Photo combination created on November 4, 2024 showing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump on the left (AFP / ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS)
Tens of millions of Americans are voting on Tuesday to decide whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will enter the White House, an election under high tension and with major stakes for the United States and the rest of the world.
From Atlanta to Phoenix, from the plains of the Midwest to the coast of Florida, voters waited in long lines on this historic day.
“I encourage everyone to get out and vote,” said the 60-year-old Democratic vice-president, who could become the first woman to lead the world’s leading power.
The Republican, author of a spectacular political comeback after being convicted in court, said he was “very confident” in his victory, just after voting in West Palm Beach, near his residence.
Number of campaign trips by American presidential candidates by state since the nomination of Kamala Harris, between July 22 and October 30 (AFP / Corin FAIFE)
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.”
– “Reconciliation” –
More than 82 million Americans have already cast their vote early. It is impossible to know whether it will take hours or days of counting to know the verdict.
Americans also vote on whether Democrats or Republicans will control Congress, as well as to fill gubernatorial positions. The ultra-controversial issue of abortion is the subject of several local referendums.
Darlene Taylor voted in Erie, Pennsylvania, a key state likely to swing this extremely close election.
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, this price of gasoline and lies,” she explains.
Marchelle Beason, 46, voted for Kamala Harris.
“I think it will reconcile the whole population, the whole world, because we are currently so divided.”
A line of voters waiting for their turn to vote in Washington, November 5, 2024 (AFP / Allison ROBBERT)
At the meetings of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, two apparently irreconcilable Americas have flocked in recent weeks, each camp being convinced that the other was going to lead the country into disaster.
The former California prosecutor called her rival a “fascist.” The ex-business tycoon insisted that she was going to “destroy” the country.
– Neck to elbow –
The verdict at the polls will be historic in any case.
The latest polls give the two adversaries almost tied in the seven crucial states, those which, in this indirect vote, will give the Democrat or the Republican the sufficient number of electors to reach the threshold of 270 out of 538, synonymous with victory.
Residents of Dixville Notch filled out their ballots at midnight for the first votes of US election day, in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, United States, November 5, 2024 (AFP / Joseph Prezioso)
To try to convince in just three months of campaigning, Kamala Harris focused on a message of protection of democracy and the right to abortion, aimed at women and moderate Republicans.
Donald Trump, who left the White House in 2021 in a chaotic context, having survived two impeachment procedures, replayed in this campaign the same score as in 2016 and 2020, presenting himself as an anti-system candidate.
– Fake bomb threats –
Trump supporters in Florida, November 5, 2024 (AFP / Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo)
This day of voting concludes a stunning race, marked by the abrupt entry into the running of the vice-president in July, replacing aging President Joe Biden, and by two assassination attempts against the former Republican president, four times criminally charged.
What happens next remains a big unknown.
Both camps have filed dozens of legal actions, while two in three Americans fear an eruption of violence after the vote.
Some polling stations have turned into fortresses, monitored by drones and with snipers on the roofs.
False bomb threats attributed to Russian destabilization operations targeted polling stations, briefly disrupting the vote in Georgia (southeast), according to the authorities.
Wooden planks 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.
The images of January 6, 2021, when Trumpists attacked the seat of the American Congress, remain in everyone's minds.
Donald Trump has already laid the first stones of a new challenge, 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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