Polls open as knife-edge US presidential election gets underway
Polling stations have now opened across the United States, with Democrat Vice-President Harris and Republican former president Trump dead-even in the tightest and most volatile White House race of modern times.
Polling stations officially opened at 6:00 am (11h00UT) on the US east coast, with tens of millions of voters expected to cast their ballots, on top of some 82 million people who have already voted early in preceding weeks.
The bitter rivals spent their final day of the campaign frantically working to get their supporters out to the ballot boxes and win over any undecided voters in the swing states expected to decide the outcome.
But despite a series of head-spinning twists in an unprecedented campaign – from Harris's dramatic entrance when President Joe Biden dropped-out in July, to Trump riding out two assassination attempts and a criminal conviction – nothing has broken the deadlock in opinion polls.
A final outcome may not be known for several days if the results are as close as the polls suggest, adding to the tensions across a deeply divided nation.
Fears of upheaval
There are fears of turmoil and potential violence if Trump loses and then contests the result – as he did in 2020 – with barriers having been erected around the White House and businesses boarded up in Washington.
Cyber security authorities are also on high alert for disinformation or hacking the campaigns.
Trading partners are nervously watching in anticipation of his promise to impose sweeping import tariffs.
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