Election Day is finally here and votes will be counted to determine the next President of the United States.
In what's expected to be a close election, it could be days before a projection is made.
The tiny New Hampshire resort town Dixville Notch has a tradition that dates back to 1960for being the first in the nation to complete in-person voting. After a rousing accordion version of the national anthem, the town’s six voters began casting their ballots at the stroke of midnight and the vote count was complete 15 minutes later. It was a fitting tie, 3-3.
Polls close as early as 6 p.m., when votes will start to roll in.
As the votes are counted, you can follow the latest results by state electoral votes and popular vote in the graphic below.
In 2020, Joe Biden wasn't declared the winner of the presidential race until the Saturday after the election. In 2016, it wasn't nearly as close. Donald Trump was declared the winner early Wednesday morning. In 2012, the call came even earlier. President Barack Obama won his reelection contest before midnight on Election Day.
Pennsylvania, with 19 electoral votes, could be a state that decides the 2024 presidential election.
Cautioning that immediate election results are unofficial, Lamont McClure, an election official in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, told Scripps news that they intend to have all the votes from Election Day by 1 a.m. or 2 a.m.
If the rest of Pennsylvania adheres to that timeline, it may be possible to project who will win the state, early Wednesday morning. However, whether Pennsylvania is the state that tips the scales in one candidate's favor will depend on how they do in the other battleground states.
There are seven battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona.
In 2016, six of the seven states voted for Donald Trump. In 2020, six of the seven states voted for Joe Biden.
Each state has different rules for how and when they count ballots. For example, in Florida, election officials have already tabulated the ballots that early voters have already turned in. In Pennsylvania, officials must wait until Tuesday to even open mail-in ballots. In Georgia, all early votes must be counted and reported by 8 p.m. on election night.
Rachael Dean Wilson, managing director of the Alliance Defending Democracy, doesn't anticipate a quick result.
"The suspected margins of this race are going to be so tight," she said. "There is still going to be the potential for this to take a couple of days for us to know who won the election."
On the final day before the election, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump had packed itineraries with multiple rallies in pivotal battleground states.
Trump kicked off Monday in Raleigh, North Carolina, a state he won in 2016 and 2020. During a rally there Trump predicted his own victory.
"They have an expression, I hate the expression, but 'it's ours to lose,'" Trump said. "Does that make sense to you? 'It's ours to lose." If we get everybody out and vote, there's not a thing they can do."
Vice President Harris focused on Pennsylvania, with five stops across the state. In Scranton, Harris projected a more positive tone.
"We are leaders who understand the measure of our strength is not based on who we beat down, it's based on who we lift up," Harris said.
Later, Harris and Trump held events in Reading and Allentown, followed by dueling rallies in Pittsburgh.
Harris closed out the final day of the campaign with a rally in Philadelphia with a rally featuring Oprah Winfrey and Lady Gaga. Trump ended his run in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the same place he held his final rallies in the 2016 and 2020 races.
A record-breaking 78 million votes have already been cast, according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida. In-person early voting has already surpassed 2020 numbers.
