Election Day is here, and Americans are heading to the polls to make their voices heard.
When exactly the polls open and close today varies by state and even by county, with most opening between 6 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. local time, and closing between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. local time. (You can find your polling location here.)
We already have our first preview of election results, with the tiny northern New Hampshire town of Dixville Notch kicking off Election Day at midnight (as soon as legally permissible) to vote. The town’s six registered voters — four Republicans, two undeclared — were split: three for Harris, and three for Trump. Dixville Notch doesn’t always predict the eventual winner or even the state’s pick, but it offers a fun first look at what could be a long night — or beyond.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump need at least 270 electoral votes to win, but as was the case in 2020, we may not get the election results tonight. That’s because in a race that’s expected to be extraordinarily close, more votes will need to be counted before a winner can be projected.
The candidates spent the last day of the campaign giving their final pitches to voters in battleground states. Trump hosted rallies in Raleigh, N.C., Reading and Pittsburgh, Pa., on Monday, before heading to Grand Rapids, Mich., for his final campaign event. Harris also spent election eve in the Keystone State, hosting campaign events in Allentown, Pittsburgh and finally, Philadelphia to close out the night.
Stick with Yahoo News for full coverage of Election Day and beyond. Subscribe to get an email alert when the presidential race is called.
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How do undecided voters finally make a decision?
What’s the psychology behind how undecided voters make a decision? (Getty Images) In October, just 3.7% of Americans, or 1.2 million people, said they were undecided voters, according to an analysis by the New York Times and Siena College.
Political psychologists say that what sways this group likely comes down to a few factors:
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They’re influenced by emotion and the people around them. “Nonpartisan, undecided or disengaged voters have less political knowledge and make their decisions later in the election cycle,” says Tania Israel, a psychologist and author of Facing the Fracture: How to Navigate the Challenges of Living in a Divided Nation. “Their decisions may be based on candidate likability, influence of people around them and emotions such as hope and fear.”
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They’re swayed by whatever is top of the news cycle when they cast their ballot. “In some cases, it’s going to depend on what happens to be salient or at the top of the social agenda at a particular time,” says Christopher M. Federico, president of the International Society of Political Psychology. “What’s going on in the last couple of news cycles right before an election [can] have a disproportionate effect among people who are in this position of being swing voters.”
Read more from Yahoo Life: Harris or Trump? The psychology behind how voters choose a candidate.
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Voters get an early Election Day start as polling shows a tight race
Voters line up to cast their ballots at The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala. (Vasha Hunt/AP) It’s Election Day, and voters across the country are lining up outside polling stations to cast their ballots.
Voters in Ohio didn’t let the dark morning put them off, lining up before dawn to vote. And in Georgia, local news outlets have reported a strong morning turnout, with voters turning up to snag a spot in line well before polls opened at 7 a.m. local time.
Voters in Lyndhurst, Ohio wait in the dark to vote. (Dustin Franz/Bloomberg/Getty) The polling location at the Cincinnati Observatory drew an early crowd. (Carolyn Kaster/AP) Particular attention is being paid to swing states like Pennsylvania. According to the Pennsylvania Department of State, 1,877,992 ballots had been returned as of 8 a.m. on Nov. 5. The state has approximately 9 million registered voters, many of whom gathered at polling places Tuesday morning.
Voters at Scranton High School in Scranton, Pa. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo) Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were tied nationally, a few days before Election Day, according to the final Yahoo News/YouGov poll of the cycle.
The three previous Yahoo News/YouGov surveys found Harris with a slight lead over Trump among registered voters, ranging from one point after the Democratic National Convention in August to five points after their Sept. 10 debate (when third-party candidates were factored in). Now Harris (47%) and Trump (47%) are tied on the same question for the first time since Harris declared her candidacy on July 21.
Click here to read more about the poll, including a potential “enthusiasm” gap between the two candidates.
Kerry Justich contributed to this post.
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Sabrina Carpenter, Green Day credited for boosting voter registration
Singer Sabrina Carpenter helped 27,000 new voters get registered for the election. (Getty Images) Voter registration spiked this election, and early voting data showed that new voters were turning up at the polls. Getting some credit for new voter registrations are Sabrina Carpenter and Green Day.
HeadCount, the nonpartisan organization that works with entertainers to get young people ready to vote, said the 25-year-old “Espresso” singer engaged more voters than any other artist in 2024. She helped register over 27,000 new voters and engaged over 183,000 voters through giveaways, postcards and on video boards during her “Short n’ Sweet Tour.”
come vote with me, i mean camaraderie 💋@SabrinaAnnLynn made HeadCount history and has engaged more voters than any other artist in 2024, registering over 27,000 new voters and engaging over 183,000 voters 👏🩵
— HeadCount | Register To Vote (@HeadCountOrg) November 4, 2024
Green Day’s “The Saviors Tour,” which kicked off in May, broke HeadCount’s all-time record for most voters engaged for a single tour. The “American Idiot” punk rock band registered over 7,900 new voters and engaged over 61,000 voters. (Ariana Grande’s 2019 “Sweetener World Tour” previously held the record.)
“Musicians and celebrities have a cultural cache and an intimate connection with their fans especially among young people, their identity as a fan of a particular artist can be even stronger than other aspects of their identity, including affiliation with a political party or candidate,” HeadCount’s Executive Director Lucille Wenegieme told Yahoo News.
Taylor Swift has also proven influential. When she endorsed Harris in September, 406,000 people visited the vote.gov link she shared with voter registration resources within 24 hours.
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Where are Harris, Trump and their running mates today?
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, Jacquelyn Martin/AP) As Election Day unfolds, presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are making their final moves to engage voters.
Kamala Harris is spending the day in Washington, D.C., though she has several radio appearances scheduled across battleground states. This evening, she’ll join supporters at a watch party at Howard University, her alma mater.
Donald Trump is expected to vote in Palm Beach, Fla., where he’ll also host an election night watch party at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.
Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, will rally voters in Harrisburg, Pa., before joining Harris at Howard University in D.C. for election night.
JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, voted Tuesday morning in Cincinnati but has no further public events scheduled.
Read more from Yahoo News: Here’s where Harris and Trump will be on Election Day
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Harris: Returning to Howard University is a ‘full circle’ moment
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Monday. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP) Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on radio shows across battleground states Tuesday morning.
During an appearance on The Big Tigger Morning Show in Atlanta, the Democratic candidate made her case to Black voters, stressing that her vision of the future is “focused on progress” and “investing in the ambitions and the aspirations and the dreams of the American people.”
Harris acknowledged that she would be the first HBCU president, saying that the first office she ever ran for was freshman class representative at Howard University. Going back to her alma mater for her watch party on Election Night is a “full circle” moment.
On Trump’s recent criticisms, Harris said, “I don’t hear that noise,” adding, “It’s meant to distract me — and I’m clear about what’s going on. And so I think we all know when you are clear about your focus and your purpose, there will be those who try and throw things in your way to get you off your focus.”
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Florida, Texas among Republican-led states blocking federal election monitors at polls
A polling station in The Villages, a Florida retirement community, on Election Day. (Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP via Getty Images) Officials in Texas and Florida say they won’t allow federal election monitors from the Justice Department into polling places, according to the Associated Press.
Missouri and Texas filed lawsuits attempting to block federal officials from observing inside polling locations, something the Department of Justice has done for years to monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said these observers infringe “on states’ constitutional authority to run free and fair elections.”
Federal judges in Texas and Missouri denied issuing restraining orders the states requested. However, District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee in Texas, ordered the DOJ to confirm that “no observers” would be present in polling locations on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
The DOJ announced on Nov. 1 its plan to send officials to 86 jurisdictions in 27 states, including Texas, Florida and Missouri. Florida said it will send its own monitors to the jurisdictions identified to ensure “that there is no interference with the voting process.”
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Vance votes in Cincinnati
Sen. JD Vance looks over his ballot at a polling place in Cincinnati. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images) Sen. JD Vance cast his vote early Tuesday morning in Cincinnati.
Local journalists captured footage of the Republican vice presidential candidate at his polling station exchanging brief greetings with voters in line.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump is expected to also cast his vote today, in Palm Beach, Fla.
Vice President Kamala Harris has already cast her vote, by mail-in ballot in California, while her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, has voted early in Minnesota.
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Joe Rogan endorses Trump
Joe Rogan. (James Gilbert/Getty Images) Podcaster Joe Rogan is backing former President Donald Trump this Election Day.
Rogan — who has interviewed both Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance in recent weeks — announced his endorsement on X Monday night as he shared the latest episode of his popular podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring a lengthy interview with “the great and powerful” Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X who has joined Trump on the campaign trail.
“If it wasn’t for him we’d be f***ed,” Rogan said of Musk in his X post. “He makes what I think is the most compelling case for Trump you’ll hear, and I agree with him every step of the way.”
Rogan added, “For the record, yes, that’s an endorsement of Trump. Enjoy the podcast.”
The endorsement from Rogan — whose Spotify podcast has a reported 14.5 million subscribers — comes as both political parties have made overtures to win over his largely young male audience.
Last week, the Austin-based host said that he declined an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris due to timing and travel restrictions. “My sincere wish is to just have a nice conversation and get to know her as a human being,” he wrote in an X post on Oct. 28.
Speaking at his rally in Pittsburgh Monday night, Trump called Rogan’s support “so nice” and shared that his three-hour interview with Rogan on Oct. 25 made him two hours late for his own rally that same day.
The video of Trump’s sit-down with Rogan now has more than 45 million views, while Rogan’s subsequent interview with VP hopeful Vance has been watched more than 14 million times.
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Unique ‘I Voted’ stickers
These “I Voted” stickers were among those entered into local and state contests. (Photo illustration: Alex Cochran for Yahoo News; photos: Getty Images, Michigan Department of State and Olivia Smiertka, Michelle Lekhtman, Madelyn VerVaecke, Kelsey Winiarski, Katelyn Stouffer Hopkins, Jane Hynous, Gabby Warner, Breanna Tanner, Courtesy of the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s Office and Jacob Alberts and Grace St. Cyr, Ulster County Board of Elections and Tess Gallo, March to the Polls’ and Mareily Lopez, Cosmo Bell) The hottest accessory on Election Day might just be an “I Voted” sticker. But designs this year aren’t limited to only the classic red, white and blue theme.
Some states are offering quite a few unique sticker options after hosting contests encouraging young people to draw their own as a way to engage them in the democratic process.
Michigan voters, for example, are vying to get their hands on a sticker that depicts a werewolf ripping off its shirt in front of an American flag. Jane Hynous, 12, of Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., was inspired by a meme to create the drawing, according to the New York Times.
Check out more designs from New Hampshire, New York, Colorado and Texas here.
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TV news anchors wear red, white, blue — and pink
Today show’s Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker on Election Day. (Today) There’s a lot of red, white and blue across the dial on election morning shows.
Anchors and hosts leaned in to patriotic hues as they kicked off what will be a long day of TV coverage. George Stephanopoulos (Good Morning America), Vladimir Duthiers (CBS Mornings) and Al Roker (Today) are in blue, Hoda Kotb (Today) is in white and Kristen Welker (Today) is wearing red.
But not everyone is trying to blend in with the flag-filled morning show sets. Today’s Savannah Guthrie stood out in a fuchsia pantsuit, while her colleagues Hallie Jackson, Kate Snow and GMA’s Lara Spencer were also in pink.
There’s also more than a touch of gray — with Gayle King and Nate Burleson (CBS Mornings), Craig Melvin (Today) and Michael Strahan (GMA) among those wearing the neutral tone.
Yahoo Entertainment examined what TV news anchors typically wear for Election Day news coverage, including how classic colors evoke specific responses. For instance, blue conveys “trustworthiness, calm and professionalism.”
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: TV news anchors have an important message to deliver on election night. Their clothing shouldn’t ‘be a distraction.’
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Why you can trust mail-in voting
Election workers prepare mail-in ballots for tallying at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center on Nov. 4. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images) Despite claims by Donald Trump and his allies, there is no substantive evidence that mail-in ballots are any more vulnerable to fraud than votes cast in person.
Part of the reason is because voter fraud, whether through the mail or in person, is extremely rare in the United States thanks to the many layers of security that are applied to every ballot before it’s officially counted.
There are a small number of fraud cases documented each year, but there are far too few to impact the results of our elections. One in-depth analysis of voter fraud cases found just 491 potential incidents of mail-in vote fraud between 2000 and 2012, a period in which billions of votes were cast across the country.
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Reminder: Your vote is private
People voting in Burnsville, N.C., on Nov. 5. (Allison Joyce/AFP via Getty Images) The choices you make on the ballot are yours alone.
Question: Can people find out who you voted for?
Answer: No. Your vote is private unless you choose to tell someone yourself.
Question: What voter information is publicly available?
Answer: Some information on your voting status (e.g., whether you’re registered to vote and which elections you’ve previously voted in) is publicly available. In some states, your political party affiliation (such as whether you’re registered as a Democrat, Republican or independent) may also be publicly available — but party registration does not mean you or anyone else needs to vote along that party’s lines in a general election.
Read more from Yahoo News: Can people find out who I voted for? Why you don’t need to worry on Election Day.
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How to find your polling place
Voters line up outside a polling place at the Cincinnati Observatory in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images) The easiest way to find out where you need to go to vote is to search your address in your state’s polling place finder. This handy page from Vote.org has links to those searches for all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
You can also get the information by contacting your state or local election office directly. This would also be a good opportunity to inform them if you need any special accommodation for a disability. Contact information for state election offices can be found here.
You should go to your assigned polling place to vote. If you try to vote somewhere else, you may be able to cast a provisional ballot, but it might not be counted.
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