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Polling station in Hillsboro, Virginia
Photo: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP
The candidates' campaigns lasted for months, and the US citizens now have the final say: In the US, the first polling stations have opened for the presidential election.
After voting had already taken place at midnight (local time) in two small towns, the polling stations in larger cities and municipalities in the eastern United States now opened.
At 6 a.m. local time (which corresponds to 12 p.m. Central European time), they opened in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, for example.
Long queues formed in front of some bars.
The decision will be made between incumbent Donald Trump, who runs for the Republicans, and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
In Ohio and North Carolina, which are part of the hard-fought states ("swing states"), voters have been flocking to the polls since 6:30 am local time.
In Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan - where a close race is also possible - many polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. local time (1:00 p.m. Central European time).
Trump is chasing capital letters again on Twitter
At the start of election day, Trump and his challenger Biden tried again to get their supporters to vote.
"VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!"
("Vote! Vote! Vote!"), Republican Trump tweeted in capital letters on Tuesday.
His democratic rival Biden also tweeted several times.
He called for voting "for a new day in America".
"We can bring our country back."
He and Kamala Harris, his vice presidency candidate, could heal the "soul of this nation".
"I promise - we won't let you down."
Because the United States spans several time zones, polling stations open for several hours.
To the east follow the states in the center of the country.
In the west coast state of California you can cast your vote from 7 a.m. local time.
Hawaii and Alaska are at the bottom of the table: Voters can vote here until 6 a.m. Central European time on Wednesday, and on the Aleutian archipelago in the North Pacific for an hour longer.
But many voters have already voted.
Almost 100 million US citizens voted by letter or in pre-opened polling stations, as reported by the US Elections Project.
This corresponds to around 70 percent of the votes cast in the 2016 presidential election.
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beb / dpa