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Donald Trump, US President:
"We're going to have a great night. And more importantly, we are going to have a great four years."
Joe Biden, Democratic presidential candidate:
"The people will decide who becomes president."
Kamala Harris, Vice-President of the Democrats:
"We vote because this election is about everything. Everything."
Donald Trump, US President:
"Winning is easy. Losing is never easy. Not for me."
The US has been waiting for this November 3rd for months.
So now it was there, election day.
People stood in long lines across the country to vote on who would become president.
Whether in prison in Denver, Colorado, via drive-through in Salt Lake City, Utah, or accompanied by a mariachi band in Los Angeles.
An election in the midst of a pandemic provides special images.
Even corona infected people were allowed to cast their votes with special isolation, as here in St. Louis, Montana.
As for voter turnout, the vote set a record before election day.
More than 100 million people voted before November 3rd, more than ever before.
And: That was already more than 73 percent of all votes in 2016, reported the "US Elections Project".
Overall, a significantly higher turnout than four years ago is expected.
The US president first visited the headquarters of his election campaign in Virginia.
But then he followed the events from two operations centers in the White House.
That was also viewed critically, because presidents are required to clearly separate government work and election campaigns.
With Trump this was an issue before.
He gave his speech at the end of the Republican Congress in August before the White House.
His team now assured that the operations centers would be financed entirely from election campaign funds on election day.
In front of
the White House, additional fences should provide more security.
Many Trump opponents used this as a poster board during the day.
They gathered in front of the president's office to protest against him.
So far everything has remained peaceful.
This initially also applies to the rest of the country.
Biden visited his home state Pennsylvania on election day and showed himself to his fans in Philadelphia.
He also visited the neighboring state of Delaware.
However, he did not trust himself to make a prognosis early in the evening.
Joe Biden, Democratic presidential candidate:
"I'm superstitious when it comes to predicting an outcome. That's how I am. That's how I've always run. But I'm hopeful."
When there will be a result is still completely unclear.
It could be hours - and even days.
In some states the situation is so tight that a majority will only appear late.
A second reason is the high number of postal votes.
In some states, these have only been counted since election day - and that too takes time.
The country will have to wait for a final, official result.