Harris or Trump: Historic voting day in America

Tens of millions of Americans are voting Tuesday to decide whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will enter the White House, a high-stakes election with huge stakes for the United States and the world.

From New York to Los Angeles, from the plains of the Midwest to the coast of Florida, long lines of voters lined the sidewalks on this historic day.

“I encourage everyone to get out and vote,” the 60-year-old Democrat, who could become the first woman to lead the world's leading power, told a local radio station.

The Republican, who made a spectacular political comeback after being convicted in court, said he was “very confident” of victory, just after voting in West Palm Beach, near his residence.

The 78-year-old former president pledged to recognize his possible defeat “if the election is fair.” “So far, I think it's been fair,” he added.

– Tattered flag –

Voters in New York on Election Day, November 5, 2024 © AFP – Leonardo Munoz

He had earlier published a video opening with a tattered American flag, with images of migrants surging across the border or armed criminals, in contrast with workers, miners, police officers or activists at his meetings.

More than 82 million Americans have already cast their ballots in advance, and it is impossible to know whether it will take hours or days of counting to decide between the vice president and the former president, whose personalities could not be more different.

Darlene Taylor cast her ballot at an elementary school in Erie, Pennsylvania, a key swing state that could swing this extremely close race.

The 56-year-old woman wears a T-shirt displaying “Trump-Vance”, the tandem she wants to see lead this federation of 50 states and 335 million inhabitants.

“We don't want four more years of high inflation, these gas prices and lies,” she justifies.

Wearing a baseball cap, Marchelle Beason, 46, voted for Kamala Harris.

“I think she will reconcile the whole population, the whole world, because we are currently so divided,” she says.

At the rallies of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, two seemingly irreconcilable Americas have flocked in recent weeks, each side convinced that the other was going to lead the country to disaster.

The former prosecutor and senator from California called her rival a “fascist.” The former business tycoon hammered home that she was “as stupid as her feet” and that she was going to “destroy” the country.

– Neck and neck –

The verdict of the ballot boxes will be historic in any case.

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The latest polls show the two opponents almost tied in the seven crucial states, those which, in this indirect election, will give the Democrat or the Republican enough electors to reach the threshold of 270 out of 538, synonymous with victory.

Residents of Dixville Notch cast their ballots at midnight for the first votes of the US election day, in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, United States, on November 5, 2024 © AFP – Joseph Prezioso

To try to convince in just three months of campaigning, Kamala Harris has bet on a message of protecting democracy and the right to abortion, aimed at women as well as moderate Republicans.

Liz Orlova, a 22-year-old woman met in New York, explains that she voted for Kamala Harris “with the right to abortion mainly in mind”.

Unlike Guy Mills, 62, who chose the Republican. “I think we need someone to correct the ship's course,” he said.

The Democrat, born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, is holding her election night party at her former university, the historically black Howard University in Washington.

Donald Trump, who left the White House in 2021 in a chaotic context, having survived two impeachment proceedings, has replayed the same score in this campaign as in 2016 and 2020, presenting himself as an anti-system candidate who is close to the people.

– Drones, snipers –

Trump supporters in Florida on November 5, 2024 © AFP – Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo

Tuesday concludes a stunning race marked by the vice president's abrupt entry into the race in July to replace aging President Joe Biden and two assassination attempts against the former Republican president, who has been criminally indicted four times.

What comes next remains a big unknown.

Both sides have already filed dozens of lawsuits, while two in three Americans fear an outbreak of violence after the election.

Some polling stations have turned into fortresses, monitored by drones and with snipers on the roofs.

On Tuesday morning, the federal police, the FBI, warned against fake videos circulating that cast doubt on the integrity of voting operations.

Wooden boards cover the facade of a pharmacy, in Washington, November 4, 2024 © AFP – Brendan SMIALOWSKI

In the federal capital Washington, metal barriers surround the White House, the Capitol and other sensitive sites. Downtown businesses have covered their windows with wooden boards.

The images of January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters attacked the seat of the American Congress, remain fresh in everyone's minds.

Donald Trump has already laid the first stones of a new protest, accusing the Democrats of “cheating like hell.”

And the Democratic camp says it “expects” the Republican to declare himself the winner prematurely, as he did in 2020.

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