In an election that could come down to a photo finish, the answer to a crucial question will determine the next president: How many Americans would vote on Election Day?
Early indications suggested that Americans headed to the polls in large numbers on Tuesday, despite strong early voting numbers, but the picture varied in different states. More than 80 million Americans voted early, short of the modern record set in 2020, when the pandemic bolstered voting by mail for health reasons.
At polling places in Nevada, New York and Texas, many voters were in and out quickly. In spots in Michigan and Pennsylvania, which are both swing states, some voters waited in long lines.
There are seven swing states in total that the campaigns and the public are watching closely: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Streams of voters in these states lined up on Tuesday at sites like elementary schools, football stadiums and even makeshift polling places set up in the wake of Hurricane Helene’s destruction.
Arizona
By midmorning on Tuesday, more than 90,000 people had checked in to vote in Maricopa County, home to about 60 percent of Arizona’s voters. Republicans outnumber Democrats by about two to one there, but more and more independent voters appeared to be showing up as the day went on, according to county data tracked by Sam Almy, a Democratic strategist.
Poll workers and electioneers outnumbered a trickle of largely Democratic voters as polls opened in Guadalupe, a tiny, mostly Indigenous town tucked into Phoenix’s suburban sprawl. The sounds of early-morning prayer carried over from a nearby storefront church as volunteers set up folding tables and staked last-minute campaign signs outside.
At a Mesa Community College library, wait times had grown to 45 minutes by late morning, and poll workers redirected some voters to a nearby public library branch and a Catholic church.
Georgia
In Georgia, election officials on Tuesday were optimistic for a robust Election Day turnout even though the state had set an early voting record. More than four million residents cast an early ballot in person or by mail.
“From the information we’re getting right now, it looks like we’re probably a little ahead of 2020,” said Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer of the secretary of state’s office, on Tuesday morning, referring to Election Day turnout. “If we end up beating 2020, it’ll be a record.”
In Gwinnett County, a suburb of Atlanta that has swung toward Democrats in recent years, officials reported steady turnout but short lines. At two polling places in the western part of the county, the parking lots were mostly full, the voters having driven past a thicket of signs.
In Waleska, Ga., a city of roughly 1,000 people north of Atlanta, the toughest part of reaching the polls was the parking lot. Sheriff’s deputies had to guide cars into and out of the fire station, not typically accustomed to a crowd.
“I feel good!” Jonas Chastie, 22, said as he breezed out of the firehouse only a few minutes after entering, having just voted in his second presidential election.
Michigan
Poll workers in Flint, Mich., said turnout on Election Day had been strong. At Neithercut Elementary School, lines were already out the door when polls opened at 7 a.m. At Grace Emmanuel Baptist Church, on the city’s east side, some voters waited for over an hour.
Saul Anuzis, a political consultant who previously served as the Michigan Republican chairman, said he was aware of long lines in Hillsdale County, a conservative area in the western part of the state, as well as in Sterling Heights, a blue-collar area of Macomb County, which has swung between Republicans and Democrats in the past.
“They’re both good areas for us,” Mr. Anuzis said. “I’m cautiously optimistic. I think all this is a function of turnout.” But he added that until exit polls started trickling out, it was too early to draw any conclusions about results.
In Detroit, Lateece Baker, a poll worker for the last 13 years, said voters had arrived in spurts to her polling location, and she said the numbers seemed similar to those in 2020. She said that the site usually had 400 to 500 voters and that there had been about 200 as of 1 p.m.
“What’s successful is the early voting,” she said.
Nevada
In Reno, Nev., the population center of a critical swing county, a handful of voters cast ballots in a high school gymnasium on Tuesday morning. Jack Westermeyer, a polling manager, said turnout was low compared with the large numbers of people who had lined up for two weeks of early voting.
“I’m surprised how short the line is,” he said.
The Nevada secretary of state, Francisco V. Aguilar, said he had been to multiple polling locations on Tuesday morning where lines were long but things were functioning smoothly.
As of Monday night, 53.5 percent of registered Nevada voters had already voted. Mr. Aguilar’s office reported that as of 10 a.m. on Tuesday, about 57,000 Nevadans had cast a ballot in person. About 36.8 percent were cast by Republicans, 29.5 percent by Democrats and 33.7 percent by people who were registered as nonpartisan or with a smaller party.
Democrats had hoped that they would maintain their traditional advantage in mail ballots. On Election Day in 2020, 158,007 Nevadans cast ballots in person, 11 percent of total turnout.
“My optimism is high,” Mr. Aguilar said, adding that three polling places he visited had about a half-hour wait. “People were happy. They weren’t mad.”
North Carolina
In Mecklenburg County, which includes Charlotte and is considered crucial for Vice President Kamala Harris to win, Democrats were optimistic about turnout. Andrew Richards, a party official, reported “very, very long lines at several polling places.”
With 460,000 early votes, even a low Election Day turnout of 130,000 would exceed totals from 2020, Mr. Richards said. “We’re feeling very optimistic,” he said.
As of 10 a.m., polling sites in Durham County, N.C., had seen a 72 percent increase over the 4,945 voters at the same time of day in 2020, according to local officials.
Pennsylvania
By noon, 1,030 people had voted at Bensalem High School, a large polling site in Bucks County, near Philadelphia, according to Joe Knowles, a poll volunteer and Republican councilman. Bensalem Township leans slightly Democratic, Mr. Knowles said, but the mayor, council and state representatives are all Republicans.
The polling site, one of the community’s busiest, had no lines by midday, but Mr. Knowles said that turnout had been very strong in the morning. “We had several hundred people waiting in line when we opened,” he said.
In Philadelphia, an official in the City Commissioners office, which helps run citywide elections, said that there were no real-time numbers on how many people had voted on Tuesday but that “things have been very busy” through the morning and into the early afternoon.
At a polling station in a South Philadelphia high school, Maureen Brown, a poll watcher for the Democratic Party, said turnout appeared to be ahead of the numbers from 2020.
And in rural Leacock Township, a steady stream of voters entered the local polling location, totaling more than 650 by noon. Among them were many Amish people, a voting bloc that Republicans have courted in recent years. In 2020, the precinct overwhelmingly voted for then President Donald J. Trump.
Wisconsin
Several schools in Wisconsin’s state university system reported robust voting numbers by Tuesday afternoon. On the Eau Claire campus, officials expected turnout to pass numbers from 2020 and possibly reach a record high.
By 2 p.m., more than 1,400 people, mostly students, had voted at the campus student center. The previous record was about 2,400, according to poll workers, who said the biggest waves of students typically arrived in the evening. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, officials said that student turnout had been strong even though absentee ballots had doubled since 2020.
Rain may have affected turnout, at least during the early hours. Still, at a polling station at a church in Appleton, Wis., voters reported waiting for nearly an hour.
In Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, a mostly Republican suburb of Milwaukee, the Republican Party chairman, Alex Leykin, described turnout as “solid.”
But he added that more than 57 percent of registered voters had already voted before Tuesday and that early signs showed strong support for Mr. Trump.
One of the early tells, according to Mr. Leykin, was that a big increase in turnout came from a rural part of the city of Mequon. He took that as an indication that Mr. Trump was doing well in the area. “Signs on the ground are very positive for our side,” he said.
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