US politics live
US politics live 
US elections 2020

US election day 2020: Trump and Biden supporters vote in historic polls – live updates

LIVE Updated 
Selectman Les Otten drops a ballot in a box shortly after midnight for the US presidential election in the hamlet of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.
 Selectman Les Otten drops a ballot in a box shortly after midnight for the US presidential election in the hamlet of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Photograph: Ashley L Conti/Reuters

 (now) and  (earlier)

Shares
127

Donald Trump Jr has pitted today’s electoral battle as being between ‘freedom’ and ‘Marxism’.

While the Republican party are touting Donald Trump’s economic record.

People’s rating of his ability to manage the economy better than Joe Biden has been one of the few highlights in pre-election polling for the president.

I’m not going to lie, this one is getting into long read territory, but it may be an article worth bookmarking and coming back to later. Ian MacDougall has put together ProPublica’s guide to 2020 election laws and lawsuits. MacDougall writes:

The run-up to Election Day this year has seen records for early voting — and for the volume of election-related litigation. It’s unclear how long it will take for a victor to emerge in the presidential contest. But one thing is certain: Unless there’s a near-landslide in either direction, we’re likely in for some intense legal combat.

That’s not to say the lawsuits will have merit or that they’ll decide the election. They most likely won’t, according to legal experts. But the pandemic spawned a series of efforts to make voting safer, and that in turn triggered a partisan backlash in courtrooms in multiple states.

After Election Day, the courtroom battles will shift into a new phase. Some preelection cases will continue on. These cases center chiefly on constitutional challenges to the status of mail-in ballots that arrive after Tuesday.

For all the gnashing of teeth about the potential role of the supreme court, most litigation will take place in state courts, where there are well-worn processes in place for challenging election results. Challenges to election results very rarely succeed in changing the outcome of an election, legal scholars say, but that doesn’t mean the campaigns won’t take every shot they’ve got if the election is close.

The guide then goes on to have a detailed breakdown of cases in front of the courts in Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and how results might be contested there.

As I say, it’s long, but feels like its stuff you need to keep in the back of your head as the next few days unfold – there’s 101 Electoral College votes at stake in those six states.

Read it here: ProPublica – Guide to 2020 election laws and lawsuits

Joe Biden has just posted an upbeat video urging people to get out and vote, soundtracked by Too Many Zooz tune Warriors.

Joe Biden(@JoeBiden)

It all comes down to this.

Go vote: https://t.co/eoxT07uII9 pic.twitter.com/0Sj7qlj5Bl

November 3, 2020

Four more years of Donald Trump could become a reality as the next 48 hours unfolds. The result will have decade-defining consequences for the world – for global democracy and progress. Transatlantic ties, superpower relations and the climate emergency are all in the balance.

This is a chaotic, precarious election steeped in misinformation. Now is the time to support independent journalism that stands for truth and integrity. Free from commercial or political influence, the Guardian can report fearlessly on critical events, bringing you a clear, international perspective.

Support from readers funds our work, motivating us to do better, investigate deeper, challenge more. It means we can keep our quality reporting open for everyone to read, and protects our independence for the long term. Every contribution, however big or small, makes a difference.

Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – it only takes a minute. Thank you.

Show your support

Samer S Shehata, an associate professor of Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, writes for us this morning on what he says is the real reason Trump is terrified to lose the presidency: fear of prosecution.

If Trump loses the election, there may be calls to investigate and prosecute him for possible crimes involving obstruction of justice, violating the emolument clause of the constitution, and/or tax fraud, among others. Citizen Trump would face investigation without the luxury of “executive privilege” or the legal chicanery of the attorney general, William Barr, who has acted more like Trump’s personal lawyer than the nation’s top law enforcement official, to protect him. Accordingly, Trump has even more reason to lie, cheat and sow discord in order to retain office, because losing the White House could land him in court or even behind bars.

Although special prosecutor Robert Mueller did not produce a smoking gun proving Trump conspired with Russia in the 2016 election, he clearly stated that the investigation did not exonerate Trump of wrongdoing. After the investigation, over a thousand former federal prosecutors from both parties signed a letter stating that Trump’s conduct as described in the investigation would warrant “multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice” were it not for the Office of Legal Counsel’s policy of not indicting a sitting president.

More recent criticisms of Mueller from top aides within the investigation allege Mueller did not go far enough in exposing collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. At the very least, there is a strong case that Trump obstructed the investigation. After he leaves office there will be vocal calls to get to the bottom of Russian election interference, his campaign’s alleged collusion, and to hold the former president accountable for obstruction of justice. The outcome could very well be a subpoena for the ex-president or even an indictment.

Read more here: Samer S Shehata – the real reason Trump is terrified to lose the presidency: fear of prosecution

Voting also already looks like it is going to be brisk in New York, judging by the video and pictures being shared on social media.

Zack Fink(@ZackFinkNews)

Already a line around the block to vote at PS 87 in Manhattan shortly after polls open at 6a. pic.twitter.com/AsJMLaHZdh

November 3, 2020
Scott Hechinger(@ScottHech)

Good morning. It’s 5:45am. Polls open in 15 minutes. I’m on line in Brooklyn. pic.twitter.com/hpsH9PRJGm

November 3, 2020

Here’s a selection of some of the pictures coming in through the wires as the US wakes up and starts getting ready for Election Day.

Here are poll workers taking their oath in Georgia.

Poll workers take an oath at Fulton County polling station in Atlanta, Georgia.
 Poll workers take an oath at Fulton County polling station in Atlanta, Georgia. Photograph: Christopher Aluka Berry/Reuters

There are already queues of people outside polling places, including this Junior High School in Waterville, Maine.

Voters line up at the Waterville Junior High School polling station before doors open in Waterville, Maine.
 Voters line up at the Waterville Junior High School polling station before doors open in Waterville, Maine. Photograph: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

There are queues in Winchester, Virginia, too.

This is the early morning scene at a polling station in Winchester, Virginia.
 This is the early morning scene at a polling station in Winchester, Virginia. Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

And here are voters arriving to cast their ballots in Louisville, Kentucky.

Voters arrive to cast their ballots at the Kentucky Exposition Center.
 Voters arrive to cast their ballots at the Kentucky Exposition Center. Photograph: Bryan Woolston/Reuters

Mike Allen and Margaret Talev at Axios have what they are describing as a scoop this morning from the Biden campaign, about his plan to try and seize the narrative from any Donald Trump declaration of victory tonight. They write:

If news organizations declare Joe Biden the mathematical president-elect, he plans to address the nation as its new leader, even if president Trump continues to fight in court. He’ll begin forming his government and looking presidential — and won’t yield to doubts Trump might try to sow. Biden’s schedule for Tuesday includes a clue to this posture: He “will address the nation on Election Night in Wilmington, Delaware.”

They quote Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign manager, saying:

We’re not really concerned about what Donald Trump says ... We’re going to use our data, our understanding of where this is headed, and make sure that the vice president is addressing the American people.

Read more here: Axios – Biden’s plan to assert control

Here’s a reminder that not everybody is expecting the aftermath of the election to go smoothly. In anticipation of possible civil unrest, buildings in downtown New York City and in Beverly Hills have been boarded up. Security around the White House in Washington DC has also been strengthened.

Play Video
1:03
 US shops boarded up ahead of feared election unrest – video

Oliver Laughland 

Good morning from Palm Beach, Florida, where me and my colleague Tom Silverstone are out with Trump volunteers.

We started our morning at 4.15 am with the founders of an independent Donald Trump club, “Club 45”, who are visiting every polling station in their neighbourhood to plant Trump yard signs. They’ve each got over 20 locations to visit before polls open.

I asked Joseph Budd whether he thinks, at this stage, a yard sign had the power to change anyone’s mind.

“I just think it’s a reminder of the enthusiasm (for Trump),” he said.

“There’s probably about 2-5% of people on the fence at this point. And who knows if signs will help those people change their minds because of enthusiasm.”

Oliver Laughland(@oliverlaughland)

Good morning.

We started our Election Day at 4:15 am as Republican volunteers in Palm Beach, Florida are out planting Trump yard signs by polling stations: pic.twitter.com/OJCzEm32Ho

November 3, 2020

'Mask up and find your polling place' says Kamala Harris as voting begins to open across the US

Mask up and vote is the message from Democratic vice president nominee Kamala Harris, as polling places across the US begin to open.

Kamala Harris(@KamalaHarris)

Election Day is here, and polling places across the country are starting to open. Mask up and find your polling place at https://t.co/VbrfuqVy9P.

November 3, 2020

Reuters have this story, labelled an exclusive, which potentially piles a bit more misery onto Donald Trump’s finances, regardless of the outcome of the election. They report:

Deutsche Bank is looking for ways to end its relationship with President Donald Trump after the US elections, as it tires of the negative publicity stemming from the ties, according to three senior bank officials with direct knowledge of the matter.

Deutsche Bank has about $340 million in loans outstanding to the Trump Organization, the president’s umbrella group that is currently overseen by his two sons, according to filings made by Trump to the US Office of Government Ethics in July and a senior source within the bank. The three loans, which are against Trump properties and start coming due in two years, are current on payments and personally guaranteed by the president, according to two bank officials.

In meetings in recent months, a Deutsche Bank management committee that oversees reputational and other risks for the lender in the Americas region has discussed ways in which it could rid the bank of these last vestiges of the relationship, two of the three bank officials said. The bank has over the years lent Trump more than $2 billion, one of the officials said.

There’s been considerable speculation that Trump will have as much as $900m in unpaid loans due during a second term if he is elected.

Read more here: Reuters – Tired of Trump, Deutsche Bank wants out but sees no good options - sources

Dana Milbank wrote an op-ed last night for the Washington Post, setting out how high he thinks the stakes are today, in a piece titled: Vote as if our way of life depends on it. It does. It opened with a bleak summing up of events over the last few days:

Election Day is here, and Americans have reason to be tense. President Trump has told confidants he’ll declare victory Tuesday night, even before the votes get counted. Federal authorities were building a “non-scalable” fence around the White House Monday to protect a man who refuses to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.

The FBI said Sunday it is investigating a convoy of Trump supporters who apparently attempted to run a Biden campaign bus off a Texas interstate; Trump praised the perpetrators and condemned the FBI.

The Democratic Party of Georgia was forced to cancel a Biden rally in Rome, Georgia, on Sunday because of a “large militia presence” accompanying a nearby Trump visit.

Elsewhere, gangs of Trump supporters blocked traffic, provoked confrontations and violated rules at early voting places over the weekend. In Topeka, Kansas, three teens were allegedly shot Saturday by a man who thought they stole his Trump yard signs.

But there is one way to assuage our fears about political violence overtaking the election and its aftermath: Vote. Vote as though democracy depends on it. Vote as though your country depends on it. Vote as though our way of life depends on it. For surely they all do.

Read more here: Washington Post – Vote as if our way of life depends on it. It does.

If you missed it yesterday, there’s still time to catch up on Monday’s Today In Focus podcast which was devoted to discussion of Joe Biden.

New Yorker journalist Evan Osnos, author of a new Biden biography tells Anushka Asthana that for a Democrat who has been in the centre of the party for decades, including as Barack Obama’s vice-president, he is now running on one of the most radical platforms his party has ever stood on.

Biden’s is a career that has had its fair share of controversies: he opposed federally mandated bussing of students as a way to integrate schools. He also backed the now notorious 1994 crime bill that many believe paved the way to mass incarceration of black Americans. But Osnos also describes his pioneering work on legislation around violence against women and his current plans to expand healthcare and environmental protections. If Joe Biden wins this election, one thing is clear: he will prove starkly different from his opponent, Donald Trump.

You can listen to it here: Today in Focus – US election 2020: what kind of president would Joe Biden be?

CNN’s fact-checker Daniel Dale has gone viral a couple of times during the campaign for delivering rapid-fire rebuttals of Donald Trump’s misleading claims after campaign speeches and debates. He’s put this list together of things to watch out for Trump saying today. The president is on Fox & Friends this morning, and some of these topics are bound to crop up. Dale highlights, among other things:

  • Democrats and cheating: Trump has claimed that he can only lose the election if Democrats commit “massive fraud.” False.
  • Mail-in voting and fraud: Trump has broadly declared that mail-in voting is rife with fraud. False.
  • “Unsolicited” ballots: Trump has specifically claimed that “unsolicited” mail-in ballots – the ones sent out by states that automatically provide a ballot to all eligible registered voters – are especially fraud-prone, calling these ballots a “scam” and a “hoax.” False.
  • Non-citizens voting: Trump has claimed that California this year sent mail-in ballots to every state resident, including undocumented immigrants. False.
  • Counting votes after Election Day: Trump has suggested that it might be a violation of the law for states to (potentially) count ballots for two weeks after Election Day; he has demanded a “final total” on Tuesday. Votes are always counted after Election Day.
  • Ballots being accepted after Election Day: Trump has suggested mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but received afterward are illegitimate. There is nothing illegitimate about such votes; many states accept them, including ballots cast overseas by members of the US military.

There’s a lot more here: CNN – Fact check: Trump’s top election falsehoods to watch for on Election Day

Those two differing approaches were rather highlighted by the early morning campaign tweets from the two candidates, sent within sixteen minutes of each other. Joe Biden offered to “work as hard for those who don’t support me as for those who do”. Donald Trump thanked his base.