, including 34 in Pennsylvania and 32 in Nevada, and 300 digital kiosks targeting college campuses in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.
In Pennsylvania, voters will see the ads in more than 1,700 convenience stores.
GOP Gov. Jim Justice battles Democrat Glenn Elliott for US Senate seat from West Virginia
Voters in ruby red West Virginia will decide Tuesday whether a U.S. Senate seat will flip to Republican.
Two-term GOP Gov. Jim Justice faced Democratic former Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott for the right to succeed Sen. Joe Manchin. Manchin decided not to seek reelection and switched from Democrat to independent earlier this year. Before he changed parties, Manchin was the only Democrat holding statewide office.
Republicans haven’t held both of the state’s U.S. Senate seats since 1958.
Justice boldly declared himself the winner more than a month before the election.
The 73-year-old Justice hoped to continue taking advantage of former President Donald Trump’s popularity in West Virginia. Trump won the presidential race in the state by 42 percentage points in 2016 and 39 points in 2020. Justice was elected governor as a Democrat in 2016, then switched to the GOP seven months after entering office, taking the stage at an event with Trump to make the announcement.
▶ Read more about West Virginia’s Senate race
A tiny village in India where Kamala Harris has ancestral roots is praying for her victory
THULASENDRAPURAM, India — The temple reverberated with rhythmic Sanskrit and Tamil hymns, as a Hindu priest held a flame before the god. As this tiny South Indian village gathered to pray for Kamala Harris, a gaggle of reporters jostled for space and camera angles.
There’s little to distinguish the village of Thulasendrapuram from any other rural community in Tamil Nadu, except its connection to a woman who could become America’s first leader with South Asian roots.
As millions of Americans vote, Harris has people rooting for her from thousands of miles away in a village surrounded by rice paddies and coconut trees, where her mother’s family has ancestral ties. They talk about her at the local tea shop. Banners and billboards bearing her face are seen throughout the community.
▶ Read more about the village that reveres Harris and her family
Rematch pits Republican US Rep. Don Bacon against Democrat Tony Vargas in Nebraska’s 2nd District
Nebraska voters will elect representatives for the state’s three U.S. House seats Tuesday, and those in the state’s Omaha-centric 2nd District will not only decide one of the country’s most competitive House races, they could also affect the outcome of the presidential race.
In a rematch of the 2022 race, Republican incumbent Don Bacon faces a strong challenge from Democratic state Sen. Tony Vargas. Recent polls show a tight race in the state’s most demographically and politically diverse district. Both candidates sought to depict themselves as pragmatic problem-solvers who eschew their parties’ partisan fringes.
Races in the district have been very close in recent years. In 2022, Bacon defeated Vargas with 51% of the vote.
The district also has a recent history of backing Democratic presidential candidates in an otherwise solidly Republican state that allows three of its five Electoral College votes to go to the winners in each congressional district, with the other two going to the state’s overall winner. Nebraska’s 2nd District has twice awarded its one vote to Democratic presidential candidates — to Barack Obama in 2008 and to Joe Biden in 2020.
▶ Read more about Nebraska’s House race
Trump returns home
Donald Trump has landed back in Florida after finishing his last rally after 2 a.m.
Dixville Notch splits presidential vote 3-3 in first Election Day vote
In a presidential election that appears to be incredibly close, it was fitting that the first votes cast on Election Day were evenly split, with three for Donald Trump and three for Kamala Harris.
The tiny New Hampshire resort town of Dixville Notch has a tradition dating back to 1960 of being the first in the nation to complete in-person voting. The town’s six voters began casting their ballots on the stroke of midnight Tuesday and the vote count was complete 15 minutes later.
In an election where tensions have run high, the setting in Dixville Notch couldn’t have been more congenial. Voting took place in the living room of the Tillotson House, with cookies and coffee and a couple of very friendly dogs.
