US election 2024: Americans head to the polls after gruelling campaign season

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An extraordinary US presidential election campaign comes to a head on Tuesday, as millions of American voters decide if it will be Vice President Kamala Harris or former president Donald Trump who will be moving into the White House in January.

Both candidates campaigned up to the last possible minute as they offered starkly differing visions for America, blitzing the seven swing states that will decide the outcome of the election and holding back-to-back rallies as they sought to convince voters to turn out to support them.

Opinion polls have shown the race is a toss-up, with Mr Trump and Ms Harris tied in most surveys. Unlike in previous election years, this campaign has seen a focus on US foreign policy as wars rage in the Middle East and Ukraine.

This election has been defined by shock moments and even after the polls close the drama is likely to continue. Mr Trump, who in 2020 refused to concede after losing to Democrat Joe Biden by seven million votes, has promised to challenge results that do not go his way.

The exhausting election cycle, which got under way after the 2022 midterm elections, included historic events such as the July 13 attempted assassination on Mr Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. That came only weeks after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race after a disastrous debate performance revealed the extent of his cognitive decline. And in May, Mr Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts in a hush money scheme.

The 2024 election will also be remembered for the divergent visions for America offered by the two candidates. Mr Trump has painted a bleak picture of a declining nation overrun by immigrants that only he can protect. Ms Harris has sought to sound a brighter, more unifying tone.

Ms Harris has lost a large chunk of the Democrats' normally reliable support from Arab Americans thanks to her unflinching backing of Israel as it bombs Gaza and Lebanon. Mr Trump, meanwhile, has been quick to exploit the frustration, making repeated overtures to Arab Americans by promising to bring peace, without providing details.

At a last-minute rally in Michigan late on Sunday, Ms Harris addressed the situation in the Middle East and said the past year had been “devastating”.

“As president, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza, to bring home the hostages, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is secure and ensure the Palestinian people can realise their right to dignity, freedom, security and self-determination,” she told the crowd in East Lansing.

In Dearborn, a Yemeni-American voter who wanted to be identified by only his first name, Monasser, said he cast a ballot for third-party candidate Jill Stein on Tuesday because of the Biden administration's support for Israel.

“I didn’t feel comfortable voting for either of the other two candidates,” Monasser, who has voted for Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the past, told The National.

Ali Haider, a doctor originally from south Lebanon, said that up until a few days ago he was undecided but ultimately he opted for Ms Harris.

“I picked who thought might make a little bit of difference for when it comes to getting a ceasefire as soon as possible,” Mr Haider told The National. “A lot of the rallies she did in the last couple of weeks, I thought her approach seemed reasonable to me when it comes to what is going on in the Middle East.”

The leading issues this election are the economy, immigration and abortion. Even though unemployment is down, stock markets are performing well and inflation is cooling, Americans are still furious about post-pandemic price increases.

The conservative-packed Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the federal right to an abortion, something Mr Trump took credit for. He has also said women should face “some form of punishment” if they get an abortion, a stance that could impact on his support among women voters.

Another issue is democracy itself. Ms Harris has warned that her rival wants to shred the US Constitution, rule like a dictator and has expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler and his Nazi generals. But a poll commissioned by The National suggests this issue might not be resonating with a critical mass of voters, with only one in 10 respondents listing it as a top concern.

Nearly half of America's electorate have cast an early ballot, with slightly more votes coming from registered Democrats than Republicans. But Republicans typically turn out in force on election day itself, so it is difficult to read too much into the early numbers.

Mr Trump is laying the groundwork to once again contest results if he loses.

He has begun spreading misinformation about the voting in Pennsylvania, claiming “fake ballots” and “cheating” as he seeks to sow doubt over any defeat he might face there, in a foreshadowing of chaos that may come after polls close. One of his former top advisers, Steve Bannon, who was released from prison last week, wants Mr Trump to declare victory soon after polls close on Tuesday, even if the results are not clear.

Despite no evidence of any meaningful election cheating in the US, Mr Trump claimed that Democrats in Pennsylvania “are fighting so hard to steal this damn thing”.

North of Philadelphia in suburban Bucks County, Tom Nicholas arrived at his polling station 40 minutes before it opened. He said he voted in person because he did not trust the postal process.

“Too much opportunity to cheat,” he said. “The chain of custody of the voting is the problem, once those pieces of paper go into a box or somewhere else, there's no guarantee of who touched it, where it went and that's concerning to me.”

All eyes are on Pennsylvania, with both candidates spending considerable time and hundreds of millions of dollars in the swing state. It has left some voters exhausted and looking forward to the end of the tumultuous election season.

"A lot of people are going through pre-PTSD,” said Maureen Faust, who brought her dogs with her to vote in central Philadelphia. “Some of us are just going to bury our heads under a pillow tomorrow, or we’ll just feel a weight of relief. But it's not going to be over until it's over and it's not necessarily going to be over tomorrow.”

In Arizona's Maricopa County, 30,000 new ballots were cast in the first 90 minutes of polls opening, officials said. Mr Trump and his supporters in 2020 claimed fraud in Maricopa County and it has been a hotspot for conspiracy theories. Initial results from the critical county are expected to be announced at 8pm local time.