The stakes couldn’t be higher for Republican Dell Foster, who says “fundamental freedom” is at stake. Foster said she voted for Trump and other Republicans in Tuesday’s vote in Phoenix. He said he would have confidence in the outcome no matter who wins: “I have absolute faith in what they are doing here. They did a great job,” Foster said of election workers.

Some complained that it took 30 to 45 minutes to fill out two-page ballots; this was the longest period in nearly 20 years. Others complained about poor lighting in the church’s voting area. However, Republicans and Democrats generally said that the voting process went smoothly and that they were relieved that this process was over.

Olga Melnyk, a 33-year-old stay-at-home mom, voted for Trump in Mesa, Arizona, a fast-growing city east of Phoenix. With her 2-year-old daughter on her arm, she said she blames Democrats for high costs that make food, gas and child care unaffordable. She said she and her husband, who owns a body shop, are having trouble buying a house.

“I’m excited and hopeful that things will get better after this election,” Melnyk said.

In Pennsylvania, a software glitch in Cambria County temporarily prevented ballots from being scanned countywide, according to local election officials; This issue prompted some Republicans to quickly and baselessly claim it was a targeted attack on the GOP-dominated district.

The Cambria County Board of Elections said in a statement that it learned of the issue early Tuesday and was working quickly to correct it, promising that every vote would be counted. The court approved the board’s petition to extend the voting period to 22:00 instead of the planned 20:00.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) blamed Russia as the source of several uncredible bomb threats against polling stations in the state.

“We identified the source; It was coming from Russia,” he said at a news conference Tuesday morning. “They think if they can make us fight among ourselves, they can call it a victory.” The threats come after federal officials issued several warnings in recent days about Russia’s tactics to cause disruptions during and after the election.

However, the vast majority of voters were able to vote across the country. Even before polls opened on Tuesday, nearly 82 million voters had cast early votes in person or by mail. This is more than half of the total number of people who voted in 2020. Tens of millions more people voted. Voting on Tuesday.

Voting managers were carrying out their duties amid heightened security after facing years of threats from some supporters of former president Donald Trump who believed false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

The FBI said Tuesday morning that a video purportedly released by the bureau claiming people should “vote remotely” due to the high threat of terrorism at polling places is false. A second video containing a fake FBI press release and claiming that operators of five prisons in Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania conspired with a political party and inmate voting was rigged is also false, according to the FBI.

“Attempts to deceive the public with false content about the FBI’s threat assessments and activities aim to undermine our democratic process and undermine confidence in the electoral system,” the statement said.

Federal law enforcement officials were also deployed Tuesday to the National Election Command Center at FBI headquarters in Washington, monitoring potential domestic and foreign threats as Americans vote.

The command center will be manned 24 hours a day and will operate at least through Saturday, compared to previous elections. Officials said this was due to possible post-election unrest, violence or problems with voting certification. The 55 FBI field offices across the country also have command centers set up to monitor elections in their districts, and they work with the command center at D.C. headquarters when problems arise.

Republicans spent more than a year recruiting election observers and said they sent thousands of volunteers to the polls. Democrats also sent observers to polling places, including the Justice Department and the House Administration Committee.

The Republican-led committee said the watchdog program was the largest in history. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wisconsin), the committee chairman, sent letters to election officials stating that observers “exist only to gather information about the election in case the election is later debated in the House of Representatives.”

This time, Trump said he did not expect his supporters to resort to violence.

“Of course there will be no violence. My supporters are not violent people,” Trump told reporters at his polling place in Palm Beach, Florida. He added: “I certainly don’t want violence, but needless to say, these are wonderful people.”

As the day progressed, long lines formed in some areas, including the swing state of Pennsylvania. Hundreds of college students at Villanova University in suburban Philadelphia waited up to three hours to vote.

There were also reports of large numbers of students at other campuses in the state, including the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania State University. Voters at colleges in Northampton County, which has a near-perfect record of picking the presidential winner, also stood in line for hours. The district sent extra voting machines to Lehigh University and Lafayette College to accommodate large student turnout.

At the Carnegie Library in downtown Pittsburgh, dozens of people lined the block and around the corner shortly before the polls opened at 7 a.m. Will Jordan, 58, was one of the first people to show up in the pre-dawn darkness to vote in person. .

Jordan, a former military officer who works in computer security, said he has no reservations about voting by mail. But he said it was more satisfying to do it this way.

“Instead of just sending your vote into the ether, the paper, the pen, and the ballot have some weight. It’s a tangible thing,” said Jordan, who lives downtown and said he voted for Harris. “It’s just like my grandfather said, ‘If you want to eat, you’ve got to come to the table.’”

Marcela Rios, 55, walked across the country into the sparkling, all-black home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders on Tuesday to vote. Rios, who until recently was busy disinfecting slot machines, said he was concerned about the increase in rents during Biden’s presidency, but decided to vote for Harris.

“Trump always characterizes immigrants as dangerous,” said Rios, who came to the United States from Mexico in 1984. “No, we come here to work. He’s a racist. “One hundred percent.”

At a library in a predominantly black community in Atlanta, a steady stream of mostly black voters formed as a DJ across the street played hip-hop music and dancing volunteers waved signs marking the polling area. Election Day turnout at urban polling places is one of several factors that analysts say could decide the outcome.

While Harris was on the ballot, LaTarsha Holden said she decided to come in person Tuesday to experience the history of voting for a black woman for president.

“I just wanted the excitement, like the taste of a morning coming on Election Day… like the taste of a cup of coffee on Election Day,” Holden, a 52-year-old author and speaker, said after voting at a Metropolitan precinct. Library in South Atlanta. “Today was a very important day for me and I wanted to enjoy the moment.”

He said the 2024 elections are “as important as when Barack Obama was a candidate.”

Others flocked to the swing state after the Georgia Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision that extended the deadline for more than 3,000 Cobb County voters to cast absentee ballots. Some shared their experiences on social media.

“Hey, why am I at the airport about to fly to Atlanta?” UCLA law student Shikya Harrison said in a TikTok video. “I am one of the thousands — thousands — of Cobb County people who did not receive their ballots.”