One of the closest election cycles in modern history closes tonight. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are in a dead heat going into polls closing. Here is a recap of what they have promised if elected.
Harris has run her campaign on creating an “opportunity economy,” preserving reproductive rights and a pragmatic approach to curbing border crossings. In her closing argument at the Ellipse in Washington, Harris compared Trump to a “petty tyrant” and asked Americans to imagine a nation built on progress rather than “retribution.”
Trump has run his campaign asking Americans to remember what his tenure in the White House was like; he seeks to enact mass deportation of immigrants, reimagine tariffs to reduce prices, prosecute political enemies and end the Department of Education. The former president’s closing argument at Madison Square Garden doubled down on the divisive rhetoric that has been a hallmark of his campaign, calling Harris “a very low IQ individual.”
Polls begin to close tonight across the nation at 5 p.m. CST, with the first swing state, North Carolina, closing at 6:30 p.m. Polls in Illinois close at 7 p.m.
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Eileen O’Neill Burke, a former prosecutor and the Democrat candidate for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, led a commanding victory over Republican candidate Robert Bob W. Fioretti.
The Associated Press called the elections just before 9 p.m. with 59% of the total votes counted. O’Neill Burke amassed 64.8% of the vote to Fioretti’s 30.8%. She narrowly defeated Clayton Harris III in the Democratic primary in March and since then pulled in endorsements from many labor groups, elected officials, lawyers and retired judges’ committee co-chairs.
In her speeches, O’Neill Burke campaigned over the assurance of a safer Chicago. She plans to address the root causes of crime and banning assault weapons. The newly elected state attorney plans on tweaking her predecessor Kim Foxx’s bail reform policies, which she said has not effectively dealt with the spike in crime.
Trump has won South Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Alabama and Florida. Indiana and Kentucky were claimed by Trump earlier, giving him a total of 95 electoral votes.
Vice President Harris has also won several consistently blue states including Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maryland, earning a total of 35 electoral votes, with Vermont being called earlier.
Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Virginia, Kansas, North Carolina, Georgia, Illinois and Texas are currently counting their votes, and results are projected to come in soon. North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan are crucial swing states in the election.
Indiana, Kentucky and Vermont have been called for the 2024 Presidential election. Trump has won Indiana and Kentucky, with 19 total electoral votes. Harris has won Vermont with three electoral votes.
Indiana Republican Jim Banks has been projected to win the Senate seat. Bernie Sanders, the incumbent senator won the Vermont seat running as an independent.
The next results expected are from Georgia, a battleground state in this election.
As of 12 p.m. on Election Day, 729,075 ballots have been cast in Chicago out of the 1,498,873 registered voters in the city. That is 48.64% turnout so far, including early voting and already processed mail-in ballots.
Chicago usually sees around 70% voter turnout throughout the city for presidential elections according to Max Bever from the Chicago Board of Elections.
The largest age demographics for voters has been those age 25 to 34 who have cast 152,098 ballots and ages 35 to 44 casting 127,334 ballots. Generation Z, age 18 to 24, had 49,097 ballots cast as of noon.
There have been long lines at polling sites, with some voters waiting up to three hours to vote, according to CBS News. However, Chicago’s “Vote Anywhere” program has allowed voters to cast their ballots at other locations to avoid long wait times.
In the 2020 presidential election, 1.2 million Chicagoans voted, which was a 73% turnout and an increase from the 2016 election.
Voting in Chicago ends at 7 p.m. CST.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger confirmed Tuesday morning that polling locations in the state had received bomb threats, but said that the threats were “not credible” and attributed them to Russia. Raffensperger said that the threats impacted between five and seven precincts in multiple counties.
Georgia is a key battleground state, and will play a crucial role in deciding whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump will secure the votes they need in the electoral college to win the presidency.This has invited election interference efforts in the state, particularly from foreign governments.
Speaking to reporters about Russian interference efforts, Raffensperger said, “They’re up to mischief it seems …. They don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election.”
According to Raffensperger, federal law enforcement assisted in identifying the threat. He said that as of Tuesday morning, the threat was dealt with and that law enforcement is on top of it.
