Donald Trump Defeats Hillary Clinton, Will Be 45th US President

Donald Trump struck a conciliatory tone in his victory speech on Wednesday, calling for healing the divides ripped open during a raucous campaign.

"Now is time for America to bind the wounds of division," Trump said, surrounded by his family and running mate Mike Pence. "Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country."

Trump addressed a crowd of supporters, many of them waving red caps in the air, after what proved to be a surprising and overwhelming victory for the White House.

As the night wore on, what seemed to be an unlikely path to the White House became a poll-defying victory for a candidate that was seemed to contradict practically every prediction for more than a year.

"This political stuff is nasty and it's tough," he said.

Though marred by a campaign in which he called Mexican immigrants rapists, proposed to ban all Muslims from entering the country, and repeatedly described inner cities as violent centers, Trump promised to "be a president for all Americans."

Read more here.

—Salvador Hernandez

Both election nights began with an establishment campaign confident of victory following a unusually nasty and confrontational political battle. Both ended up with an unexpected victory for populist right-wing candidates. Both saw pollsters, pundits, and journalists questioning how they called it very wrong.

The broad comparisons between Donald Trump's election as President of the United States and the Leave campaign's victory in the EU referendum are easy to make.

It'll take months and years of analysis to work out whether similar factors – an unexpectedly turnout from traditionally non-voting white working class, journalists who didn't realize that fact-checking would, and an unlikeable establishment campaign – were what cost Clinton the election.

What's certain, as experienced by this British reporter on the ground in largely liberal New York, is how the election night felt the same as Brexit.

Read more here.

—Jim Waterson

Latino voters are freaking out over Trump's win

Hillary Clinton's campaign fought hard to mobilize Latino voters against Donald Trump, as he promised to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, compared undocumented

Mexican immigrants to criminals and rapists, and said he would stop immigrants from sending money back there.

But now, as election results pour in county by county and show that Trump is running up a greater lead against Clinton, Latino voters throughout Arizona and in San Francisco told BuzzFeed News that they're scared.

Read more here. —Priya Anand, Adolfo Flores, Caroline O'Donovan

Clinton calls Trump to concede election, CNN reports

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has called Republican Donald Trump to concede the election, multiple outlets, including CNN, reported.

— Michelle Broder Van Dyke

PHILADELPHIA — Henry Jackson was nervous on the night before the election. He sat on a chair on a sidewalk in north Philadelphia smoking a cigarette he'd bummed.

"We can't have Trump become president," he said. "We just gotta hope he goes away and goes back to his own business."

The 25-year-old construction worker had thought about the possibility of a President Donald Trump. He'd thought about what he would do if it happened.

"I got my passport already," he said. "Move to Costa Rica or something."

Many of Philadelphia's black residents shared his fear.

Read more here.

—Albert Samaha

Follow our electoral map here.

WELLESLEY, Massachusetts — The women came to see her win. They came to celebrate her in the place their pasts, presents, and futures coincided with her own history. They wore pins and hats and sweaters emblazoned with her name, and "Who Run The World," and "The Future Is Female." They wore shirts that positioned her jubilant face directly on their breasts in winking defiance. They came from far and wide, bringing with them their children and partners and friends. They were supposed to see her win together. But the party ended before they could even see her lose.

President Paula Johnson brought the increasingly grim night at Wellesley College to an end as Hillary Clinton trailed behind Donald Trump, but before the election had been called. It was a merciful act; partygoers had largely dispersed by 1:30 am on Wednesday, shivering out of Wellesley's gymnasium, which had been warmly packed just hours before with an estimated 3,000 people — mostly women.

The election may not turn out the way we had hoped," Johnson told the stragglers. "Now more than ever we must be part of a momentum that takes us forward from this moment."

The president's small audience cheered out of pride for their school, and out of having no other choice but to take comfort in Johnson's words. But by that point, several students were already crying, hugging each other as they sobbed, or draped across comforting friends on the gymnasium floor.

"I knew it was gonna be close, but I never thought it was gonna be like this," sophomore Elena Purcell said through tears. All she could think of, she said, was her grandmother who came to the country undocumented.

"Donald Trump is against so many people who live in this country, but it'd be a lot easier to deal with that if I thought it was just Trump who hated me. There's evidently a majority of people who either agree with him or who don't see his views as a problem," she said. "We've come so far but it's not far enough."

Freshman Alison Carey said she "had it in my head she would landslide," calling Clinton's fall "shattering" and "sickening."

Her friend Eve Montie also found it hard to believe. "Where we live now and the areas where we grew up — it became easy to think this was impossible. It's hard now to think this is something we didn't consider."

Sophomore Katherine Gao said she's "worried about the long term effect."

"These four years are gonna suck but he's going to appoint so many right wing Supreme Court judges," she said.

But many more Wellesley students said they were too far into shock to see past tomorrow. Some said they would skip class. Some said they would go, just to be around other people, grateful for a distraction. Others couldn't seem to see at all through the fog of their emerging loss.

"I hoped we were better than this," said sophomore Luci Navas. "If he wins, I don't know how I'm gonna go to class or go to work or live my life."

— Jessica Testa

It's real: Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States.

The Republican nominee defeated Hillary Clinton, a stunning victory that concludes a stunning two years in American history.

Trump will enter office after he pulled the country into one of the darkest and most fraught elections in decades, one that brought forth deep schisms within both parties, and one that he ultimately dominated with his personality, words, and actions.

Underneath the Trump show, the election centered on massive economic and demographic changes taking place that seem destined to alter US politics. But for now, there are still many, many white voters — and they have delivered the presidency to Trump.

What happens next is unclear. Much of the political and national security establishment opposed Trump, and Washington Democrats in recent days have said they do not have a plan for a Trump presidency.

Read more here.

—Katherine Miller

Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt defeated Secretary of State Jason Kander by about five percentage points, according to reports.

Missouri had two very different candidates to choose between: An older, career politician in Blunt, and a young, fresh face in Kander.

Kander exceeded expectations for a state that was initially not any reason to worry Republicans, but it ended up becoming a tight race.

In one ad, Kander, the Democrat, assembled a rifle while blindfolded where he talks about his support for both the 2nd Amendment and background checks. He ended the ad in a challenging note: "I'd like to see Sen. Blunt do this."

In a state long expected to go to Trump, Blunt was able to weather the storm and comfortably stay supportive of the Republican candidate.

— Lissandra Villa

Read more of the reaction here.

—Michelle Broder Van Dyke

Clinton campaign manager John Podesta described several states as too close to call in the early hours of Wednesday, and Clinton would not be conceding.

"Let's get those votes counted, and let's bring this home," Podesta told supporters at the official victory party in New York.

"We can wait a little longer, can't we? They're still counting votes, and every vote should count. "

Podesta also told attendees of what the campaign had hoped would be a victory party to go home.

The crowd at the Javits center had already thinned out by the time Podesta took the stage. Their reactions through the night ranged from disbelief, worried, stunned to anguish. As the night wore on and the votes continued to pour in predominately for Trump, Clinton's loyal supporters cried and hugged each other for moral support.

"Several states are too close to call, so we're not going to have anything more to say tonight," he said.

—Claudia Koerner and Claudia Rosenbaum

Read more about the reaction here.

—Blake Montgomery

A Donald Trump presidency is likely to have a negative effect on the American economy, stalling job growth, slowing trade, and sending markets plummeting, according to nearly the entire mainstream of the economics profession.

There is already some evidence to support these positions. Some markets that have already opened for trading are plummeting, while traders are expecting perhaps record-setting declines in US stock markets when they open Wednesday morning. Throughout the campaign, US stocks responded positively to Clinton going up in the polls and in betting markets.

"In terms of signs, we said Trump would be terrible for the stock market, and so far that appears to be true," Justin Wolfers, an economist at the University of Michigan who did research on what markets thought of Clinton and Trump respectively, told BuzzFeed News.

Read more here.

— Matthew Zeitlin and Molly Hensley Clancy

NEW YORK, NY - Justin Trudeau ran on an optimistic campaign of hope and hard work. Donald Trump ran on a campaign of anger, paranoia, and apocalyptic warnings.

But as I watched Donald Trump's rise and covered his campaign events this year, I kept thinking back to the three-months in 2015 — That's the whole campaign in Canada! — that brought the 43-year-old Trudeau to power while his opponents mocked his resume, his lineage, even his good looks.

Trudeau was once largely known for silly antics, cartoonish speeches, repeatedly sticking his foot in his mouth. I'd heard that Tom Mulcair, leader of the left-wing New Democratic Party, once soothed supporters by saying he'd be worried about Justin Trudeau's academic brother entering politics, but not the lightweight son.

Read more here.

—Paul McLeod

SALT LAKE CITY — Donald Trump's success here on Tuesday night was doubly bitter for Utah Democrats.

After CNN called the race in Utah for the Republican nominee many people at a Democratic gathering in Salt Lake City booed and yelled. A few sprawled out on the floor. Most just shook their heads.

"This is a disaster," Ellen Brady told BuzzFeed News as CNN broadcast Trump's growing national lead. "It's like we just walked over a cliff. I'm devastated. I quite frankly want to leave the country."

What made Trump's success especially difficult for many in attendance, however, was the fact that they had hoped to flip Utah and turn it blue.

It was always a long-shot bid — Utah has gone red for decades — but as the night wore on many in the room hoped that Clinton win in Utah would become a pivotal piece in a larger Democratic victory.

Sheryl Ginsberg, of Salt Lake City, didn't know what happened with the final result in Utah. She pointed out that Democrats devoted more resources to the state than during past elections, and more people volunteered, but still the party couldn't pull off a victory.

"There was really hope we were going to turn it," she said, fighting back tears. "I guess people go conservative when they are afraid."

A young woman from Salt Lake City who asked only to be identified as Sahra also became emotional as she described the results of Tuesday night's election.

"I feel shock, disgust, and nauseated," she said, her eyes welling with tears. "I really hoped for better. As a Latina female, I'm actually terrified."

Soon after CNN called the Utah race for Trump, people begin filing out of the Democratic gathering. Before long the lights had gone up, the music stopped, and the crowds had dwindled. on her way out, Ginsberg and a friend both mentioned that they were going up to their rooms to mourn.

"i'm pretty fucking depressed right now," she added.

— Jim Dalrymple II

The state is another major victory for the Republican nominee, putting him on the brink of securing enough electoral votes for the presidency.

Follow our electoral map here.

Linda Sarsour, who is the Executive Director of The Arab American Association of New York, told BuzzFeed News that never before had she felt "unsafe in my own country," but emphasized that she was more determined than ever despite the risk.

"I didn't feel like this under George Bush… I didn't feel unsafe in my own country," Sarsour said to BuzzFeed News. "I have a responsibility to stay positive, and to say that I'm going to organize tomorrow harder than I ever organized in my life. We cannot allow people in this country to fall into despair. I'm more determined than I ever was."

Read more here.

—Michelle Broder Van Dyke and David Noriega

lection day's main victories for labor and working people came via down-ballot initiatives. In four states — Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington — workers won increases to the minimum wage. In Arizona and Washington they also won paid sick leave.

In every state the initiatives were put forward to be voted on directly, they won. The Fight for 15, the low-wage worker movement to raise the minimum wage, tweeted out their support for the policies as they passed.

Read more here.

—Cora Lewis

The Associated Press has called the Pennsylvania senate race in incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey's favor — a win that means Republicans will keep control of the US Senate if they hold their seats in Louisiana and Alaska as expected.

Toomey's seat was seen as vulnerable, and his opponent, Katie McGinty had surrogates and financial resources on her side. Ultimately, the race was very tight.

McGinty, who has formerly been an environmental adviser (just one of the roles on her extensive resume), was heavily invested in early on by groups including EMILY's List and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

But nonetheless, her campaign faced struggles. McGinty is not a natural campaigner, and it was revealed her claim that she was the first in her family to go to college was not true.

Toomey's vulnerability resulted in his distancing himself from Trump. It wasn't until Election Day that Toomey finally said he voted for the Republican nominee. But creating space may not have been necessary: Trump was not as harmful to down-ballot Republicans as many expected them to be.

— Lissandra Villa

Republicans will be holding their majority in the Senate, denying Democrats the four seats they needed for a takeover — a surprising outcome following months and millions of dollars Democrats spent pounding GOP incumbents for their ties to Donald Trump.

With the Trump's campaign performing much better than expected, the Democrats strategy of tying GOP incumbents to Trump didn't help the party's challengers. And even races that the Democrats had been counting on — like Wisconsin, they couldn't close on Tuesday night.

Polls showed several of these races to be pure toss-ups heading into the election, but Republican incumbents were able to survive the lack of organization from the top of the ticket and Trump's controversial remarks by focusing on hyper-local issues.

The Senate majority is a big win for Republicans after a chaotic year in which the map clearly favored Democrats, who defended only one tough seat this year — retiring Sen. Harry Reid's seat in Nevada.

Read more here.

—Tarini Parti

Leading up to the election, many Clinton voters celebrated the historic moment with the little members of the country.

Now, parents are wondering what to tell their kids in the morning if Trump wins the election.

For more reaction, go here.

—Remy Smidt

As a Trump presidency becomes more and more likely, Jews are sharing messages of fear, sadness, and solidarity — both with one another, and with other groups.

For more of the reaction, go here.

—Julia Reinstein

A Trump presidency would be "shocking," "baffling," "frightening," and "scary" according to officials across the world who spoke to BuzzFeed News as polls increasingly forecast Trump winning the White House.

"There is no plan for what happens when Trump wins. It was too frightening to consider," said one senior US diplomat based in Egypt. Like others quoted in this story, he would only speak off record as the official results of the vote had not yet been announced. "This shifts our standing throughout the world, not just the Middle East. Diplomats all over the world will have to redraw their map and reconsider allegiances."

His disorientation over a Trump vote was echoed by officials reached across the world, who appeared unprepared for what would happen to US-world relations under a Trump administration.

Read more here.

—Sheera Frenkel, Ali Watkins, Megha Rajagopalan, Karla Zabludovsky

Trump fans are freaking out online because their candidate is doing much better than polls predicted.

A lot of them are like, "Told you so." And many were excited because they felt like their voice had truly been heard.

For more of the elation, go here.

—Stephanie McNeal

PHOENIX — Tania Unzueta, field organizer with Bazta Arpaio, was reveling in her group's victory over Sheriff Joe Arpaio but kept refreshing the New York Times on her phone, closely watching the presidential results come in.

"I'm worried because it looks like it's going to go to Trump," Unzueta said. "For those of us working in immigrant rights we always knew we were going to fight the Democrats or the Republicans. But under a Trump it's going to be a lot tougher."

"It's a threat to not only immigrants but to the Latino, black, women, and LGBT community.

"On a very personal level it scares me," she said. "My immediate thought is how are we going to organize?"

— Adolfo Flores

MIAMI — Hillary Clinton supporters gathered at the EB Hotel here in Florida told BuzzFeed News they are shocked by the massive swing towards Donald Trump across multiple states, including their own.

Wendy Reiner, 64, sat sullen in a large armchair in the hotel's lounge where Clinton supporters have gathered to watch the polls.

"I am shocked that Trump is doing as well as he's doing considering he has no substance," she told BuzzFeed News.

She believes Trump's potential selections for his administration — Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich, in particular — would set the country on a downward spiral that may not satisfy his supporters' hunger for immediate change.

"I just don't get it," she said. "I don't get what people are thinking."

Julia Alzate, 45, sat perched at the edge of an oversized couch at the edge of the party.

"I'm shocked especially because I thought everybody in Florida would vote for Hillary because there are so many Latinos here," she told BuzzFeed News. "I'm really in shock that my people voted for him, against Hillary."

She said she can't understand Trump's Latino support after he's treated "us like delinquents."

"Since this campaign has started we have seen the American people are against us," she said. "There are just bad vibrations. We never felt like that before."

— Leticia Miranda

Follow our electoral map here.

Amid a close race, people are starting to call for secession, as often happens on election night.

Read more about the reaction here.

—Julia Reinstein

Dollar hammered on prospect of a Trump presidency

With Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump likely winning the presidential election, the U.S. dollar is falling against the Japanese Yen, the Euro, and the British Pound, while surging against the Mexican Peso.

The dollar is trading just above 101 yen to the dollar, down from over 105 earlier, or an almost 3% shift down today. According to data collected by Bloomberg, the volatility of the yen/dollar pair is the highest since the British European Union referendum vote.

The greenback is down almost 2% against the Euro, which stands at .89 euros to the dollar. It's down more than 1% against the British Pound, which was crushed earlier this year after the Brexit vote.

Read more here.

—Matthew Zeitlin

Follow our electoral map here.

We are not alone in this hour of edge-of-your-seat nail-biting over the current election.

Take a look back here.

—Laura Geiser

MANHATTAN — A small group of Trump supporters and onlookers, carefully monitored by police officers, began to gather late Tuesday night around Trump Tower, where the Republican nominee is currently holed up with campaign staff.

Many of the Trump supporters had come from out of town, like a group of women from San Diego, California, who had turned up at Trump Tower because, as one said, "at every bar, everyone's supporting Hillary."

"We thought here we'd find some friends," her friend said.

One police officer overseeing the crowd seemed to sympathize. "My daughter keeps asking me, 'Why don't you want a woman president?'" he said. "I say, 'I do, just not this woman.'"

—Ema O'Connor

WELLESLEY, Massachusetts — As Donald Trump's electoral vote tally rose Tuesday night, nerves spread quickly throughout the crowd gathered at her alma mater.

"I am worried for the children," said Sarah Curi, Wellesley class of 1990. "We are a country that has seen over time an expansion of civil rights, diversity, and women in society. I fear the Trump presidency will destroy too many of the gains people have fought and died over."

Christine Thompson, class of 2001, said she was jittery and anxious. Two freshman from the class of 2020 shared in the anxiety: Kalau Tanaka-Pesamino said she was feeling "stressed, anxious, but pretty optimistic." Her friend Kyler Murria Castro said she felt "confused and angry" at Trump's lead.

The crowd continued to roar every time a new state was announced for Clinton, and groan when another went to Trump.

By 11:30 p.m., more students and alumnae were leaving the party, still claiming to be hopeful, but the jubilance they expressed at the beginning of the night had virtually disappeared.

— Jessica Testa

Follow our electoral map here.

Nebraska voters decided on Tuesday to bring back the death penalty in the state, more than a year after the legislature voted to repeal it.

When the legislature abolished the death penalty, overriding a veto by Gov. Pete Ricketts last year, death penalty abolitionists held up the state as a sign that even conservative states could abandon the death penalty.

But Ricketts and his family bankrolled a campaign to allow voters the chance to bring the death penalty back, spending more than $400,000 to do so.

His bet paid off.

Read more here.

—Chris McDaniel

Donald Trump is doing much better in the election that anyone expected, and many women are in shock.

"I'm just going to sew my mouth & labia shut right now. Clearly women's ideas & bodies have no respect in America," one person wrote on Twitter.

For more of the reaction, go here.

—Stephanie McNeal

Follow our electoral map here.

Arizona voters on Tuesday ousted Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who for more than 20 years presided over the state's largest county as the self-styled "toughest sheriff in America."

Arpaio, the former Drug Enforcement Administration special agent, built himself a contentious legacy: Beloved by some for his tough-on-crime and anti-immigrant policies, he is reviled by those who say he abused his power to make life difficult for Latino immigrants.

Maricopa County's new sheriff, Paul Penzone, is a former Phoenix police sergeant who nearly beat Arpaio in 2012. This time around, Penzone was seen as a more credible challenger to Arpaio. With half of precincts reporting, Penzone had secured 54.87% of the vote to Arpaio's 45.13%.

Arpaio's loss is a huge win for Latino and immigrant activists in Maricopa County. For years he was effectively a one-man institution in Arizona who had mounted some of the nation's strongest policies against Latino immigrants.

"I'm still processing this," Maxima Guerrero, a campaign coordinator with Bazta Arpaio, told BuzzFeed News.

Read more here.

—Adolfo Flores and Claudia Koerner

Follow our electoral map here.

ALTOONA, Pennsylvania — In the heart of Trump country, the mood has shifted to exuberance at a Republican Party poll-watch celebration.

As North Carolina and then Florida fell to Trump, the cheers grew louder at Zach's Sports & Spirits, where local Republicans gathered to watch the race after months of knocking on doors and advocating for Donald Trump.

Cheers of "We're going to the White House" rang with each called state.

"You can officially say I am optimistic about the national race," Blair County Republican Committee Chair Lois Kaneshiki told BuzzFeed News. "Things are looking good for us."

Hanging in the balance right now is Pennsylvania itself, and Michigan, states that may help determine the race.

—Dan Vergano

Muslim-Americans at the Arab-American Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, express worry and concern about the night's tight race.

"I am frightened, I am petrified at the thought of the presidential race being so close," one man said. —Mary Ann Georgantopoulos

Voters in California were passing a measure on Tuesday night to legalize recreational marijuana, according to the Associated Press, making it the latest state to defy federal prohibition and test the waters under a new presidential administration.

Four more states are voting on similar proposals on Election Day, including Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada. The measures in Massachusetts and Maine were leading on Tuesday night.

The initiatives would allow adults to use marijuana and grow a few plants, while also regulating a commercial pot market much like alcohol.

Three more states are considering ballot measures to legalize marijuana for medical use, including Florida, which was approving Amendment 2 by more than 70% Tuesday night. Meanwhile, North Dakota's measure was winning with more than 60% of the vote.

President Obama has consistently opposed legal pot, but he has mostly stayed out of states that experiment with policies that clash with federal law.

Read more here.

—Dominic Holden

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island — Supporters of former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders were anxious and glum at a party here as they watched early election results pour in showing an extremely tight race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

"To me, it's the difference between feeling really shitty and feeling even shittier," said Sara Ali, 29. "I still don't support her, but I kind of need her to win at this point. It's not much of a choice anymore seeing how real and how close it is."

Her boyfriend, 22-year-old Sean Monahan, sat near Ali, who is an Egyptian citizen and from a Muslim family. "If Trump has his way she'll be like, one of the first ones to go," Monahan said.

"Not me, my family," Ali replied, holding knitting needles and a half-made baby blanket.

Ali, who has lived in New York and New Jersey, says she also worries about what a Donald Trump presidency would mean for discrimination against Muslims.

"I'm an atheist, I don't really have any relation to the culture, but like, when you're racist, you don't think that way," she said. "My last name is Ali, I've had cops asked me about that in the past."

"I have friends who have had rocks thrown at their cars, like, all the horror stories that you hear about. My friend's had some guy rip her scarf off. So it's real and it's really close to home for me," she said.

—Emma Loop

It looks as though the biggest fake news hit of election day goes to the folks at TMZHipHop.com. (No relation to the real TMZ.)

Their hoax about Lil Wayne voting for Trump has generated over 17,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook.

The story includes a fake quote from Lil Wayne where he says he can identify with Trump's wealth...

Read more here.

—Craig Silverman

The state is a surprise victory in what became a big battleground state this election season.

Follow our electoral map here.

Follow our electoral map here.

LAS VEGAS— As their rapid population growth increases their potential as a significant voting demographic, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (known as AAPI) here who spoke to BuzzFeed News were largely divided on their political choices when it came to who they think should run the country.

According to the 2010 Census, the AAPI community comprised about 6.7% of the total population in Las Vegas, but the demographic group is widely considered to be the fastest-growing not just in Nevada, but the entire US.

Artie Blanco, program director of For Our Future, has done targeted work in Las Vegas' AAPI community for the past seven years. She told BuzzFeed News that she only expects the group to continue to grow.

"People need to see the AAPI community as they saw the Latino community 15 years ago," Blanco said, adding that For Our Future had employed as many as 10 campaigners to canvas door to door throughout the city.

But AAPI voters remain divided over their presidential picks.

Flordeliza, who declined to give her last name, told BuzzFeed News that she voted for Hillary Clinton because while the candidate has made mistakes in the past, she believes the Democratic nominee will learn from and rectify them as president.

But Bowie Lai, a real estate investor originally from Hong Kong, supports Trump.

"I think Trump is a person who looks forward to getting things done," said Lai.

For 30-year-old Kyle P., who declined to give his full last name, the primary deciding factor in whom to elect president was the candidates' stances on LGBT issues.

"I feel like Hillary Clinton is more accepting of the LGBT community, even though she wasn't in the past," said Kyle P. "I also want to see a woman in government."

Minddie L., who works for Clark County and said she could not give her last name for security reasons, said she hopes Trump will "shake up and wake up Washington, DC." That's why she voted for him.

Originally from Guam, Alicia Pascua told BuzzFeed News that she is uncomfortable with a man who has a temperament like Trump's running the country.

"I have a daughter who's 2," she said. "I don't want her having to deal with a president like that."

— Tamerra Griffin

Tech is freaking out about a possible Trump win

As some analysts begin projecting a Trump win, tech's bigwigs are panicking on Twitter and in interviews with BuzzFeed News.

"People were very active trying to support Hillary for president, but I don't think they've chewed on the prospect of a Trump presidency as imminent," Keith Rabois, an investment partner at Khosla Ventures, told BuzzFeed News, explaining the anxiety. "So like everybody else, they're probably processing it in real time right now."

"Everyone I know in Silicon Valley is in shock."

Read more here.

— Priya Anand, William Alden, and Nitasha Tiku

Follow our electoral map here.

Follow our electoral map here.

A poll worker tried to clock this professor of election law and he wasn't having it

VILLANOVA, Pennsylvania — Professor Mark Alexander, dean of Villanova's law school, specializes in election law. He had to put that knowledge to use this morning when, according to him, a poll worker posed an odd question after he presented his voter identification card.

"She asked for my driver's license. I just moved here, so I don't have one, but my voter ID card says 'When voting for the first time, you must present ID. This ID suffices for those purposes," Alexander told BuzzFeed News. It is Pennsylvania law that a voter ID card is sufficient identification for voting.

According to Alexander, the poll worker told him he was incorrect and requested his driver's license again. At that point, Alexander threatened to report her. At that remark, he told BuzzFeed News, her colleague took notice and allowed him to vote.

"It's only because I know my rights and only because I'm comfortable in this scenario that I was able to vote," he told BuzzFeed News. "To think that it took a professor of election law that much effort...that's disheartening"

He said on Twitter that he "had to do some educating." The tweet has been shared more than 700 times at the time of reporting, and Alexander said the responses had largely been anxious ones. He told BuzzFeed News, "People are wondering, If this is happening to this guy, is it happening to everyone? To me and my friends?"

DURHAM, North Carolina — On the campus of North Carolina Central University (NCCU), a historically black university here, wait times to vote climbed to an hour at about 11 a.m. From then until about 3 p.m., it ballooned to two hours.

This fact — along with a string of frustrating set of anecdotes and circumstances — has been the source of consternation for Democrats and poll watchers in North Carolina, which is a toss-up as of late Tuesday night, but leaning toward Donald Trump.

Earlier in the day, several polling places in Durham County, which is heavily black, switched to using paper polling books to check in voters.

At NCCU, this resulted in longer wait times in which voters bailed despite the pleading of civil rights leaders like Rev. Dr. William Barber II.

According to poll workers, one person at NCCU was looking up registration status on the rolls, which allowed just one person to vote at a time. "It was slow going," an observer told BuzzFeed News. "That was frustrating to say the least."

Closer to 4 p.m., the flow at NCCU began easing up. But in the critical state of North Carolina, with close margins all over the country, any issues with polling locations do not bode well for the Clinton camp, given this part of the state has in recent election years been a Democratic stronghold.

Some voters said they were confused about where to vote. Others simply had come to the wrong precinct.

The electronic voter check-in has been an issue in this part of the country, where Democrats have scurried to get voters to the polls.

On Tuesday, they shuttled pizza and coffee to people getting out the vote and watching the polls — including one that had been extended by the state's board of elections by an hour.

—Darren Sands

Follow our electoral map here.

The former-Republican state has gone blue three elections in a row.

Republican North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr hangs onto his seat

Republican Sen. Richard Burr has defeated Democrat Deborah Ross in North Carolina, multiple news outlets reported, managing to hang on to the seat.

Polls showed the race was tighter than initially expected, despite Burr's long track record in Washington and relative popularity in the state. Ross, a former state legislator, did an impressive job fundraising for a candidate that was not relatively well known.

Burr, who was elected in 2004, took his time when it came to getting his campaign going. Concerns about funding and organization led the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity Super PAC to launch an aggressive grassroots initiative against Ross.

—Lissandra Villa

It's the first time a Republican has won the state since 2004 and could be a game-changer in a tight race.

For more on our process for calling Election Night, go here.

Follow our electoral map here.

Futures for American stock markets have turned down dramatically in anticipation of a Trump win. S&P 500 futures are down over 3%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average are down over 450 points, about 2.5% while the peso is at 19.80 pesos to the dollar, down from 18.45 earlier today and the 18.59 it was trading at the beginning of the day. The Nikkei 225, the main Japanese stock index — and often a bellwether for global stock moves, is down over 2% in early trading in Tokyo.

Read more here.

— Matthew Zeitlin

Spoiler: "not happy."

For more on our process for calling Election Night, go here.

Follow our electoral map here.

For more on our process for calling Election Night, go here.

Follow our electoral map here.

DEARBORN, Michigan — As polls closed on the East Coast, many in attendance at a watch party at the American American Museum here in Dearborn began to show the first signs of worry that a Trump presidency might be a possible reality.

Saad Akhmad, 33, a law school student, was looking to a higher power to help Clinton win — half joking, half serious.

"May God save this nation from the monstrosity of this man that has been race-baiting this entire election," Akhmad said. "I hope reasonable people prevail in voting the right way."

A packed audience in an annex of the museum ate, food, and chatted but were mostly in a jovial mood, taking pictures in photo booth that celebrated the act of voting.

But Kamal AlSawafy, 28, didn't like the results that began to flow in favor of Trump, even though many key and large electoral states have yet to come in.

"It's a little too close for my comfort. But I'm confident that the American people will make the right choice," AlSawafy said. "And then we can put this behind us and hopefully close the divisions [this election] has caused."

— Talal Ansari

With the election looking incredibly close, people are starting to lose their goddamn minds.

Read more of the despair here.

—Julia Reinstein and Remy Smidt

Competitive House races called in Florida and Virginia

House race results are coming in across the country and a few of the most competitive contests have already been called.

Carlos Curbelo, a 36-year-old rising star in the GOP, held on to defeat former Democratic Rep. Joe Garcia, a rematch of their 2014 battle, in a majority-Latino Florida district. Republican leaders feared Donald Trump's unpopularity with Hispanic voters would hurt Curbelo, a charismatic Republican who has bucked his party's leadership on climate change and immigration. Jeb Bush campaigned on Curbelo's behalf and Paul Ryan made a late stop in Florida to stump for him in this expensive House race that saw outside groups pour more than $14 million into advertisements.

In Orlando, Florida Republican John Mica, who has represented the state's 7th congressional district since 1993, lost to first-time candidate Stephanie Murphy. Murphy, the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, effectively linked Mica to Donald Trump and benefited from an endorsement from President Obama. The race played out against the backdrop of the June shooting at a gay nightclub, and Murphy successfully ran on her support for gun control reform.

Virginia Rep. Barbara Comstock, one of the most vulnerable House Republicans, knocked off Democratic challenger LuAnn Bennett in her northern Virginia district. President Obama won the district by 3 points in 2008, but Mitt Romney carried it by just over 4,000 votes in 2012. Comstock was able to distance herself from Donald Trump and called on the GOP nominee to withdraw from the race after the lewd 2004 "Access Hollywood" tape surfaced. Although Bennett tried to tie Comstock to Trump, suburban voters in Loudoun and Fairfax County returned her to her second term in Washington.

— Nathaniel Meyersohn

As polls closed and results poured in, Ivanka Trump tweeted a picture of the Trump family and the campaign watching the votes come in.

The mood seems tense as the race appeared to be tightening in key states.

Donald Trump and his running mate Mike Pence were watching the results at Trump Tower in New York, a short distance where the campaign's party was being held at the Hilton.

—Salvador Hernandez

WELLESLEY, Massachusetts — The mood is frantic and giddy at the election party at Wellesley College, Hillary Clinton's alma mater, as results from across the country stream in and onto a massive screen projecting CNN in the campus gymnasium.

The college said earlier on Tuesday that it expected a crowd of 3,000. Attention is being pulled in all directions: to the screen, to the glass-ceiling themed cupcakes, and to the various on-theme costumes, including a 6-year-old dressed as Clinton a la "Texts From Hillary." Then there are two particular guests of honor, positioned right in front of the packed gym: Lindsay Miller and Martha Sterns, two of Clinton's classmates.

"It's huge and it's not over yet," Miller said. "When I knew this was happening, I knew I wanted to here instead of at home with my husband yelling at the TV."

Miller, who covered Clinton's student government election for the Wellesley News, said she feels Wellesley women are "cousins," she said. "Most of us loved it here, and it put us on a path."

Sterns, who voted for Clinton on Tuesday and in that student government election, said she marvels at the image many Americans have of Clinton: "What a bad rap she has. She's warm. She's friendly. She's maintained friends. Donald Trump has no friends."

—Jess Testa

"It's not healthy for the country for there to be one party that's entirely white," Tim Miller said.

Miller, who has been openly against Trump, said that the Republican nominee's rhetoric about building a wall and banning Muslims, "has a direct effect of lessening support with minority voters."

He went on to say that the party needs to diversify and that the Republican party needs a leader that "will bridge the gap" between white and minority voters.

—Mary Ann Georgantopoulos

Republicans are ready to let out a sigh of relief Tuesday as it appears the GOP has held on to the House.

Multiple news outlets called the House for Republicans by about 9 P.M. Many races are still up in the air, but New York Times projections have Republicans winning 230-235 of the House's 435 seats.

The House was always expected to stay red, and Democrats will likely fall far short of the 30 seats they needed to pick up to regain the majority.

Read more here.

—Paul McLeod

Chatting with other hosts on MSNBC, Matthews was trying to make the point that candidates tend to seek distractions to take their mind off election results. For example, he said, Kennedy once did something interesting with his friend Ben Bradlee, the legendary editor of the Washington Post.

"Jack Kennedy, with Ben Bradlee, his buddy, they went off to see a porn movie, during the West Virginia primary," Matthews said. "They didn't want to be anywhere near news."

OK then!

Read more here.

— William Alden

The voting apocalypse everyone was worried about hasn’t happened

NEW YORK — Despite gloom-and-doom predictions that this year's elections would be hacked and/or rigged, local election officials told BuzzFeed News Tuesday evening that this year's vote has gone smoothly, so far.

The only issue, they said, was what appeared to be record turnout across several states, leading to unusually long lines.

"There are isolated reports of issues, with specific machines. What we are seeing are a lot of places dealing with a heavy volume of turnout, trying to brace for how to deal with lines building up," said Kay Stimson, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), the organization to which each state reports issues it might be having during election day. "We aren't seeing anything widespread, we aren't seeing any widespread issues."

Read more here.

—Sheera Frenkel

SYDNEY — It's 9am on Wednesday morning in Australia, and around 20 people have gathered on the first floor of Sydney's NSW Rugby Club to watch the results trickle in from the United States' presidential election.

A projector live-streams Fox News with the sound muted as people huddle together in groups of two and three. It's still too early in the count to know who's winning.

Former federal member of parliament and vocal Trump supporter Ross Cameron has organized the event, bringing together other local conservatives including former Labor party leader Mark Latham and Spectator magazine editor Rowan Dean...

Read more here.

—Brad Esposito

It's not a secret: the 2016 US election has been…surreal.

To close up the day, a group of mariachis placed themselves outside the Trump Tower in New York to remind Trump that Mexico is present in the US.

🎤 Canta y no llores. 🎤

Read more here.

Trump ultimately won all electoral college votes in Nebraska, with results for the 2nd District's Electoral College initially unclear. The state allocates its electoral votes proportionately.

For more on our process for calling Election Night, go here.

And follow our electoral map here.

KEY RACE ALERT!

Read more here.

—Julie Gerstein

WELLESLEY, Massachusetts — Zoe Iacovino cannot express her political views. It's her job, as chair of the Wellesley Committee for Political and Legislative Awareness, to remain neutral. Which means she can't publicly support one presidential candidate over another, even in this historic year for Wellesley College — a year in which one of its alumnae is running for the country's highest office.

"It definitely has been a bit of a struggle, but in some ways it's been nice to take a step back," Iacovino said.

Iacovino's job Tuesday night also meant planning a watch party for students — and only students. Alumnae have another event available on campus; Iacovino wanted a space dedicated current students who want to let loose after an election that has lasted nearly one and a half academic years.

"Everyone gets one election while they're in college," she said. "I wanted to make sure everyone could come together in a way that was secure and private." That also means the media isn't allowed.

As Clinton has made Wellesley part of her campaign narrative, attention has increased on the small campus, and students say that attention always hasn't been welcome. During the primaries, a brief media storm erupted over Wellesley's Bernie supporters, but several students told BuzzFeed News on Tuesday that journalists depicted the campus as more divided than it actually was.

As students, including Iacovino, prepped for their party, they laid out anxiety-reduction coloring pages and punny snack platters ("West Wings," anyone?), as well as stickers and shot glasses for sale.

They posed cardboard cutouts of the two candidates and other political figures, including the president, first lady, and Sarah Palin, around an American flag for a makeshift photo booth. And they planned to hang a banner reading "If I Were President, I Would ..." welcoming Wellesley women to finish the sentence.

—Jess Testa

PHOENIX — Nell Rios nearly didn't go vote on Tuesday, but her six daughters motivated her to drive to the Maryvale Church of the Nazarene in Phoenix.

Rios said she didn't vote for Trump.

"The way Trump has attacked Mexicans and women motivated me to come vote because I have six daughters," Rios said. "All of my kids are women — why would I want to vote for a man that doesn't respect women?"

For Latinas voting against Trump, what he's said about Hispanics is equally as important as what he's said about women, Rios said.

Leslie Castorena, a first-time voter who was born in Guatemala, wondered how the rest of the country would treat women if the president doesn't respect them.

"Imagine, if this is how he acts without power, what awaits us when he's president?" Castorena said. "That's not the future I want for my two daughters."

—Adolfo Flores

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — It was quiet inside the James G. Blaine Public School auditorium in north Philadelphia as the polls closed around Pennsylvania at 8pm.

Phyllis Watson, finally ready to relax, stood from the chair she had been sitting in all day, stretched her legs, pressed the crinkled and peeling "I Voted" sticker flat onto her maroon cardigan. It began to peel off again after a few seconds.

It had been a long day.

But not nearly as long and hard as Election Day four years ago, the 64-year-old non-profit organizer recalled. That day was the most challenging day in her seven years as a precinct judge, she said.

On that day, too many poll workers showed up, many of them outsiders that, though they'd completed proper training, "didn't know what they were doing." The pace inside the polling place slowed to a crawl, and lines grew longer — out the door and down the street. Making matters worse, one of the voting machines was malfunctioning. By the end of the day, Watson wanted only to go home.

But today "was a good day," she said.

The poll workers were all veterans and the machines worked perfectly. The voters flowed in and out, smoothly, even with the day's high turnout, which she said was higher than in 2012.

Today, she saw many young people come through, and many old people with walkers and wheelchairs. It reminded her of why she put in these hard 12 hours for a meager $125 check.

"I love being part of the voting process, I love to help make sure people vote," she said. "We went a long time not being able to vote and now we have the chance to, so we have to vote."

By 8:30pm, the doors of the school had closed. Watson gathered some papers, moved a cardboard box, then paced around the auditorium, trading jokes with her fellow poll workers. She noticed her sticker peeling again and she pressed it back on.

—Albert Samaha

Missouri Rep. Todd Young defeated former Sen. Evan Bayh to capture Indiana's open Senate seat Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.

National Democrats encouraged Bayh, a former Indiana governor and US senator, to jump into the race to succeed retiring Sen. Dan Coates and were buoyed in their pursuit of recapturing control of the Senate when Bayh declared his intention to run.

Bayh, however, was hurt throughout the race by his corporate lobbying ties after he left Congress in 2011. Opposition research dumps during the final weeks of the campaign ultimately dashed Bayh's hopes of returning to Washington and helped Young paint the former senator as out-of-touch with Indiana voters.

—Nathaniel Meyersohn

Texas man arrested for voting twice, claimed he was "testing security" for Trump

Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls confirmed to BuzzFeed News that one person has been arrested and booked in state jail on a felony for attempting to vote twice.

Election officials at Grand Oaks Baptist Church noticed 62-year-old Phillip Cook Jr., from Richmond, Texas, was trying to vote for a second time and confronted him.

"The election judge questioned him on it and he admitted he was trying to vote for a second time," Nehls told BuzzFeeds News.

Cook also told the voting official he worked for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and claimed he was "testing our security," according to Nehls.

Nehls said Cook was arrested and booked at Fort Bend County Jail on a felony.

—Michelle Broder Van Dyke

Asaad Mana spent years working for the US government in his home country, Iraq. On Tuesday, he and his wife — who emigrated and became citizens in 2015 — voted for the first time.

Malcolm Nance, who worked with Mana in Iraq from 2003 to 2004, proudly tweeted a picture of his former translator outside of a polling station.

The tweet went viral, with over 4,000 likes and 1,000 retweets.

"I was completely overwhelmed when he sent that photo and cried in a Starbucks. I showed every one in the line, I was so proud. I thought I was proud when he became a citizen but this overwhelmed me," Nance said.

Read more here.

—Ali Watkins

The crucial swing state of Florida was a super close on Tuesday night, and people lost their minds.

Read more about how people are losing their damn minds here.

—Stephanie McNeal

While reports of voter fraud today have so far been infrequent, 8chan and 4chan have seized on a video that purports to show electioneering outside a Philadelphia polling place. In the video, which has been passed around alt-right Twitter and reported by the conservative journalist Chuck Johnson, a man hands a document entitled "Official Democratic Ballot," with instructions for how to vote for all the Democrats on the ballot, to the camerawoman. It's unclear how far the camerawoman, or the man — who engage in a brief argument — are from the polling station.

Read more here.

— Joseph Bernstein

For more on our process for calling Election Night, go here.

US Rep. Tammy Duckworth beat Republican Senator Mark Kirk, according to multiple news outlets, in the race for the Senate seat that once belonged to President Barack Obama.

Illinois was always going to be a longshot for Republicans to hold: Kirk regularly trailed in the polls to Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran who has represented Illinois' 8th District since 2013.

Kirk was then criticized for making a racist remark during an October debate about Duckworth's heritage (she is of Thai and American descent). He later apologized, but the remark stood out especially since Kirk had tried to distance himself from Trump, once calling Trump's comments about a federal judge's inability to fairly oversee a trial because of his Mexican heritage "un-American." The Human Rights Campaign withdrew its endorsement of Kirk, who had portrayed himself as a moderate, as a result of his debate comment.

— Lissandra Villa

People in Mexico City told BuzzFeed News that Mexico will "absolutely not" pay for the wall if Donald Trump is elected president, also expressing distrust toward the Republican nominee.

"I don't think Mexico would pay for the wall," one Mexico City resident said. "President Peña Nieto would not allow that."

—Mary Ann Georgantopoulos

It's election night in America, and in these politically polarized times, there's one truth that transcends parties: Everyone's getting drunk tonight.

Like, really, really drunk.

Read more here.

—Julia Reinstein

Florida Senator Marco Rubio has won re-election in Florida, beating Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy to go on to his second term as a senator.

When Rubio dropped out from the presidential race after losing his home state to Donald Trump, he said he wanted to be a private citizen when his term as senator ended.

But he had a change of heart in time to run for reelection, and the GOP aggressively attacked Murphy, whose resume was criticized for being exaggerated and was also criticized for his family business ties to Trump.

Read more here.

—Lissandra Villa

Polls in a huge chunk of states just closed, and BuzzFeed News expects Clinton to win Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Washington DC.

We expect Trump to win Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Oklahoma.

Here's an update to our electoral map:

For more on our process for calling Election Night, go here.

For more on our process for calling Election Night, go here.

Follow our electoral map here.

If you haven't heard, BuzzFeed News readers are using emojis to answer questions about Election Day, and the results are 🔥 😂 💥

Here are the top ones so far:

We took a break from election questions and looked forward to Thanksgiving. Most BuzzFeed News readers said that their family's Thanksgiving vibe was 🍗 or 🍷.

— Ema O'Connor

President Obama agrees — this election has been "exhausting, stressful, and sometimes downright weird."

The president reminded people about the importance of voting, and said that no matter which candidate wins America will still be a great nation.

"While we certainly see some new things this time around, what isn't new is that our democracy has alway been rowdy and raucous, we've been through tough and divisive elections before and we've always come out stronger for it," Obama said.

"Remember, no matter what happens, the sun will rise in the morning and America will still be the greatest nation in the world," he said.

—Mary Ann Georgantopoulos

As people around the country hit the polls and cast their votes for president, many pro-Hillary voters brought along their daughters for the historic day.

And it'll give you a whole boatload of feelings.

Read more here.

—Remy Smidt and Julia Reinstein

ALTOONA, Pennsylvania — As the polls come to a close in Pennsylvania, Republican poll watchers are looking for a late turnout for supporters of Donald Trump and the Republican ticket.

Altoona, a formerly industrial city of about 100,000 in the heart of Trump country in central Pennsylvania, is the kind of place where older, white voters must weigh in heavily for Trump if he has a chance to win the state. And many did come out — but there are questions about whether their numbers will be enough to push Trump over the edge in a state where he has trailed consistently in the polls.

If they are coming in Altoona, they better show up soon, according to election officials, who are not seeing long lines in smaller precincts.

"Only at our bigger precincts are they seeing lines of anywhere from 20-50 voters at this time," said Sarah Seymour, an election official in Blair County, in central Pennsylvania.

"It was an easy choice," said one Trump supporter, Sathya Aswathappa, 49, of Frankstown, Pennsylvania, as he left the polls on Tuesday evening. Hillary Clinton's email controversy, her messy primary battle with Bernie Sanders, and Bill Clinton's history were all reasons he voted against Hillary Clinton, he said: "We need to get rid of the career politicians — we don't want dynasties like the Clintons."

"Our healthcare system needs to be totally fixed," added Aswathappa, a physician. He believes Trump will do that.

For other Trump supporters, such as Cheryl Rupp, 67, of Altoona, the Supreme Court and the abortion fight were the defining reason for voting for the Republican.

"Trump wasn't my first choice. I don't like all the things he has said or done," Rupp told BuzzFeed News.

But Trump's selection of Mike Pence, the conservative governor of Indiana and a staunch opponent of abortion and ally of evangelical Christians, sealed the deal for her. "Mike Pence is the real deal," Rupp said.

One of the oldest voters at the polls, Eleanor Myres, 85, of Frankston, was a first-time voter, a group hard-sought by Trump in the election. But she is voting for Gary Johnson, the libertarian candidate, instead.

"All apologies," she said, adding that she was voting in Congress for the incumbent Republican, Bill Schuster, over his opponent, Art Halvorson, a Tea Party candidate who is running this year, improbably enough, on the Democratic line.

—Dan Vergano

For more on our process for calling Election Night, go here.

Reflected are states that BuzzFeed News has already colored in on our map. For more on our process for calling Election Night, go here.

Here are results and race calls powered by data from the Decision Desk HQ. Full Senate and gubernatorial results as well as updates on control of the US House of Representatives are available at DecisionDeskHQ.com.

Follow along here.

Things got weird at the Trump party before it even started.

Read more here.

— Salvador Hernandez

Findings from CNN's exit poll suggest that minority representation has increased among voters in two fiercely contested Southern states, Georgia and Virginia.

In Georgia, for example, voters who identified as white have decreased from 65% to 61%, while Latino voters have increased from 4% to 5%, according to the poll.

These numbers are preliminary and will change as the night goes on, but indicate a potential demographic advantage for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

— Stephanie M. Lee

Former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said he believes white supremacists are attracted to Donald Trump because "traditionally, Republicans have not reached out to the black community."

Last week, the KKK's official newspaper the Crusader endorsed Trump for president. Carson said "you cannot control what people decide what to say about you," and who they will support.

Carson went on to say that Trump has made a strong effort to reach out to black communities.

When asked whether Trump will have the ability to fix situations such as the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, Carson — who was born and raised in nearby Detroit — insisted that Trump is the right person because his administration will believe in responsibility.

"When all of these horrible things happen, no one gets fired, or disciplined," Carson said.

— Mary Ann Georgantopoulos

Most of us envision school gymnasiums and senior centers when we think of places to vote. But polling places were set up in far less conventional spaces today, like supermarkets, swimming pools, and Chinese restaurants. Read more here.

—Kate Bubacz

This is one of 26 states BuzzFeed News has already colored in on our map. For more, read this.

It is not a great day for Trump's anonymous fanboys.

Fair warning, take pretty much everything on 4chan with a grain of salt, but right now, 4chan's /pol/ board — the one used for political discussions — is an absolute MESS.

Read more here.

(WARNING: This post contains graphic language.)

—Ryan Broderick

BuzzFeed News asked for your voting day selfies, and man, did you guys deliver.

Read more here.

—Remy Smidt

Fake news sites and trolls on Twitter have been spreading false claims that Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been arresting undocumented immigrants for trying to vote illegally.

Here are the misleading images to watch out for.

—Craig Silverman

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — A longtime Utah political operative said Tuesday afternoon that independent candidate Evan McMullin still had a chance to win the state, even as recent polls showed Donald Trump pulling ahead.

Boyd Matheson — a former chief of staff to Sen. Mike Lee, as well as a delegate at this year's Republican convention — told BuzzFeed News that recent polls showing Trump ahead of McMullin don't take into account younger voters. McMullin fares better among younger voters, Matheson said, and the election could come down to turnout.

"I think his pivot to not just being the protest candidate and being against Clinton and Trump, but being for a set of principles, really rings true," Matheson said of McMullin.

Matheson was skeptical that Hillary Clinton could turn Utah blue, as some have speculated, pointing out that many people in the state have long disliked the Democratic nominee.

"I think Hillary ends up doing exactly what Bill [Clinton] did," Matheson said. "She'll win the presidency but she'll finish third here in Utah."

—Jim Dalrymple II

BuzzFeed News readers are using emojis to answer questions about Election Day, and the results are 🔥 😂 💥.

It seems like most people, however, used the 😭 emoji to express their true feelings about this historic day.

Sad!

Read more here.

—Tasneem Nashrulla

Some people just want to watch the world burn. And their matches are twitter parody accounts.

A popular account purporting to be from former New York mayor and prominent Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani has been tweeting in earnest throughout election day.

"We cannot let Blacks and Hispanics alone decide this election for Hillary!" tweeted @rudygiulianiGOP. This and other tweets have gained a good amount of traction.

Read more here.

—Paul McLeod

A CNN exit poll indicates just how deep voters' reservations are about the two presidential candidates. Some 71% said they are bothered by Donald Trump's treatment of women and 62% said they are bothered by Hillary Clinton's use of private email — arguably the biggest challenges that each candidate has respectively had to address.

About six in 10 voters said they had an unfavorable view of Trump, and more than half said the same of Clinton.

— Stephanie M. Lee

WELLESLEY, Massachusetts — As the sun set on Tuesday night, a rented silver van stuffed with six first-time women voters charged from the leafy campus of Wellesley College and toward the Wellesley Free Library, the nearest polling place to the school.

Hillary Clinton's time at her alma mater has become part of her campaign's narrative — in October, she released an ad featuring her 1969 graduation speech — and students here over the past 19 months have felt a gravitational pull into the madness of the election cycle.

"It's been tense for a lot of people on campus," said Laurel Kinman, president of the Wellesley College Democrats and driver of the Election Day carpool. "I remember when the tapes of Trump on the bus came out, I just sat there and cried. The combination of that and of Hillary going to Wellesley — there's been a lot of exhaustion and stress. I think we're ready for it to be over and ready for the healing process to begin."

But amid the stress, there was at least one moment of joyful accomplishment, Clinton-supporting students said: actually voting.

Moments after casting her ballot on Tuesday evening, Jackie Forsyte, a 19-year-old freshman, said it was an "emotional experience, on multiple levels. The idea of this person who has dedicated her entire life to serving other people is just amazing. And the fact she went to our school."

Forsyte said while voting she thought of her mom, who reminds her of Clinton. Two other carpool voters, sophomores Cassandra Case and Lily Mohr, later said the same. Mohr said her mom grew up in communist China — this year was both her and her mother's first time voting.

En route to the polling place, Case said her vote for Clinton is largely about not wanting Trump to be president, although she admires that Clinton has "so much experience, and is so tough."

Moments later, though, she added, with a smile: "Not gonna lie, when I said she's been through a lot, I mostly meant chem classes at Wellesley."

— Jessica Testa

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island — A group of students have taken over a second-floor room in Brown University's campus center as they make last-minute calls urging likely Clinton supporters to get out and vote.

The students, part of a campus group that supports the Clinton campaign, have so far today made nearly 5,000 calls, according to group co-president Joelle Sherman.

"We're calling people who we expect to be our people at this point and we're asking if Hillary can count on them," said Sherman, 20. "And then making sure they know where their polling location is, making sure they have a plan to get there."

Sherman said more than 60 Brown students had volunteered their time to make calls on Tuesday. She said the students use contact information they receive from campaign organizers across the country and Clinton's website.

"We're all really excited about it because stars fall as you make a certain amount of calls, so it's really rewarding to go through that website," Sherman said.

—Emma Loop

Voter systems temporarily go down in Colorado

A number of voter registration systems were down across Colorado on Tuesday, from 2:47 p.m. to 3:16 p.m. MDT, according to a local official of the secretaries of state, which monitors issues in local polling stations.

It is unclear, said the official, how many counties were affected, or what caused the problem.

All systems, said the national secretaries of state office (NASS) are currently up and running.

—Sheera Frenkel

This is one of the first of 26 states BuzzFeed News has already colored in on our map. For more, read this.

ALTOONA — Pennsylvania is one of the key states both candidates need to secure in order to win the presidency. Clinton has led most polls in the state, so what might a Trump victory there might look like?

Nicholas Pyeatt, an associate professor of political science at Penn State Altoona, explained to BuzzFeed News what Trump needs to achieve to win the Keystone State.

Pyeatt said the Altoona region's demographics — older, white, and less educated voters — favor Trump.

But the Republican needs a massive turnout in that region to counter the vote in the state's urban centers.

"The main thing Donald Trump needs from this region of the state, which is the most reliably Republican part of the state, is he needs big margins," Pyeatt said. "He needs margins that not only exceed in 2008, he needs margins that exceed what Romney got in 2012."

Watch the interview above.

—Dan Vergano

Most people approve of President Obama — but aren't too happy with the federal government overall, according to an exit poll by CNN.

The presidential campaign has exposed a highly divided electorate, with the preliminary poll revealing that almost 70% of voters said that they were "dissatisfied" or "angry" with the government.

Meanwhile, 54% of voters said they approved of Obama and 29% said the next president should continue his policies. Some 46% said the next leader should be more conservative.

— Stephanie M. Lee

About 70% of voters identified as white in an exit poll by CNN, while black and Latino voters showed up to the polls in the low double digits. Network anchors emphasized that the results are preliminary and are highly likely to change as the night goes on.

Race has been a polarizing issue in the presidential campaign. One of the big trends pollsters are watching for tonight is if the Latino vote surges, which could help Hillary Clinton cinch the lead.

— Stephanie M. Lee

WERK.

Read more here.

— Sarah Burton

Election Day is finally here, so here's a stroll down memory lane of what has been a very long, weird campaign.

There have been a lot of truly insane moments over the last two years. But we wanted to do justice to the wildest, most chaotic, most ridiculous, most unexpected things that happened this year. So we put together this list.

Read it here.

And you're welcome.

—Lissandra Villa

two Fox anchors, Chris Wallace and Shepard Smith, got so bored they pivoted from a conversation speculating about the meaning of turnout numbers (Spoiler: you can't read much into them) to a discussion of chapstick that went so far off the rails the words "chapstick fetish" were uttered.

Here's a taste:

Smith: "I need it, it's Chapstick."

Wallace: "You have a little Chapstick, fetish, dontch'ya?"

Smith: "Fetish? No!"

Wallace: "I think you…"

Smith: "Do you know what that means?"

Read more here.

—Alex Kantrowitz

About four in 10 voters said the most important quality in a presidential candidate is the ability to "bring change," according to an exit poll conducted by CNN.

Donald Trump emphasized this characteristic in marketing himself as the ultimate political outsider. In contrast, Hillary Clinton, with her decades on the political scene, played up her experience and judgment — two qualities that 44% of voters polled said were most crucial to them.

In addition, 12% of voters said they had made up their minds about who they wanted for president within the last few days to the last week. But 62% had decided months ago — before September.

This exit poll was based on interviews with 15,455 voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, and was conducted for CNN and other news networks by Edison Research.

— Stephanie M. Lee

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — After a morning of surging turnout, poll workers at several north Philadelphia voting sites said that vote counts had ticked back down to around 2012 levels, or slightly higher, by the late afternoon.

The high voter turnout in the morning, before work, was a sign of enthusiasm, said Robert Chalmers, a 73-year-old committeeman in north Philly's 32nd District. He expected that after-work voters would match the effort.

"Obama's not on the ballot this time around, so as far as I'm concerned this is a very good turnout," said Chalmers. "Trump made 'em mad. We haven't had this many people this early in the day."

"People are afraid," said voter Thomas El. "People scared of the possibility of a nut bag in the White House, and they're coming out in droves, and they came out early."

Some sites saw their high morning turnout continue into the afternoon.

At six of 14 polling locations visited by BuzzFeed News, poll workers said that vote counts were 50 to 100% higher than they were on Election Day afternoon in 2012. But whether that reflects a higher overall turnout or simply people choosing to vote earlier in the day remains to be seen, they said.

Al Schmidt, one of the city's election commissioners, told BuzzFeed News that the city had not had any major problems with allegations of voter fraud or intimidation. While he won't know the vote count until after the polls closed, he said it "seems like heavy turnout."

—Albert Samaha