Polls open in the US in historic election

By Agency Reporters

Polling stations opened in New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Virginia early Tuesday, marking the start of US Election Day as President Donald Trump seeks to beat forecasts and defeat Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

The vote is widely seen as a referendum on Trump and his uniquely brash, bruising presidency that Biden urged Americans to end to restore “our democracy.”

Michigan, a Democrat state was won narrowly by Trump in 2016 by less than a percentage point. The state that has already seen a record number of absentee ballots returned.

New York is also a blue state, dominated by Democrats and had seen close to 3.5 million early votes.

Nearly 100 million Americans voted early, and now it falls to Election Day voters to finish the job, ending a campaign that was reshaped by the coronavirus and defined by tensions over who could best address it.

Each candidate declared the other fundamentally unfit to lead a nation grappling with COVID-19 and facing foundational questions about racial justice and economic fairness.

Biden entered Election Day with multiple paths to victory while Trump, playing catch-up in a number of battleground states, had a narrower but still feasible road to clinch 270 Electoral College votes.

Control of the Senate is at stake, too: Democrats needed to net three seats if Biden captured the White House to gain control of all of Washington for the first time in a decade.

The House is expected to remain under Democratic control.