The grueling campaign season is over (collective sigh), but the real race for the presidency has just begun. Only hours after President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney concluded their campaign-trail rallies, it was off to the races Tuesday at polling stations throughout the U.S. From battleground Ohio to the crucial state of Florida, The Daily Beast takes a peek at polling stations across the nation. Go vote!
Vermont, which opened its polls at 5 a.m., was the first state to officially start Election Day voting (two towns in New Hampshire started at midnight). Here, two local Vermont voters fill out their ballots at the town hall.
As New York struggles to bounce back from Hurricane Sandy, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an emergency order allowing residents of New York to vote at any polling station in the state. Although the move will likely allow many to vote who otherwise wouldn’t be able to—for some without power, gas, and food, the move won’t be enough.
Will Ohio be the next Florida? The Buckeye State, on top of potentially being the state that decides the winner, is facing additional last-minute controversy as a lawsuit claiming that Secretary of State Jon Husted approved untested voting machines. Here, a woman casts her ballot in rural Bowling Green, Ohio.
Romney and his wife, Ann, cast their votes for president in Belmont, Mass.
The president speaks to the media as he visits a campaign office in Chicago on Tuesday. Earlier in the week he cast his own vote—making him the first sitting president to participate in early voting.
Elementary-school kids from across the country were happy to have the day off in order to offer up their schools as polling stations. Here, people enter Washington Mill Elementary School in Alexandria, Va., to cast their vote.
Republican vice-presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, casts his ballot as his wife, Janna, son, Charlie (left), and daughter Liza watch at the Hedberg Public Library in Janesville, Wis.
Rep. Todd Akin, who made headlines with his controversial comments about abortion, speaks to poll workers before casting his ballots with his wife, Lulli. The incumbent competitor for the Missouri Senate seat, Sen. Claire McCaskill, applauds as she checks in with election officials before voting.
Election inspector Jim Nodorft unfurls the American flag to hang it up outside the Smelser town hall as the polls opened at 7 a.m. in Georgetown, Wis.
Although it contains only six electoral votes, Iowa is a highly contested state in the election. Here, voters in Precinct 39 fill out their ballots at the First Church of the Open Bible in Des Moines.
Kristi Voegele is illuminated by sunlight as she casts a ballot at a polling place in Billings, Mont., on Tuesday.
Rain or shine, Americans took to the streets to vote Tuesday. Some are waiting in lines for up to six hours.
A man walks past a polling station Tuesday at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C..
In St. Petersburg, Fla., a volunteer who showed up to provide rides to polls for those in need peeks outside the Pinellas County Democratic Party headquarters. Florida is a hotly contested battleground that offers 29 electoral votes.
In what may turn out to be one of the closest elections on record, many states have seen voter registration at an all-time high. Only hours after Romney and Obama finished campaiging, voters on the East Coast began casting their ballots.
In the reliably blue state of Massachusetts, voters lined up early Tuesday morning to cast their ballots at the Boston Public Library. While the numbers have changed by the hour, final national polls showed an effective tie, with either Obama or Romney favored by a single point in most surveys.
Prior to the polls' 7 a.m. opening, voters in Washington, D.C., stand ready to cast their ballots. D.C. hopes the success of its early voting—in which more than 50,000 residents participated—will take the pressure off polling stations Tuesday.
After Obama became the first Democrat to win Virginia in 44 years in 2008, polls show the candidates are neck and neck in the state this year, vying for Virginia's 13 electoral votes. On the heels of a heated campaign season, voters headed out to the polls Tuesday in record numbers. Here, U.S. Senate candidate George Allen kisses his wife, Susan, after they cast their votes inside Washington Mill Elementary School.
Voters got going bright and early in St. Petersburg, Fla. Florida is a crucial swing state.
Edward Linsmier / Getty Images
Four years after Obama won Indiana—the first Democrat to do so since 1964—Republicans expect a sweeping victory there. At the Kindred Transitional Care and Rehabilitation Center in South Bend, a cat tries to join in the fun.
Following his controversial performance in October's debate, Vice President Joe Biden took a backseat in the final weeks of the campaign. Here, accompanied by his son, Beau; Beau's wife, Hallie; and their daughter Natalie; Biden stands in line to cast his ballot at his home in Greenville, Del.
Matt Rourke / AP Photo
Ohio's 18 electoral votes are still very much up for grabs. Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, could be the most vital county to win in America. Here, a woman arrives at Tremont Elementary School in Cleveland to cast her vote.
A sign on the door of a local elementary school in Bowling Green, Ohio, reminding local residents that school is closed on Election Day. Voting is well underway in the battleground state of Ohio, where recent polls suggest Obama and Romney are neck and neck.
A West Virginia voter walks past piles of snow to enter the polling place in Terra Alta to cast his ballot in the general election. Many voters were relieved to find they would be able to vote despite the heavy snow and damage caused by Superstorm Sandy.
Dave Martin / AP Photo
Although still reeling from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey was up and ready Tuesday morning at the polls. Here, Frank Puzzo sets up a voting booth at Memorial Elementary School in Little Ferry, N.J. The school is hosting all districts in town because the nearby Washington Elementary School is still without power.
Early-morning voters fill out their ballots at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City.
Amid hurricanes, restrictions, and dirty laundry, America votes. At the Su Nueva Laundromat in Chicago's 13th Ward, a woman celebrates after successfully voting electronically.
