Polls have officially opened in several states for the 2020 general election as Americans decide who will lead their country for the next four years.
As of 7 a.m. ET, polls have opened in every state in the eastern time zone, and most of the polls in the central time zone have opened as well.
In the final days, polling continued to show that President Donald Trump faces an uphill battle in his re-election bid against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, as Trump trails by between 5 and 10 points in many national polls.
However, he faces a smaller deficit in several key swing states. In Pennsylvania, which many analysts consider will be the "tipping point," Biden leads by anywhere from between four and seven points.
While millions of Americans will cast their ballots on Tuesday, record numbers have already voted. According to Vox, about 98 million Americans voted early — whether in-person or by mail — as fears of the COVID-19 forced many to plan ahead.
Vox also reports that nearly a dozen states have already seen 90% of the ballots cast compared to the 2016 election.
Due to high numbers of mail-in ballots — and state procedures for counting them — there's a significant chance that analysts will be unable to project a winner for the presidency by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
In Pennsylvania, officials could not begin processing and counting mail-in ballots until Tuesday morning, while other states like Florida allow some of that work to be done by election day.
It's not just the presidency on the line on Tuesday. Democrats also believe they have a shot at taking control of the Senate. In order to do so, they would need to pick up a net of three Senate seats and likely account for a probable loss in Alabama, where Democratic Sen. Doug Jones is expected to lose to Republican challenger Tommy Tuberville.
