All eyes on Florida in Trump-Biden battle
The big Election day is here.
Americans head to vote on Tuesday to conclude one of the most divisive and bitter presidential elections in decades, pitting incumbent Republican Donald Trump against his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
Here is the live coverage of events that unfolds as the election day rolls:
Racial Tensions Flare at North Carolina Confederate Monument
Hundreds of marchers in Graham, North Carolina, walked the mile from Wayman Chapel AME Church to the Alamance County Courthouse on Tuesday evening to encourage voting and call for racial justice just days after many were pepper sprayed at the same place, Bloomberg reported.
The Reverend Greg Drumwright of nearby Greensboro shepherded the demonstrators through the streets, carefully obeying crosswalks, avoiding blocking traffic and in relative silence. At the courthouse, under a monument to the Confederate dead, they sang the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.”
“I do believe that change is coming and I do believe that monument is coming down,” Drumwright said in an interview.
The marchers were met by a few dozen pro-Trump demonstrators, some with Confederate flags.
“Change ain’t coming. Go back to Durham,” at least one counter-protester shouted, referring to a city 30 miles to the east that has the area’s most significant Black population.
Sheriff’s deputies oversaw the scene. On Saturday, the last day to vote early or register to vote in North Carolina, deputies used a chemical agent to move people attending Drumwright’s event from the street where some had paused. Participants said they were sprayed directly, while police said a “mild chemical irritant” was sprayed at their feet of participants to avoid the use of force.
The state branch of the American Civil Liberties Union called Saturday’s incident voter intimidation.
Trump projected to win South Carolina
Donald Trump is projected to win his 10th state of the night - South Carolina. It's another southern Republican stronghold. It's voted for the Grand Old Party in every race in the last 40 years, BBC reported.
Here's our North America reporter Anthony Zurcher's analysis on this projection:
For a few moments in the final months of this campaign, Democrats entertained thoughts that South Carolina might be within reach for Joe Biden. It’s seen some of the demographic changes that have made Georgia and North Carolina more fertile ground for the party.
It turns out that was not the case. It appears safe to say this will not be a landslide election for Joe Biden, and South Carolina will remain firmly Republican for another four years.
Nevada Judge Extends Las Vegas Voting
A Nevada judge ruled in favor of President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Nevada Republican Party, which sued to extend voting hours in parts of Clark County. The county includes Las Vegas and is the state’s most populous region, Bloomberg reported.
The ruling in Clark County District County will allow polls to stay open an extra hour, until 11 p.m. EST, on account of technical difficulties Tuesday morning that delayed the openings of several polling locations.
The decision came as in-person turnout was falling short of expectations set by early voting in the state, likely to the detriment of Republicans.
Judge orders Postal Service to sweep for unsent ballots, get them out for delivery
A federal judge ordered the US Postal Service to send inspectors to sweep facilities in a number of swing states for any remaining ballots and send them out for delivery — a ruling that comes ahead of some states' end-of-Tuesday deadlines to receive mail-in ballots, Politico reported.
In an order issued Tuesday in Washington, DC, District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said the Postal Service must sweep its facilities in Central Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Detroit, Colorado/Wyoming, Atlanta, Houston, Alabama, Northern New England, Greater South Carolina, South Florida, Lakeland, and Arizona.
With many Americans turning to mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic, controversy has swirled around the Trump administration's handling of these ballots. The Trump-appointed postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, initially ordered cost-cutting measures that could have slowed down delivery (he later agreed to drop these). The mail-in voting process has also been the subject of multiple lawsuits around the country. Some states require ballots to be received by Election Day in order to be counted, while others say ballots must only be post marked by the deadline.
“Defendants shall send Postal Service inspectors or their designees, to processing facilities in the following Districts and direct them to sweep the facilities between 12:30 PM EST and 3:00 PM EST to ensure that no ballots have been held up and that any identified ballots are immediately sent out for delivery,” Sullivan wrote.
Polling closes in four states
Polls are closing in a few minutes in Iowa (6 electoral votes), Montana (3); Nevada (6) and Utah (6), BBC reported.
Not a lot of electoral college votes are on the table in these states, but either candidate will need all they can get to reach the necessary 270.
Exit polls show Biden leads among women, non-white voters
Alright, let's zoom out of the state-level happenings now and take a look at the national picture.
(Again, with the caveat that exit polls are still taking place, so these numbers will keep fluctuating throughout the night as more results come in.)
So far, Biden's been doing far better with women than Trump, though the Democrat's lead is slim when it comes to male voters, BBC reported.
Biden has a lead among all non-white voters, and his biggest margin is with black Americans - Trump's only won 11% of African American voters to Biden's 87%.
First polls close in Indiana and Kentucky
The US has closed it's first two polls in Indiana and Kentucky, around a few minutes after 5 am in Bangladeshi standard time.
Although, some polling stations will still remain open for another hour, depending on which time zones they are falling in, reports The Guardian.
Another crucial battleground Florida, is also on it's way to close their polls very shortly.
Economy top concern for US voters: exit poll
A third of US voters listed the economy as the issue that mattered the most to them when deciding their choice for president, according to an Edison Research exit poll on Tuesday.
Two out of 10 voters said Covid-19, which has infected more than 9.4 million people in the United States this year and killed more than 230,000, was the most important issue to them.
Racial inequality was also cited by two out of 10 voters, while other respondents cited crime and safety and healthcare policy.
Half the voters said it was more important to contain the coronavirus even if it hurts the economy, according to the exit poll.
Edison, which compiles exit polls and live election results for the National Election Pool media consortium, found that four in 10 think that the country’s efforts to contain the coronavirus are going “very badly.”
Long queues in some areas as voters cast ballots
With the country on course for the highest voter turnout in over a century, some parts of the country have seen long queues on election day.
Footage from Calvert County, Maryland and Oklahoma City show people joining long lines to cast their ballots, although some of this may be down to increased safety measures introduced due to the coronavirus pandemic, reports BBC.
Twitter suspends several right-leaning news accounts posting about US elections for violations
Twitter Inc on Tuesday suspended several recently created right-leaning news accounts posting information about voting in the hotly contested US election for violating its policies.
Twitter said the accounts had been suspended for violating its policy against “coordination,” posting identical content while appearing independent or engaging in other covertly automated behavior.
One of those suspended, SVNewsAlerts, had 69,000 followers as of last week.
The account frequently warned of election-related unrest and highlighted issues with voting safety and reliability. It pointed to fraud claims about Democrats and called attention to Republican President Donald Trump’s rallies and speeches.
Other accounts suspended by Twitter included FJNewsReporter, Crisis_Intel and Faytuks.
A Facebook Inc page also snamed SVNewsAlerts, which remains active, has more than 20,000 followers. Facebook declined to comment.
'Winning is easy, losing is never easy': Trump
Donald Trump stopped by a Republican campaign office earlier today, where he thanked staff for their election efforts before quipping they needed to "get immediately back to work", reports BBC.
He also weighed in on whether he had prepared concession or acceptance speeches.
North Carolina results to be delayed after some voting extended
Results in North Carolina are set to be delayed by at least 45 minutes, after the state's elections board agreed to keep four polling stations open for longer due to technical problems earlier in the day.
Each site will make up for the delay in opening in the morning, with one centre's opening for an additional three-quarters of an hour, reports BBC.
The state was due to begin reporting results at 19:30 local time (00:30 GMT), but will now wait until the final voting location has closed before making any announcement.
Democrats favoured to take control of US Senate, but results may be delayed
Democrats are favored to emerge from 14 hotly contested US Senate races with full control of Congress in Tuesday’s election, but final results from at least five of those contests may not be available for days, and in some cases, months.
With public disapproval of President Donald Trump weighing on Republicans across the country, voters will decide whether to end the political careers of embattled Republican senators, including Trump ally Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and moderate Susan Collins of Maine, among others.
In total, 12 Republican-held seats and two Democratic-held seats are in play, based on a Reuters analysis of three nonpartisan US elections forecasters - the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, the Cook Political Report and Inside Elections.
“There are dogfights all over the country,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in Congress, said at a campaign stop. He described the possibility of Republicans holding onto the Senate majority as a “50-50 proposition.”
Those odds appear optimistic, based on the three forecasters.
They forecast that Democrats could emerge with as many as 55 of the Senate’s 100 seats, giving them a majority for the first time in a decade in both the Senate and the 435-seat House of Representatives, where they are expected to maintain control.
Democrats are hoping to usher in a new political era in Washington if their presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, also wins.
Though likely to fall short of a 60-vote filibuster-proof majority, Democratic Senate control would greatly aid a Biden legislative agenda or help stymie a second Trump term.
Authorities and party officials in several swing states, including two where close Senate contests are being fought - Iowa and Michigan - reported a spike of automated phone calls Tuesday warning voters away for the polls for a variety of bogus reasons.
“Getting reports of multiple robocalls going to Flint residents that, due to long lines, they should vote tomorrow,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said on Twitter.
“Obviously this is FALSE and an effort to suppress the vote.”
A Justice Department official said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was getting complaints about the calls in Iowa, where Senator Joni
Ernst is battling to keep her seat against Democrat Theresa Greenfield.
The FBI is looking into the mysterious robocalls, a Department of Homeland Security official said. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
To win the majority in the Senate, Democrats need to pick up only three Republican seats if Biden is elected president and Senator Kamala Harris wields the tie-breaking vote as vice president. Republicans now hold a 53-47 seat majority.
Republican Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado is seen as the most vulnerable among over half a dozen first-term party incumbents in Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Montana and North Carolina. Democrats Doug Jones and Gary Peters are also on defense in Alabama and Michigan, respectively.
Chinese media shift focus to Biden day before election
For months, China’s media has been dominated by a focus on Trump. Papers have consistently been critical on his handling of the coronavirus, racial tensions in the US, and his comments towards China.
That’s not to say that China doesn’t want Trump to win – China sees Trump as a weak political opponent on the international stage, and people in China love to hate him.
But with little time to go before the election now, media have suddenly shifted their focus, and outlets are dominated by coverage on Biden, reports BBC.
State-run international affairs paper Global Times today notes Biden wants to “hire” rather than “fire” Dr Anthony Fauci, which has won him praise in China, given the country's criticism of Trump's Covid-19 handling.
Lady Gaga also has a huge fanbase in China, so Global Times’ sharing of her video endorsement for Biden has equally won praise.
US judge orders sweep for any outstanding ballots at some Postal facilities
A US judge on Tuesday ordered the US Postal Service to conduct a sweep of some processing facilities this afternoon to ensure no ballots have been held up and any discovered are immediately sent out for delivery.
US District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered Postal Service inspectors or designees to conduct sweeps in Central Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Detroit, Colorado/Wyoming, Atlanta, Houston, Alabama, Northern New England, Greater South Carolina, South Florida, Lakeland, and Arizona. Many states require receipt of all mailed ballots by the end of Tuesday.
Melania Trump casts vote in Florida, without mask
First Lady Melania Trump has cast her vote in person in Palm Beach, Florida.
"It's Election Day, so I wanted to come here to vote today for the election," she told reporters when asked why she had not voted with her husband, who cast his ballot just over a week ago, reports BBC.
The couple changed their residency from New York to Florida a year ago.
White House election night party reduced to 250 attendees
The number of people attending today's White House election night party has been reduced to 250, reports the CNN.
This source added that all guests will receive a rapid test for Covid-19, and each guest will receive a testing bracelet.
It was previously reported that as many as 400 people could attend.
Russia's RT takes strong anti-Biden line
Russia's main international broadcaster, RT, has gone all guns blazing for Donald Trump's challenger, Joe Biden, since the election campaign entered its dying days.
In the week running up the 3 November vote, the Kremlin-controlled outlet’s news stories, commentaries and tweets relating to the election have been almost entirely anti-Biden, reports the BBC.
Of more than 30 US election-related stories on RT's op-ed pages over the past month, only a small handful of items have singled out Trump for criticism.
One chided him for rejecting a Russian arms control offer, another two for being too aggressive on Russia’s geopolitical ally, China.
Another handful have criticised both candidates equally, in the context of casting the United States’ democratic political system as corrupt and moribund – a standard narrative on Kremlin-controlled outlets in general.
But the overwhelming majority of RT op-eds have been in some ways one-sidedly negative about Biden or the Democrats in general.
RT stresses that op-ed articles reflect the writers’ personal views. But all its op-eds are produced by a relatively narrow selection of writers whose output creates the impression of a clearly discernible editorial line.
USPS reports another drop in on-time movement of mail ballots
For the fifth day in a row, the US Postal Service moved fewer ballots on-time in critical battleground states than it did in the previous day, according to new court filings.
Five of the states with low processing scores — Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, New Hampshire and Maine — do not allow ballots to arrive after Election Da, reports the CNN..
The continued drops in performance mean ballots are now at significant risk of not arriving to election offices in time to be counted. In more than half of the states, mail-in ballots will not count if they arrive after polls close.
A higher processing score means that a higher percentage of ballots are traveling through the mail system on time.
The Postal Service said that on a national level, it moved fewer ballots on time on Sunday and Monday than on Friday, with the service’s overall processing score dropping from 91% to 90%. Scores have been steadily declining since Wednesday, when USPS reported it moved 97% of ballots on time.
The Postal Service reported that it moved at least 740,864 ballots on Sunday and Monday.
Some critical battlegrounds states are still experiencing a drop in processing scores below 90%.
Voting lines moving quickly across Georgia, secretary of state's office says
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office said that as of Tuesday morning, there are still 224,773 absentee mail ballots outstanding in the state that have not been returned by voters yet.
Voting continues to move quickly across the state, according to Ari Schaffer, the press secretary for Raffensperger, reports the CNN.
More than 2.5 million mail-in and absentee ballots returned in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar announced on Tuesday that more than 2.5 million mail-in and absentee votes have been returned.
The ballots returned represent more than 81% of the more than 3 million ballots sent out, according to Boockvar, reports the CNN.
Long voting lines form early in Arizona’s traditional Republican strongholds
As Election Day voting got underway in Arizona, long lines formed quickly at many polling places in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and its suburbs.
Polling stations opened at 7 am, and by 7:30 there were wait times as long as 45 minutes for voting sites in GOP strongholds such as Glendale, Chandler, Gilbert and Surprise, according to estimates posted on the Maricopa County Recorder’s election site, reports the CNN.
Late Monday, Cochise County Recorder Lisa Marra tweeted that her office had received dozens of calls from people demanding to know when their ballots had been counted. Cochise County, stretching from east of Tucson down to the US-Mexico border, also voted for Trump in 2016.
“They know the date we received it,” she wrote. “Wanted to know date and time counted. Because the President said if they didn’t get that info to go vote again tomorrow. Horrible advice for voters. STOP.”
Nearly 2.7 million Arizonans have voted early by mail or in person, representing 62.4% of active registered voters in the state, according to data provided by the Arizona Secretary of State’s office.
Voting in Michigan going "smoothly," secretary of state's office says
Voting in Michigan today is going “smoothly” so far, Communications and External Affairs Director for the Michigan Secretary of State Jake Rollow told reporters this morning.
Rollow shared that “about a dozen” of the state’s 2,000 reserve poll workers had to be deployed this morning to help staff polling locations in Pontiac and Grand Rapids, reports the CNN.
He did not specify whether this was because of the pandemic. These workers are meant to be deployed if a poll worker scheduled to work today didn’t show up.
With 3.1 of the 3.5 million absentee ballots requested already returned, Rollow said the state has an 89% return rate, which he said is lower than 2016. In 2016, Rollow reports the state had a 96% return rate as of Election Day.
Rollow said “that’s to be expected” given the fact that there are roughly three times as many absentee ballots this election than in 2016, and the mail has been slow.
91% of absentee ballots returned in Nebraska
So far, 510,076 Nebraska absentee ballots have been returned, the Nebraska Secretary of State’s office said Tuesday morning. That’s a 91% return rate.
There are currently 48,382 absentee ballots outstanding. More than 27,000 were received yesterday, reporst the CNN.
Absentee ballots must be returned via mail or a drop box before polls close on election day at 8 pm local tim in order to be counted.
Absentee ballots are counted first and the results are expected to be posted shortly after the polls close.
Biden in Pennsylvania: 'It's good to be home'
Back to the Democratic campaign, where Joe Biden has made a stop in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Masked and using a loudspeaker, he told a group of supporters in the former mining town: "It's good to be home," reports the BBC.
He highlighted his links to the town, saying that he returned every summer even after he moved away as a child, and celebrated his first wedding there.
"We've got to restore the backbone to this country," Biden said. "The middle class built this country - Wall Street didn't."
Biden said he felt inspired to run for the presidency by scenes of far-right protests and repeated his campaign pledge to unite the US.
Pennsylvania is a key swing state, and while Biden is currently ahead in the polls, his campaign is aware that Trump was able to win there by just 0.7% in 2016.
Allegheny county in Pennsylvania set to scan first mail-in ballots
Allegheny county in Pennsylvania, which includes Pittsburgh, will scan its first few thousand mail-in and absentee ballots shortly, according to a county official.
“Approximately 80% ballots at the warehouse are at some stage of the pre-canvassing process. Over 105,000 have had the declaration review and had that first envelope opened, and another 10,000 have now had the secrecy envelope opened and are extracting and flattening the ballots for scanning,” said Amie Downs, Communications Director for Allegheny County, in an email on Tuesday morning, reports the CNN.
Downs also noted that the three polling sites that were down earlier in the morning “are all open and operating now.”
She also noted that reports of machines not working correctly have all been addressed, with most of them being due to an operator error.
“Additional reports of needs for additional supplies or items for polling places have been addressed or were provided but poll workers were not aware they already had them,” she added.
No queues in New York City after surge of early votes
There was no line at the St Francis college polling station in Brooklyn Heights, New York City on Tuesday afternoon.
Stickers reminding people to stand 1.8m (6ft) apart line the sidewalk and go all the way round the block - with nobody standing on them. Poll workers are surprised, reporst the BBC.
Early voting was hugely popular in New York, and 1.1 million people did just that, which may explain a quieter than expected election day so far.
Biden can count on winning the 29 electoral college votes in New York State short of a political earthquake, and in this borough at least, it seems Democrats banked their votes early.
For Joe Biden, it all comes down to Pennsylvania
Biden is spending Election Day campaigning in his hometown of Scranton and in Philadelphia where he will continue to meet with voters.
Pennsylvania is key to Biden’s White House hopes. While his aides say he has multiple paths to nab 270 Electoral College votes, his easiest is by winning Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, reports the Al Jazeera.
While boarding his flight on Tuesday morning, Biden tossed a thumbs up to the traveling press and said he was feeling “good.”
Long line in Michigan voting place
Cellphone footage from Grand Rapids, Michigan showed a long line of socially distanced people waiting to cast their vote. Michigan is a traditionally Democratic state that Trump won in 2016 by a thin margin.
This election, both candidates are hoping to claim the Midwestern state, reports the Al Jazeera.
More than 9 million people have voted in Florida — 95% of the 2016 total
Nearly 9.1 million Floridians — 9,069,761 to be exact — have already voted, state data updated Tuesday morning shows.
That is about 95% of the 9.6 million total votes in the 2016 election, reports the CNN.
Registered Democrats lead registered Republicans by about 115,000 votes. This is up by about 7,000 votes since Monday, which means Democrats increased their lead against Republicans for two days in row after about two weeks of Republicans chipping into that lead through the early in-person voting.
Nearly 2 million people with no party affiliation have also voted.
YMCA and campaign T-shirts, as candidates urge to vote
Campaign rallies might be over, but the two leading presidential candidates are continuing to vye for votes through social media, reports the BBC.
Donald Trump shared a video of himself dancing, set to the Village People song YMCA, with the caption: “VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!”
Joe Biden shared a campaign video of people wearing Biden-Harris T-shirts and heading to the polls.
“It all comes down to this,” he wrote on Twitter.
Voters lining up to cast their votes in Philadelphia
Voters have lined up to cast their votes before polling places even opened in Philadelphia and the suburbs Tuesday morning.
The long lines continued at some polling places for hours, reports the NBC.
The critical 2020 election is like none other in history due to a large influx of mail-in ballots already cast amid coronavirus.
Voters who did flock to the polls were encouraged to remain 6 feet apart as they waited in line.
Pennsylvania's Allegheny County is experiencing delays in opening some poll sites
Pennsylvania's Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, has three election districts that remain unopened, according to a county official.
“At this time, there are three election districts which have not opened. Elections has staff at each site and is creating a new suitcase with materials so that they can open,” said Amie Downs, communications director for the county in an emailed statement on Tuesday morning, reports the CNN.
Downs explained that the “suitcase” has the voting materials. Those materials didn’t make it to these locations, but they are working to fix it.
Downs noted that there are sites in Monroeville, McKeesport and Pittsburgh that remain unopened.
Downs also gave an update on the processing of mail-in and absentee ballots saying about 25% of the over 334,000 ballots are “at some stage of processing.”
Some of the ballots are further along in the process.
“Over 13,500 have gone through the declaration review and have had the declaration envelope opened and the secrecy envelopes extracted,” she added.
Trump: ‘We’re seeing trends’
Trump, spoke on the television show Fox and Friends.
“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, reports the Al Jazeera.
“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.”
Hand sanitiser can ruin ballots, CDC warns
America's coronavirus outbreak has already had a huge impact on the election. But as people head to the polls today, it could affect votes in another way.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned that alcohol-based hand sanitisers have the potential to damage paper ballots, reports the BBC.
This is because ballots which are wet with sanitiser can more easily shred and clog up electronic voting machines.
The CDC says hand sanitiser should be available in polling stations to keep voters safe, but it's urged poll workers and voters to make sure their hands are dry before handling ballots.
Earlier this year, wet ballots caused some difficulties during municipal elections in New Hampshire. And last month, in the Californian city of Sacramento, many votes were ruined after people sprayed their ballots with sanitiser, causing the ink to smear and making them unreadable. Their ballots were later replaced.
President Trump says he will only declare victory "when there's victory"
President Trump, offering only a mildly confident view of his prospects, said Tuesday he will declare victory "only when there's victory."
"There’s no reason to play games. I look at it as being a very, a very solid chance of winning here. I don’t know how they rate the chances," Trump said on "Fox & Friends" during a morning phone interview, reports the CNN.
"I think a lot of that has to do with the tremendous crowd size."
Calling in 45 minutes late, with his voice sounding scratchy after a late night rally in Michigan, Trump said he planned further phone calls later today to "very loyal" people and a visit to his campaign headquarters.
"It’s been a great run, an incredible three weeks," Trump said of his final campaign sprint. He called his last stretch of campaigning "emotional" knowing it could be his final time as a candidate.
Republicans challenge one Pennsylvania county's process for handling some absentee ballots
Shortly after polls opened on Election Day, Republicans in Pennsylvania filed a fresh new lawsuit in federal court challenging the Montgomery County officials' process for handling absentee ballots that arrived before Nov. 3.
The plaintiffs had previewed their concerns in a letter earlier this week, and they are now asking for a court order to stop alleged "pre-canvassing" of these ballots before 7 am local time and stop contacting anyone whose mail-in ballot contains a perceived defect to change their ballot, reports the CNN.
They want any ballots changed set aside. However, the number of ballots affected could be quite narrow since the complaint only identifies roughly 1,200 votes that might be defective. As of this morning, roughly 223,000 absentee ballots had been cast in Montgomery County.
Notably, the county, which is just outside Philadelphia, leans Democratic. Clinton won the county in 2016 by 58.9% to 37.4%.
Polish media views Trump as 'defender of life'
Polish media outlets have dedicated much attention to abortion and LGBT rights in their coverage of the US presidential campaign - issues that polarised the country's own presidential election in the summer.
Donald Trump's proposal to stop funding federal medical facilities performing abortions earned him a lot of praise from the Polish public broadcasting company TVP, which supports the ruling conservative PiS party and its anti-abortion line, reports the BBC.
The rolling news channel TVP Info also highlighted Trump's initiatives "in defence of life", which it viewed in context of the president's desire to win evangelical Christians' votes.
"His administration defends religious rights all over the world, and the president himself supports his countrymen who are being persecuted by left-wing circles for defending their beliefs," the channel said.
The two candidates' positions on LGBT rights also caught considerable media attention.
Poland's leading liberal daily GazetaWyborcza highlighted Joe Biden's criticism of local authorities in the country that formed so-called "LGBT-free zones".
Biden's tweet saying that "there is no place for 'LGBT-free zones' in the European Union or elsewhere in the world" was also dismissed as "fake news" and an "attack on Poland" by TVP Info, however - as it wrongly insisted that the country had no "LGBT-free zones".
US Election 2020: 'Tikka' trending in twitter
A famous Indian fried cheese dish, paneer tikka, has found a spot on Twitter’s top trends in India on US election day.
Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who is Indian-American, decided to cook it as “comfort food” in honour of vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris on the eve of the election, reports the BBC.
Harris’s mother was born in India, and she has spoken warmly of her love for the nation's food.
But Jayapal’s version of paneer tikka created a stir among Indian Twitter users, with some fact-checking her recipe and pointing out that traditional paneer tikka is dry - and not served with gravy.
Others just made fun of her by putting up images of various dishes, but with the wrong names.
Paneer tikka is a vegetarian Indian dish, made of cottage cheese marinated in spices and grilled with vegetables, usually served with mint sauce and raw onions.
Joe Biden goes to church in Delaware on Election Day
Joe Biden, Jill Biden, and two of his grandchildren, Finnegan and Natalie Biden, walked into St. Joseph’s on the Brandywine in Delaware for one last church service on Election Day this morning, reports the CNN.
A Ohio county will use paper poll books instead of electronic ones today
Franklin County, Ohio, which includes the city of Columbus, will use paper poll books to check voters in today, said Franklin County Board of Elections Public Information Officer Aaron Sellers, reports the CNN.
The decision to use paper poll books instead of their electronic poll book system was made at 5:30 a.m. local time, he said, because there was trouble updating the electronic poll book system after yesterday’s early voting concluded, Sellers said.
Early voting ended in the county at 2pm yesterday, but because of long lines, Sellers said they were not finished with voting until about 3:30pm After voting concluded, there was trouble updating the electronic poll book file, Sellers said.
“There was an issue where we couldn’t determine that 100 percent of it was downloaded onto poll pads. Because of that, we decided to go with paper poll books,” today, Sellers said.
This decision applies to all of the county’s polling locations, Sellers said.
John Legend pleads for 'end to national nightmare'
In the build-up to election day, Trump and Biden both attracted full-throated endorsements from celebrities of all kinds.
On election eve, American rapper Lil Pump stumped for Trump in Michigan, while pop star Lady Gaga backed Biden in Pennsylvania, reports the BBC.
A bit of star dust was sprinkled on Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s final rally in Philadelphia, too.
She was joined on stage by singer John Legend, who urged Americans to “end this national nightmare” by voting Trump out of office.
Legend said the choice was between "a country where the president encourages police brutality and cannot bring himself to condemn white supremacists or neo-Nazis, or one where we hold our police accountable and begin to root out the systemic racism in our society”.
Why the presidential race could come down to Arizona and Pennsylvania
President Trump is trying to stop former Vice President Joe Biden's pathway to 270 electoral votes. The polls released over the weekend suggest that this will be difficult, but not an impossible task.
Trump's best path to stop Biden is for there to be a larger than average polling error in Arizona and especially Pennsylvania, reports the CNN.
The electoral math is pretty simple. Biden needs to find 38 electoral votes on top of the 232 in the contests that Hillary Clinton won in 2016. He's likely to win the one from Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District. Remember, the state of Nebraska allocates an electoral vote to the winner of each of its congressional districts.
On top of that, Biden holds clear and significant leads in two states Trump won by less than a point in 2016: Michigan and Wisconsin. A CNN/SSRS poll on Saturday put Biden up 12 points in Michigan among likely voters, while Biden led in Wisconsin by 8 points in a CNN/SSRS poll and 11 points in a New York Times/Siena College poll released Sunday.
Those two states are worth a combined 26 electoral votes. Add in Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District, you get Biden to 259 electoral votes.
This means Biden needs to get 11 more electoral votes. Other polls released on Saturday and Sunday from individual states worth at least 11 electoral votes suggest he will have options to choose from.
Trump supporter replaces neighbour's stolen Biden sign
Tim Place is one of the few Joe Biden voters in his Wisconsin neighbourhood. When his Biden-Harris sign was stolen, he got some unexpected help - from a Trump-supporting neighbour, reports the BBC.
Iran’s supreme leader mocks election quoting Trump
Iran’s supreme leader mocked the US election in a televised address Tuesday, quoting President Trump’s own baseless claims about voter fraud as Tehran marked the 1979 US Embassy hostage crisis.
“The incumbent president, who is supposed to hold the elections, says this is the most-rigged US election throughout history,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, ignoring the fact that individual US states actually run the vote, reports the Los Angeles Times.
“Who says this? The sitting president who is arranging the elections himself. His opponent says Trump intends to widely cheat. This is American democracy.”
Khamenei, 81, added that the result of the vote “is none of our business, meaning it won’t influence our policy at all. Our policy is clear and well-calculated, and people coming and going will have no impact on it.”
But the stakes are actually high for the Islamic Republic.
Another four years for Trump could see his maximum-pressure campaign 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. Trump withdrew the US from the agreement in 2018.
Ex-US attorney generals warn against refusal to accept result
Two former US attorney generals have warned against refusing to accept the election result.
Eric Holder was AG under Democratic President Barack Obama, while Michael Mukasey served under Republican George W Bush, reports the BBC.
In an opinion piece in the Washington Post newspaper, the two said they have disagreed over matters of law and policy in the past and continue to do so.
“We write jointly because we would like to continue to disagree the way we have in the past, the way Americans generally have in the past,” they wrote.
The pair said that while the First Amendment guarantees people the right to “demonstrate their views”, it “does not give them the right to act out the view that if they cannot get the political outcome they want, their fellow citizens should not be able to lead peaceful lives."
“This should not require saying, but we feel compelled to say it: nor should our political leaders stoke or condone violence,” they wrote.
In a final warning, they said that for those who “can’t imagine anything worse right now than the other side prevailing in this election, try this: Imagine a country where elections don’t matter because those who do not prevail will not accept the result”.
'Make liberals cry again!': Trump Jr tells supporters
At a rally in Kenosha, Wisconsin, US President Donald Trump was joined on stage by his eldest son, Don Jr.
Speaking to crowds of supporters, the younger Trump took shots at Joe Biden and the "mainstream media," and called on people to vote, reports the BBC.
“We need you to get out and bring your friends to vote tomorrow, and when we do, we can not only keep making America great again, but we can make liberals cry again!” he shouted.
“Get out there and do it, Wisconsin! Get out there and do it!”
The president's daughter Ivanka also took to the stage to say how proud she was of her father.
"Unlike politicians, he's never forgot why he ran for president and who he's fighting for - you!" she said. "Washington has not changed Donald Trump, Donald Trump has changed Washington."
Why a candidate with the most votes could still lose
Election observers say the US could be on course for record-breaking voter turnout this year. But it's possible the candidate with the most votes from the public won't be the winner.
In the US election, voters decide state-level contests rather than an overall single national one.
To be elected president, a candidate must win at least 270 votes in the electoral college, reports the BBC.
Each US state gets a certain number of votes partly based on its population, and there are a total of 538 up for grabs.
It's therefore possible for a candidate to become president by winning a number of tight races in certain states, despite having fewer votes across the country.
Asian American Republican group endorses Biden
An Asian American Republican group has officially endorsed Joe Biden, encouraging its thousands of members to vote for the Democrat.
Though the National Committee of Asian American Republicans backed Trump for the White House last time, but they wouldn’t support him this year.
"It is OK that you voted for Trump in 2016, most conservatives did; we wanted an outsider to rattle the system. But he is destroying the whole building,” it said in a statement.
“It is also fine you disagree with many [of] Biden's policies. It is about whether America is still THE America. The future of our families, our communities, our great nation, and the World is at stake!"
The statement ended with the message: "Vote for Joe Biden, SAVE AMERICA!"
Who's winning in the polls in swing states?
The swing - or battleground are states are those that election analysts say could conceivably be won by either candidate. Unlike most states - which reliably sway for a Republican or a Democratic candidate - they are seen as valuable prizes in the race to scoop up the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the White House.
This year, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Arizona are considered to be the top battleground states, reports the BBC.
An average of the latest polls collated by RealClearPolitics suggests Biden has a clear advantage in two of those states. His lead is marginal in three others, while Trump has narrowly pushed ahead in one.
The average of these swing-state polls has tightened since the middle of October, with Trump narrowing the deficit to two percentage points as of Monday.
Florida: Biden 1.8+ lead
Pennsylvania: Biden 2.6+ lead
Michigan: Biden 5.1+ lead
Wisconsin: Biden 6.7+ lead
North Carolina: Trump 0.2+ lead
Arizona: Biden 0.9+ lead
First polls open in Vermont
Polling stations in Vermont, in the eastern US, are open.
The state has voted Democrat since 1992, and the party often wins every county - although President Trump took one in 2016. reports the BBC.
Vermont is also among the 13 states that will be electing a Governor this time around. Incumbent Phil Scott, considered a moderate Republican, has one of the best approval ratings of any US governor. During the pandemic, his already high approval rating reached 75%.
Scott has been a vocal critic of President Trump, and has said he does not intend to vote for him.
His opponent is Democratic Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, who backs progressive policies including raising the minimum wage and legalising marijuana. Zuckerman endorsed Bernie Sanders - a fellow Vermonter - in the 2020 presidential race.
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, reports the Al Jazeera.
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.
Early votes near 100 million
More than 99 million Americans have voted early in the presidential election - either by post or in person, according to the latest figures from the US Elections Project.
This far surpasses the total number of early ballots cast in the 2016 election, in which 138 million Americans voted overall, BBC reported.
Election observers believe the surge in early votes could indicate a high - possibly record - turnout for this year’s election. The increase has been driven at least in part by concerns over visiting polling stations in person during the coronavirus pandemic.
Turnout has hovered around the 60% mark in recent presidential elections. In 2016, it was 58.1% of the country’s voting-eligible population.
This year, the largest number of early votes were cast in the states of California (12 million), Texas (9.7 million) and Florida (8.9 million). Polls have shown that Democrats favour postal ballots more than Republicans, which could bode well for Biden.
Trump has been touting a "red wave" of in-person voters on election day. He may need them.
Biden sweeps all 5 votes in tiny Dixville Notch
All five voters in the tiny New Hampshire town of Dixville Notch, which is the first town to vote in the country, cast their ballots for Joe Biden. The vote was held at the stroke of midnight, CSBC reported.
Les Otten, who said he was a lifelong Republican, cast the first ballot for Biden. "I don't agree with him on a lot of issues, but I believe it's time to find what unites us, not what divides us," he said in a video posted to Dixville Vote's Twitter feed.
"My vote today is meant to send a message to my fellow Republicans that our party can find its way back," he said. "It's time to return to the values that our conservative government holds dear."
Only 1 drive-thru location will be open Tuesday
Hours after a federal judge dismissed a bid by Republicans to throw out ballots from drive-thru polling locations in Harris County, Clerk Chris Hollins announced that nine of the county's 10 drive-thru polling locations would be closed Tuesday, the final day of voting for this year's election, CBS News reported.
Hollins wrote in a series of tweets that Hanen's order left the door open for challenges to votes cast Tuesday at all but one drive-thru location. Hanen wrote Tuesday that Texas election law allows for "movable structures" as early voting locations — which he said the tents used to how drive-thru ballot boxes qualify as — but not for election day locations.
"In order to allow for drive-thru voting on Election Day while ensuring that all votes will be counted, the only drive-thru voting center on Election Day will be at Toyota Center," Hollins tweeted Tuesday night, referring to the arena home of the NBA's Houston Rockets.
"I know that drive-thru voting is a safe and convenient option for Harris County voters, but we also have 800 walk-in voting centers available for Election Day that we have worked tirelessly to make safe for voters and election workers," Hollins said.
Harris County's drive-thru sites are all located near to in-person voting locations.
Trump returns to White House, Biden to childhood hometown
It's been a marathon few days for the candidates - the finale of a marathon year.
President Trump held five campaign rallies in four states on Monday, returning to Washington at 02:35 local time this morning. He is expected to spend most of Tuesday at the White House.
His opponent Joe Biden is scheduled to spend election day in Scranton, Pennsylvania, his childhood home, and in the Democratic stronghold of Philadelphia, BBC reported.
'Vote for Joe!': Lady Gaga campaigns for Biden
Singer Lady Gaga joined Joe Biden on the campaign trail in western Pennsylvania on the eve of election day.
“Vote for Joe. He’s a good person,” she told Biden supporters, flashing a peace sign and sporting a bejewelled facemask with 'VOTE' on it, BBC reported.
The star’s name was met with boos at a Donald Trump rally earlier in the day. The Republican president told attendees: "I could tell you stories about Lady Gaga."
Trump wraps final campaign rally after 1 am on Election Day
President Trump wrapped his final 2020 campaign rally at 1:13 am on Election Day in Grand Rapids, Michigan, CBS News reported.
Trump hit his usual campaign points, and when he asked the crowd who had already voted, he said "good, save it for Tuesday."
The rapper Lil' Pump, whom Trump called "one of the big superstars of the world," was invited onstage, although Mr. Trump mistakenly referred to him as "Little Pimp."
"I've come here to say, Mr. President, I appreciate everything you have done for our country," Lil' Pump said. "You brought the troops home, you're doing the right thing. MAGA 20 20 20, don't forget that!"
Mr. Trump also recounted his victory in 2016, saying that on election night, "we came home late and we watched a beautiful victory. And we're going to have another beautiful victory tomorrow."
Twitter, Facebook outline action on posts claiming early US election victory
Social media companies Twitter Inc and Facebook Inc on Monday outlined plans for placing warning labels on posts from US election candidates and campaigns that claim victory in advance of official results, Reuters reported.
The moves come as social network platforms brace for what has been an unusual election cycle due to a high number of mail-in ballots that may cause a delay in final results.
Beginning on election night through the inauguration, Twitter said it would place warning labels such as "official sources called this election differently", or "official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted".
Facebook will add specific information in news feed notifications in its apps and in the labels on posts if a candidate or a party declares premature victory, and will continue to show latest results in its Voting Information Center, it said in a separate statement.
Facebook said it will also monitor a range of issues in real time on Election Day, including reports of voter suppression content, and will remove any attempts to suppress participation or intimidate voters.
US-based accounts with over 100,000 followers and a significant engagement will also be considered for labeling, Twitter said.
New Hampshire hamlet casts first US Election Day votes
Voters in Dixville Notch, a village of 12 residents in the US state of New Hampshire, kicked off Election Day at the stroke of midnight by voting unanimously for Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
The vote and count only took a few minutes, with five votes for Biden and none for President Donald Trump, who is seeking a second term, Al Jazeera reported.
The tiny northeastern town in the middle of the forest, near the Canadian border, has traditionally voted “first in the nation” since 1960.
Neighboring village Millsfield also begins voting at midnight but a third village in the area, which typically follows the same tradition, canceled overnight voting due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Texas drive-through voting upheld
A federal judge in Texas on Monday denied a bid by Republicans to throw out about 127,000 votes already cast in the US presidential election at drive-through voting sites in Houston, a Democratic-leaning area, Reuters reported.
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.
Fauci: Hired or fired?
The coronavirus pandemic has been central to this election. And in the run-up to the vote both candidates have discussed the future role of leading infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci.
Donald Trump, who has repeatedly clashed with Fauci over his approach to Covid-19, told supporters he might fire the expert after the election - but Joe Biden said that if he was elected, he would "hire" Dr Fauci.
It's important to note that Dr Fauci is a career civil servant, so it would be quite difficult for Trump to fire him the way he has his political appointees.
Here's what both candidates had to say:
Trump's Supreme Court tweet flagged as 'misleading'
Twitter and Facebook late on Monday both flagged posts by President Donald Trump that claimed a US Supreme Court decision on mail-in voting in Pennsylvania would lead to "rampant" fraud and was "very dangerous", Reuters reported
Twitter hid the president’s tweet, sent the day before the US presidential election, behind a label which said the content was “disputed” and “might be misleading.”
Trump and his Republican allies have repeatedly said, without evidence, that mail-in votes are prone to fraud, although election experts say that is rare in US elections. Trump’s tweet also said the Supreme Court’s decision would “induce violence in the streets.”
Social media companies are under pressure to curb misinformation on their platforms ahead of the US election. Twitter has labeled or put warnings on tweets from Trump multiple times this year for violating its rules.
Biden and Trump gird for possible court battle
President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden made a last-ditch push for votes in battleground states on Monday as their campaigns prepared for post-election disputes that could prolong a divisive presidential election, Reuters reported.
Trump, who is trailing in national opinion polls, has continued to lob unfounded attacks on mail-in ballots, suggesting he would deploy lawyers if states are still counting votes after Election Day on Tuesday.
"Bad things will happen and bad things lead to other type things," he told reporters in Wisconsin, another battleground state.
He urged the US Supreme Court to reconsider its decision that left the extension in place. The court has left that possibility open.
Biden himself predicted a quick victory, but also sought to downplay the drama.
"I'm hoping for a straightforward, peaceful election, a lot of people showing up," he told reporters in Pittsburgh.
The election has prompted an unprecedented wave of litigation over whether to adjust voting rules in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Both sides have amassed armies of lawyers who are prepared to take on post-election battles.
Biden leads in polls going into Election Day
Democrat Joe Biden leads in the national polls and most of the battleground states going into Election Day but President Donald Trump is insisting they're wrong and he'll repeat his upset victory of 2016.
Biden, the 77-year-old former vice president, has enjoyed a solid lead over Trump, 74, in the national polls for months, at times reaching double digits, AFP reported.
An average of national polls by the RealClearPolitics (RCP) website gives Biden a 6.8 point lead over Trump — 50.7 percent to 43.9 percent.
That is roughly in line with the averages of other leading outlets such as FiveThirtyEight.com, which has Biden up by 8.4 points nationally.
Biden's lead nationally is more than double that of Hillary Clinton going into the 2016 election, when the polls were relatively accurate concerning the popular vote, which she won while losing in the Electoral College.
Justice Department sending monitors to 18 states
The Justice Department announced its Civil Rights Division will dispatch personnel to 44 jurisdictions in 18 states to "monitor for compliance with the federal voting rights laws" on Election Day, CBS News reported.
This year, staff will be sent to counties and cities in the following states: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.
The Justice Department's move is not out of the ordinary. For the 2016 general election, the department deployed more than 500 employees to 67 jurisdictions in 28 states, and for Election Day in 2012, the Justice Department sent more than 780 observers and personnel to 51 jurisdictions in 23 states.
Biden campaign announces Election Day plans
Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff will fan out to five battleground states to get out the vote on Election Day, the Biden campaign announced, CBS News Reported.
Biden is set to visit Scranton, where he was born, and Philadelphia, while Jill Biden will be in Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida, as well as Wake County, North Carolina.
Harris, meanwhile, is set to travel to Detroit, Michigan, and Emhoff, her husband, will stump for Biden and Harris in Columbus, Ohio.
White House fenced up
Federal authorities on Monday temporarily installed non-scalable fencing around the White House perimeter, fearing possible Election Day protests.
Additional fencing already has been erected around Lafayette Square, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, the location of protests over racial equality in June, reports ABC News.
Many businesses in downtown Washington have boarded up windows in anticipation of violence, like some in New York City. The government center in Minneapolis was boarded up for the same reason.