Election 2020: Biden holds slight leads in Nevada and Wisconsin as vote count slows to a trickle

New Jersey, Montana, South Dakota and Arizona voters authorized the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, according to NBC News. South Dakota voters also moved to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. — Noah Higgins-Dunn

Nevada said its next election result update wouldn't come until 9 a.m. local time on Thursday.

The elections division of Nevada's secretary of state office shared on Twitter the breakdown of votes that have been counted so far and those that still need to be added to the tally.

So far, Nevada has counted all in-person early votes, in-person Election Day votes and mail ballots through Nov. 2, the account tweeted.

But mail ballots received on Election Day or over the next week will still need to be counted, as well as provisional ballots. It's hard to estimate how many ballots are still outstanding, according to the officials, since the state sent mail ballots to every voter, though it doesn't expect all of those ballots to be cast.

Biden held a narrow lead as of Wednesday morning.

— Lauren Feiner

Biden leads in the Electoral College as of 5:35 a.m. ET Wednesday though votes in several close races are still being counted.

Both candidates still need to gain several more states to reach an Electoral College majority of at least 270.

—Lauren Feiner

Democratic nominee Joe Biden has pulled ahead of President Donald Trump in the crucial swing state of Wisconsin, according to NBC News' latest tally of votes.

With 89% of the expected vote in, Biden has 1,575,490 votes, or 49.3%, compared to Trump's 1,564,877 votes, or 49%.

— Kevin Stankiewicz

Joe Biden is projected to win Hawaii's four electoral votes, according to NBC News.

The Aloha State, which is the birthplace of former President Barack Obama, was widely expected to break for Biden over President Donald Trump.

At the time that Hawaii was projected to fall in Biden's column, the former vice president had amassed 224 electoral votes, compared with Trump's 213.

— Kevin Breuninger

President Donald Trump on Wednesday declared that he would "be going to the U.S. Supreme Court" as part of a fight over the outcome of the presidential election, saying "we want all voting to stop."

 "We don't want them to find any ballots at 4 o'clock in the morning and add them to the list," Trump said from the White House. However, there are two issues with the president's statements.

First, Trump's comments came more than an hour after the final U.S. polls closed in Alaska, so voting has indeed stopped, and there is no evidence that ballots are still being cast after the legal deadline. Rather, elections officials in states are counting and processing millions of legally cast votes.

Secondly, it was not immediately clear what Trump meant by "going to the Supreme Court." That is because the country's high court typically reviews decisions made by lower courts. For example, in the 2000 election, there were numerous rulings made by lower courts over the Florida recount effort that were ultimately appealed up to the Supreme Court.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden's campaign manager criticized Trump's comments, but vowed to be ready to counter any legal action. "If the president makes good on his threat to go to court to try to prevent the proper tabulation of votes, we have legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist that effort. And they will prevail," Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a written statement Wednesday morning.

— Kevin Stankiewicz, Christina Wilkie

Joe Biden's campaign manager said in a statement Wednesday morning that President Donald Trump's suggestion that the counting of votes should stop was was "outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect."

"It was outrageous because it is a naked effort to take away the democratic rights of American citizens," Jen O'Malley Dillon said in the written statement. "The counting will not stop. It will continue until every duly cast vote is counted. Because that is what our laws — the laws that protect every Americans' constitutional right to vote — require," she added.

Trump's comments from the White House earlier Wednesday, in which he also falsely said he won the presidential election, came as millions of legally cast ballots have yet to be counted in the U.S. Elections. Officials in states across the country have warned that tallying the official vote this year could take longer than normal due in part to a surge of mail-in ballots this year.

— Kevin Stankiewicz

As of this moment in the race, Joe Biden has clinched 220 electoral votes, while President Donald Trump has secured 213 votes, according to NBC News projections.

It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the White House. NBC has yet to make calls in more than a half-dozen crucial states, and thousands of votes — including rafts of mail-in votes in some states and counties — have yet to be tallied up.

Both candidates can envision various pathways to 270 votes, based on the states that have yet to be won.

Trump, for example, could hit that target by scoring wins in Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Nevada. Biden is also hoping to win Pennsylvania — but pathways to the White House are still available to him if he loses the Keystone State and even Wisconsin.

The former vice president could, for instance, win if he carries Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan — assuming he wins at least one vote from Maine, which is considered highly likely.

Here are the states that are still too early, or too close, for NBC to call:

• Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes)
• Georgia (16)
• Michigan (16)
• North Carolina (15)
• Arizona (11)
• Wisconsin (10)
• Nevada (6)
• Maine (4)
• Hawaii (4)
• Alaska (3)

— Kevin Breuninger

Facebook began alerting users early Wednesday that ballots are still being counted, after President Donald Trump falsely claimed that he had won the presidential election, even though millions of votes had yet to be counted.

"Once President Trump began making premature claims of victory, we started running notifications on Facebook and Instagram that votes are still being counted and a winner is not projected," Facebook said in a tweet. "We're also automatically applying labels to both candidates' posts with this information.",

NBC News has not yet projected the presidential election results. 

The company in September announced that it would add a label to any post from a candidate or campaign that tries to declare victory before the final results are in. -- Jessica Bursztynsky

Pittsburgh's Allegheny County is suspending scanning mail-in ballots until 10 a.m. ET Wednesday, NBC News reported.

Allegheny County spokesperson Amie Downs said in a statement that staff has been asked to report in at 10 a.m. to begin scanning "shortly after."

About half of the 348,485 mail-in and absentee ballots that have been returned have already been scanned and uploaded, according to Downs. Roughly 29,000 will be manually reviewed through the Return Board process. The remaining 146,537 will be scanned starting late morning Wednesday, according to Downs.

All ballots are being stored in a warehouse with county police on patrol as well as 24-hour video surveillance, Downs said.

—Lauren Feiner

President Donald Trump addressed supporters early Wednesday from the White House and tried to claim victory in the presidential election, even as states across the U.S. continue to count millions of legally cast ballots.

NBC News also has not made a call in the race.

Trump described the continued tallying of votes, which has caused his advantage in states such as Georgia to dwindle, as "an embarrassment to our country."

However, it has widely been expected that it could take days for official election results, including in states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania, due in part to the surge in mail-in voting this year.

In his address, Trump also touted his performance in Texas, Ohio and Florida, which NBC News projects the president will win over Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

— Kevin Stankiewicz

Several key races in the fight for Senate control were unresolved early Wednesday.

NBC News projects Republicans will hold at least 47 seats after the 2020 election. Democrats will have at least 46, including two independents who caucus with the party.

Seven races were still undecided. They include the Arizona special election, which was too early to call as Democrat Mark Kelly led Republican Sen. Martha McSally.

Elections in North Carolina and Georgia, where GOP Sens. Thom Tillis and David Perdue, respectively, defend their seats, were too close to call. Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Susan Collins' reelection bid in Maine was too early to call.

At least the GOP-controlled seat in Colorado and Democratic-held seat in Alabama are projected to flip. Republicans currently have a 53-47 majority in the Senate.

— Jacob Pramuk

With Joe Biden's wins in Minnesota and Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District, the Democratic presidential candidate picks up 11 electoral votes, NBC News projects.

Biden has now secured 220 electoral votes while President Donald Trump has 213, according to NBC News projections as of 1:45 a.m. ET. —Hannah Miao

Twitter has appended a warning over a tweet from President Donald Trump claiming that the opposition is trying to steal the election.

"We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!" the president's tweet reads. Twitter attached a label over the tweet, reading "Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process."

Facebook also flagged both posts on its platform, with separate messages on each.

— Megan Graham

Former Vice President Joe Biden will win Nebraska's second congressional district, NBC News projects, flipping blue one electoral vote that President Donald Trump won in 2016.

Nebraska and Maine are the only states that don't play by the winner-take-all rules under the Electoral College. Instead, both have adopted laws that distribute their electoral votes in part by the statewide popular vote winner and in part by who gets more votes in each of their congressional districts.

Nebraska has five electoral votes — four of which were projected by NBC to go to Trump.

— Kevin Breuninger

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is projected to win Minnesota, according to NBC News. Minnesota is worth 10 electoral votes.

The state has chosen Democratic presidential candidates for the last 11 elections. However, Trump only trailed Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton by 1.5% in 2016.

— Todd Haselton and Hannah Miao

One of the last competitive Senate races on the 2020 election map may take a while to resolve.

The Maine contest pitting Republican Sen. Susan Collins against Democratic state House Speaker Sara Gideon was too early to call early Wednesday, according to NBC News. Gideon's campaign suggested it could take days to declare a winner.

"It's clear this race will not be called tonight and we are prepared to see it through to the finish," campaign manager Amy Mesner said. "Over the coming days, we will make sure that every Mainer has their voice heard in this election."

Collins projected confidence to her supporters on Tuesday night, saying that "with any luck at all, we'll keep on going for Maine and for America."

If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the state's ranked-choice voting system would kick in. If that happens, it could take days to decide the winner.

— Jacob Pramuk

President Donald Trump is projected to win Montana and Democratic nominee Joe Biden is projected to win Rhode Island, according to NBC News.

Montana is worth three Electoral College votes and was expected to go to Trump, who won the state in 2016. Rhode Island is worth four electoral votes for Biden.

—Todd Haselton

President Donald Trump will win Texas, pocketing its haul of 38 electoral votes, according to NBC News projections. With more than 90% of the vote in, Trump led Democrat Joe Biden by about 6 percentage points, according to NBC News.

Texas has long been a Republican stronghold, but some public opinion polls before the election showed a close race between Biden and Trump. The president won Texas by 9 points in 2016. Capturing its large batch of electoral votes this year is key for him to win a second term.

— Kevin Stankiewicz

With President Donald Trump's projected win in Iowa, electoral vote shares currently stand at 205 votes for Democratic challenger Joe Biden and 171 for the president, according to NBC News projections.

The electoral vote update as of 12:55 a.m. ET is still missing projections from key races, with final results for states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania not expected potentially for days after election night.

—Hannah Miao

Joe Biden told supporters early Wednesday he was "confident" he would capture Arizona and its 11 electoral votes, a state that President Donald Trump won in 2016.

"We're still in the game in Georgia, although that's not one we expected, and we're feeling real good about Wisconsin and Michigan," Biden added during his post-midnight address in Wilmington, Delaware.

The races in Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin and Michigan are still too early to call, according to NBC News.

— Kevin Stankiewicz

President Donald Trump is projected to win Iowa, according to NBC News. The state is worth six Electoral College votes. Trump won the election in Iowa in 2016 with 51.2% of the vote.

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst will win Iowa's Senate race, NBC News projected. The first-term senator faced a serious challenge from Democrat Theresa Greenfield, who had never held elected office. 

— Todd Haselton and Lauren Feiner

President Donald Trump sounded off on Twitter as Democrat Joe Biden took the stage to express his optimism about the presidential contest.

Trump, in a series of tweets, claimed his campaign was up "BIG," even as many ballots in key states were still being counted. He also announced that he would make a statement, presumably in person, sometime "tonight."

Trump corrected one of the tweets, which initially misspelled "polls." Twitter quickly flagged that tweet with a warning label, which said Trump's post "might be misleading about" the election.

"We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!" the tweet said. Earlier, Trump's tweet spelled polls "Poles."

— Kevin Breuninger

Democratic nominee Joe Biden said early Wednesday morning that he was confident he would defeat President Donald Trump in the presidential election, but urged patience as votes were counted across key Rust Belt states, Arizona and Georgia.

"Look, we feel good about where we are. We really do. I'm here to tell you tonight we believe we're on track to win this election," Biden said as he spoke to supporters in Wilmington, Delaware. "We knew because of the unprecedented early vote and the mail-in vote, it was going to take a while. We're going to have to be patient until the hard work of tallying the votes is finished."

— Kevin Stankiewicz

President Donald Trump is projected to win battleground Florida's 29 electoral votes, according to NBC News.

The president won Florida by 1.2% in 2016.

—Hannah Miao

President Donald Trump is projected to win Idaho, according to NBC News. The state is worth four electoral votes.

NBC News also projected Republican Jim Risch to win the U.S. Senate race in Idaho.

— Megan Graham

Biden is projected to win Virginia, picking up 13 electoral votes, according to NBC News. Hillary Clinton won Virginia in 2016. NBC projects Democrat Sen. Mark Warner will win reelection.

— Todd Haselton

An official call on the presidential race looks unlikely to come on election night as three critical states continue to tally their votes.

Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which hold a combined 46 electoral votes, have been a target for Democrats to win after President Donald Trump narrowly carried the states in 2016. They carry almost a fifth of the 270 electoral votes needed to secure the presidency.

Many had expected Pennsylvania's tally to come later than election night since officials are not allowed to open mailed ballots until Election Day. Officials in Michigan and Wisconsin warned that votes could continue to be tallied until early Wednesday morning or even that night.

—Lauren Feiner

Polls in Hawaii closed at midnight ET.

The state, which Democrats have carried for nearly three decades, has four electoral votes.

It's the second-to-last poll to close, followed by Alaska at 1 a.m. ET.

—Lauren Feiner

President Donald Trump will win Ohio and its 18 electoral votes, according to projections from NBC News.

With almost 90% of Ohio's vote in, Trump leads Democratic nominee Joe Biden by about 8%, according to NBC News. Trump also carried the state in 2016 by 8% en route to his upset victory. The closely watched swing state has increasingly trended toward Republicans in recent years.

-- Kevin Stankiewicz

Both campaigns have turned their attention to the Midwest as President Donald Trump neared victory in Florida and North Carolina.

Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa are all still too close to call. Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin may take days to count mail-in votes, making it unlikely a winner would be named on election night.

Michigan needs a full day before it reports its count, according to MSNBC. Seven of Pennsylvania's 67 counties won't count mail-in ballots until Wednesday, according to local officials. Philadelphia stopped counting mail-in ballots and will resume Wednesday.

— Alex Sherman

The U.S. dollar strengthened against China's currency around 10:30 p.m. ET, with foreign exchange markets demanding more yuan for every greenback.

The U.S. dollar hit a high of 6.7741 against the Chinese yuan, reaching its highest level since Oct. 2, when the dollar traded as high as 6.7776 against the yuan. The exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Chinese yuan is important given the large volume of trade between the two nations.

The dollar had been falling versus the yuan in anticipation of a Biden win, traders said.

— Thomas Franck

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham will hold onto his South Carolina U.S. Senate seat after a tough challenge from Democrat Jaime Harrison,, NBC News projected.

Harrison, whose campaign focused in part on Graham's loyalty to President Donald Trump raised a whopping $57 million in the third quarter, outpacing the incumbent senator.

As Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Graham had pushed forward Trump's nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Senate Republicans voted to confirm Barrett late last month as voters across the country had already begun to cast early ballots in the 2020 election.

In 2016, Graham opposed confirming then-President Barack Obama's high court nominee, citing the election year, but this time he argued that the alignment of the president's party and the GOP's control of the Senate made the circumstances unique.

—Lauren Feiner

President Donald Trump is projected to defeat Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Wyoming and Mississippi, according to NBC News.

Wyoming has three electoral votes, while Mississippi has six. Trump won both states in 2016 and was widely expected to carry them again this year.

Republican Cynthia Lummis also will win the U.S. Senate race in Wyoming, according to NBC News projections. She previously represented the state in the House of Representatives.

—Kevin Stankiewicz

President Trump is projected to win three of the five electoral votes in Nebraska, according to NBC News. While most states award all of their electoral college votes to the winner of their popular vote, Nebraska and Maine are the two exceptions to this "winner-take-all" rule.

— Todd Haselton and Tucker Higgins

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is projected to win California, Oregon and Washington, according to NBC News.

With these three projected wins, Biden picks up 76 electoral votes.

—Hannah Miao

The mood is "great" in the White House's East Room, where a couple of hundred people gathered to watch election results, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC's Kayla Tausche.

The gathering comes less than two months after the White House hosted guests at an event announcing Amy Coney Barrett as the Supreme Court nominee, which the nation's top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci later labeled a "super-spreader event."

President Donald Trump and several other White House officials fell ill with the virus shortly after the event.

—Lauren Feiner

The following states will close their polls for the night at 11 p.m. ET.

• California (55 electoral votes)
• Idaho (4)
• Oregon (7)
• Washington (12)

— Carmen Reinicke

Democratic candidate Joe Biden is projected to win Illinois, according to NBC News. The state is worth 20 electoral votes.

NBC News projected that incumbent Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin will win the U.S. Senate race in Illinois.

— Megan Graham

U.S. equity futures traded in positive territory at around 10:30 p.m. ET with voting results pouring in from across the country.

Contracts tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose by 3%. S&P 500 futures gained 1.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 170 points, or 0.6%.

In other markets, the price of U.S. bonds rose, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note falling to 0.855%. Bonds were lower earlier in the evening with the yield hitting a high of 0.945%. (Bond yields fall as their prices rise).

U.S. oil futures gained 2.6%.

— Thomas Franck

President Donald Trump is projected to win Missouri, according to NBC News. The state is worth ten electoral votes. President Trump won Missouri in 2016 with 56.4% of the vote.

— Todd Haselton

Democratic nominee Joe Biden will win New Hampshire's presidential contest, according to projections from NBC News. The state has four electoral votes. President Donald Trump lost the state in 2016 to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

— Kevin Stankiewicz

President Donald Trump is projected to win Utah, according to NBC News. The state is worth six electoral votes.

— Todd Haselton

Democrats will keep their House majority, NBC News projects.

While Democratic control of the House is confirmed, the party is looking to expand its majority in the chamber. Currently, Democrats hold 232 House seats.

Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans vie for control of the Senate. The GOP picked up a seat with Tommy Tuberville's projected win in Alabama, while Democrats picked up a seat with John Hickenlooper's projected win in Colorado, according to NBC News projections.

—Hannah Miao

Republican Tommy Tuberville is projected to win the Alabama U.S. Senate race against incumbent Democrat Doug Jones, according to NBC News.

Jones won the seat narrowly in the 2017 special election.

Tuberville, a former Auburn University football coach, was well known in Alabama and aligned himself closely with President Donald Trump.

The GOP picked up a Senate seat with Tuberville's projected win. Earlier, NBC News projected Democrat John Hickenlooper flipped the Republican-held Colorado Senate seat.

—Hannah Miao

President Donald Trump is projected to win Louisiana and Kansas, according to NBC News.

Louisiana is worth eight electoral votes and Kansas is worth six electoral votes.

— Todd Haselton

President Donald Trump is leading Joe Biden in Ohio, but the race is too early to call, according to NBC News. Trump won the Buckeye State and its 18 electoral votes in 2016.

Biden holds the advantage in Arizona, but the contest also is too early to call, according to NBC News. The state, which Trump won in 2016, has 11 electoral votes.

— Kevin Stankiewcz

Democratic candidate Joe Biden is projected to win New Mexico, according to NBC News.

The state is worth five Electoral College votes. New Mexico's polls closed at at 9 p.m. ET.

— Megan Graham

NBC News is projecting that New Jersey will legalize marijuana for recreational use. If legalized, it will allow people over age 21 to use, possess and buy marijuana in the state.

— Todd Haselton

The presidential contests in Iowa and Nevada are too early to call, according to NBC News, after polls in the states closed at 10 p.m. ET.

President Donald Trump won Iowa in 2016, but lost Nevada in that election. Both states have six electoral votes.

— Kevin Stankiewicz

At 10 p.m. E.T., polls close in four more states, including battlegrounds Iowa and Nevada.

• Iowa (6 electoral votes)
• Montana (3)
• Nevada (6)
• Utah (6)

President Donald Trump won Iowa, Montana and Utah in 2016.

—Hannah Miao

Colorado Senate nominee John Hickenlooper will defeat Republican incumbent Sen. Cory Gardner, NBC News projected, flipping the seat to Democratic control.

Democrats need to gain four seats in the Senate to take control of the chamber. The victory of Hickenlooper, the former two-term governor, brings them one step closer to that goal.

Gardner's reelection bid had long been considered an uphill battle. Colorado has widely backed Democratic candidates in statewide races, including Hillary Clinton's 2016 bid for the White House and Michael Bennet's Senate race that year.

— Kevin Breuninger

President Donald Trump is projected to win the presidential race in South Carolina, according to the NBC News Decision Desk. South Carolina would give him nine electoral votes.

— Todd Haselton

President Donald Trump is projected to win Alabama, according to NBC News. Alabama will give him nine Electoral College votes. Polls closed at 7 p.m. local time.

— Todd Haselton

President Donald Trump will win North Dakota and its three electoral votes, according to projections from NBC News. Incumbent Gov. Doug Burgum, a Republican, is also projected to win reelection, according to NBC News.

— Kevin Stankiewicz

Democratic candidate Joe Biden is projected to win Colorado, according to NBC News.

The state is worth nine Electoral College votes. Colorado's polls closed at at 9 p.m. ET.

— Megan Graham

President Donald Trump is projected to win South Dakota, according to NBC News. South Dakota will give him three Electoral College votes. Polls closed at 7 p.m. local time.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., is projected by NBC News to have won his bid for reelection.

— Todd Haselton

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas will win his reelection fight, NBC News projects.

Cornyn, the powerful third-term senator and ally of President Donald Trump, was favored to defeat Democrat M.J. Hegar, an Air Force veteran and former House candidate.

Cornyn sits on the Senate Finance, Intelligence and Judiciary Committees.

— Kevin Breuninger

The Arizona, Colorado and Michigan Senate races are too early to call, according to NBC News.

The three contests will play a huge part in determining whether Republicans keep their 53-47 majority in the chamber.

In Arizona's special election, Republican Sen. Martha McSally faces Democratic former astronaut Mark Kelly.

Colorado's Republican Sen. Cory Gardner faces Democratic former Gov. John Hickenlooper. The Democrat is leading, according to NBC.

Michigan is one of two states President Donald Trump won in 2016 where a Senate Democrat faces reelection. Democratic Sen. Gary Peters faces Republican Army veteran John James.

— Jacob Pramuk

President Donald Trump is projected to win Arkansas, according to NBC News.

The state is worth six Electoral College votes and was expected to go to Trump.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is projected by NBC News to have won his bid for reelection.

— Brian Schwartz

Presidential election results in Colorado, Wisconsin, Texas, Minnesota, Michigan and Arizona remain too early to call, according to NBC News projections.

Here's how many electoral votes are on the line for President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden:

• Colorado (9)
• Wisconsin (10)
• Texas (38)
• Minnesota (10)
• Michigan (16)
• Arizona (11)

Trump won Wisconsin, Texas, Michigan and Arizona in 2016.

—Hannah Miao

Biden is projected to win the state of New York, picking up 29 electoral votes, according to NBC News. Polls closed in New York at 9 p.m. ET.

—Steve Kovach

Here are all the states closing at 9 p.m. ET and the electoral votes they each carry. There are 156 electoral votes in total up for grabs from the following states:

• Arizona (11)
• Colorado (9)
• Kansas (6)
• Louisiana (8)
• Michigan (16)
• Minnesota (10)
• Nebraska (5)
• New Mexico (5)
• New York (29)
• North Dakota (3)
• South Dakota (3)
• Texas (38)
• Wisconsin (10)
• Wyoming (3)

— Steve Kovach

President Donald Trump will win the West Virginia presidential race against former Vice President Joe Biden, NBC News projects.

Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia's junior senator, is also projected to defeat her Democratic rival, according to NBC.

Neither result was unexpected. Trump beat then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 race by more than 40 percentage points in West Virginia, exit polls showed. Now, as in 2016, he is projected to walk away with the state's five electoral votes.

Capito was widely favored to defeat Democrat Paula Jean Swearengin.

— Kevin Breuninger

Arkansas is the only state closing polls for the night at 8:30 p.m. ET. The state has six electoral votes. — Jessica Dickler

Democratic nominee Joe Biden is projected to win Connecticut, according to the NBC News Decision desk. It will give him seven additional electoral votes. Hillary Clinton won the state in 2016. The polls closed at 8 p.m. ET.

— Todd Haselton

President Donald Trump is projected to win the presidential race in Tennessee, according to NBC News.

Tennessee has 11 electoral votes, which Trump also won in 2016 with 61% of the vote. The last Democratic candidate to win the state was Bill Clinton, who won in both 1992 and 1996, according to NBC.

Polls in Tennessee closed at 8 p.m. ET.

— Carmen Reinicke

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will win reelection in Kentucky, NBC News projected.

The Republican will defeat Democratic former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath. While McGrath drew gobs of money as she took on the top Senate Republican, polls consistently showed her trailing McConnell in the red state.

It only remains to be seen whether McConnell will lead a GOP in the Senate majority or minority in January.

While he has distanced himself from Trump in some areas — particularly on both the White House's handling of its coronavirus outbreak and on the size of a potential stimulus package — McConnell has found common ground with Trump on numerous critical issues. Most recently, he moved swiftly to confirm Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett before the election.

— Jacob Pramuk

The presidential race in Florida is too close to call and in Pennsylvania it's too early, according to NBC News.

Both states are key for both President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden as they battle it out for the White House on election night.

The polls going into Election Day showed both candidates basically tied in those states. Florida and Pennsylvania combined are worth 49 Electoral College votes.

— Brian Schwartz

President Donald Trump is projected to win Kentucky's eight electoral votes, according to NBC News.

Polls showed Kentucky, the home of Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, was heavily favored for Trump over Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

The Bluegrass State has voted for the GOP's presidential candidate in every race since 2000. In the 2016 election, Trump won more than 62% of Kentucky's electorate over Hillary Clinton.

— Kevin Breuninger

President Donald Trump is projected to win the presidential race in Oklahoma, NBC News projects.

Trump won the state's seven electoral votes in 2016 as well, with 65% of the vote. Polls closed at 8 p.m. ET.
— Jessica Dickler

The Senate races in Maine and Alabama, two of the most important in the fight for control of the chamber, are too early to call, according to NBC News.

Polls showed the two states were among the most likely to flip party control entering Election Day.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is trying to defend her seat against Democratic state House Speaker Sara Gideon. Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Doug Jones aims to hold off former college football coach Tommy Tuberville in Alabama, a red state.

Republicans hope to hold their 53-47 majority in the Senate.

— Jacob Pramuk

Democratic nominee Joe Biden is projected to win electoral votes in Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey, according to the NBC News Decision Desk.

Those four states would give him 38 electoral votes, adding to his projected win in Vermont with three electoral votes.

The states each have the following number of electoral votes:

• Delaware (3)
• Maryland (10)
• Massachusetts (11)
• New Jersey (14)

—Lauren Feiner

Election officials in Fulton County, Georgia, arrived at State Farm Arena on Tuesday morning to a burst pipe in the room above where absentee ballots are being scanned.

While no ballots or machinery were damaged, the incident delayed officials' ballot counting by about four hours, according to Fulton County spokesperson Regina Walker.

Fulton County includes metro Atlanta and is the most populous county in Georgia.

Walker told NBC News that county officials are pushing to complete vote tallies Tuesday night, though she did not give an estimated completion time.

Georgia is considered a battleground state in 2020 with competitive presidential, Senate and House races.

The incident was first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

—Hannah Miao

The next round of states are closing their polls at 8 p.m. ET.

• Alabama (9 electoral votes)
• Connecticut (7)
• Delaware (3)
• DC (3)
• Florida (29)
• Illinois (20)
• Maine (4)
• Maryland (10)
• Massachusetts (11)
• Mississippi (6)
• Missouri (10)
• New Hampshire (4)
• New Jersey (14)
• Oklahoma (7)
• Pennsylvania (20)
• Rhode Island (4)
• Tennessee (11)

-- Jessica Bursztynsky

Senate races in Georgia and South Carolina remain too close to call, according to NBC News projections.

Both of Georgia's U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs in 2020. Republican Sen. David Perdue faces Democrat Jon Ossoff. Top candidates for the other open Georgia U.S. Senate seat are Republican Sen. Kelley Loeffler, Democrat Matt Lieberman, Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Doug Collins.

If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in either race, the top two finishers will compete in a critical January runoff election.

In South Carolina, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison are competing for a Senate seat.

These races could help help determine the majority party of the U.S. Senate following the 2020 election.

Polls closed at 7 p.m. ET in both states.

—Hannah Miao

The presidential contests in the battleground states of North Carolina and Ohio are too close to project a winner, according to NBC News.

In North Carolina, 15 Electoral College votes are at stake in the contest between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Most of the more than 2,500 precinct polling places in the Tar Heel State were set to close at 7:30 p.m. ET, but four were granted deadline extensions of up to 45 minutes because of delays in opening Tuesday morning.

Ohio has 18 electoral votes at stake.

Polls were set to close at 7:30 p.m. ET in the Buckeye State.

- Dan Mangan

The Senate race in North Carolina is too early to call, according to NBC News.

The election pits Republican Sen. Thom Tillis against Democratic former state Sen. Cal Cunningham. Polls entering Election Day showed a neck-and-neck contest for the seat.

The race will play a major role in determining whether Republicans keep their 53-47 Senate majority.

— Jacob Pramuk

Former Vice President Joe Biden will win the presidential contest in Vermont, Sen. Bernie Sanders' home state, NBC News projects.

Biden was heavily favored to win the deep-blue Northeastern state's three electoral votes. Vermont has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every race since 1992.

Sanders, an independent and self-described democratic socialist, has served in the Senate since 2007. He ran against Biden in the 2020 Democratic primaries but became a surrogate for the nominee.

— Kevin Breuninger

The next round of states will close their polls at 7:30 p.m. ET.

• North Carolina (15 electoral votes)
• Ohio (18)
• West Virginia (5)

-- Jessica Bursztynsky

President Donald Trump will win the presidential vote in Indiana, Vice President Mike Pence's home state, NBC News projects.

Polls entering Election Day showed the Republican incumbent heavily favored to carry the state.

Trump will win Indiana's 11 electoral votes, as he did in 2016. Pence was Indiana governor from 2013 to 2017 and a member of Indiana's congressional delegation from 2001 to 2013.

Federal election watchers will also keep an eye on the state's 5th Congressional District, a suburban seat Republicans are trying to defend.

— Jacob Pramuk

The first round of states are about to close their polls for the night at 7 p.m. ET.

• Georgia (16 electoral votes)
• Indiana (11)
• Kentucky (8)
• South Carolina (9)
• Vermont (3)
• Virginia (13)

— Jessica Bursztynsky

Facebook is notifying U.S. users they can still vote if they are already in line after polls close Tuesday.

The company will show these notifications at the top of users' Facebook and Instagram apps, a spokesman for the social media company said. The notifications will be shown to people of voting age as polls start to close in their states, and they'll be shown nationwide on Instagram starting at 7 p.m. ET.

The notifications will also direct users to election updates from the company's voter information center, where they can get accurate election information.

— Salvador Rodriguez

A slim majority of voters nationwide want the Supreme Court to keep the Affordable Care Act as it is, according to NBC News exit polls.

Fifty-three percent of voters would keep the 2010 health-care law as it is, and 42% percent would overturn it, according to a poll of early and Election Day voters.

Low-income voters show the strongest support for Obamacare, according to the NBC poll. Sixty-one percent of voters with family income under $50,000 would keep the Affordable Care Act the same, compared with 44% of voters with family incomes of $50,000 to $100,000 and 55% with incomes over $100,000.

Health-care policy was cited by voters as one of the most important issues in the 2018 midterm election but has been overtaken in the presidential election by the economy, coronavirus pandemic and racial injustice, according to NBC. About 11% of voters said health-care policy was the most important issue in deciding their vote.

— Carmen Reinicke

Votes in Georgia will be tallied by noon Wednesday "at the very latest," Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told NBC News.

Record early voting turnout will help the state count votes "faster than many other states," Raffensperger said. Votes could be tallied as soon as Tuesday night, he added.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Raffensperger's office said lines to vote averaged just a two minute wait.

Georgia awarded its 16 electoral votes to President Donald Trump in 2016 but is considered a close race this election.

— Lauren Feiner

U.S. stock futures rose about 10 minutes after the start of the extended trading as select polls in Kentucky and Indiana closed, marking the beginning of an overnight session expected to twist and turn depending on the election results.

Dow futures were last seen up 150 points after at first opening little changed. S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures rose 0.5% and 0.35%, respectively.

The positive move in futures came after stocks clinched yet another strong day of gains during Tuesday's regular session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 554.98 points higher, or up 2.1%, at 27,480.03.

Cyclical industrial and financials were the best-performing sectors in the S&P 500, gaining more than 2% each.

The S&P 500 climbed 1.8% to 3,369.16 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.9% to 11,160.57. The Dow gained more than 400 points on Monday, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose 1.2% and 0.4%, respectively.

— Thomas Franck

Some polls in Kentucky and Indiana will close at 6 p.m. ET, before all locations in those states end voting an hour later. Thereafter, there will be a regular stream of poll closings usually every hour and sometimes every 30 minutes. The last polls, those in Alaska, close at 1 a.m. ET Wednesday.

Both states are expected to vote to reelect President Donald Trump. Kentucky and Indiana are apportioned 8 and 11 votes in the Electoral College, respectively. Track the state-by-state poll schedule with CNBC's tracker.

– Thomas Franck

More than half of voters nationwide said containing the coronavirus is more pressing than rebuilding the economy, according to NBC exit polls.

Fifty-two percent of respondents said it was more important to contain Covid-19, even if it hurts the economy, according to the exit poll of early and Election Day voters nationwide.

Forty-two percent of respondents said rebuilding the economy was the most important issue, even if it hurt efforts to contain the virus.

The exit polls also outlined the most important issues for voters as they decided to cast their ballots. About a third of voters said the economy was the most important issue; 21% said racial injustice was the most important issue, while 18% said it was the Covid-19 outbreak.

— Jessica Bursztynsky

Democrat Joe Biden took a step back Tuesday afternoon to reflect on the presidential campaign that's coming to an end.

Speaking to reporters in Wilmington, Delaware, after a full day of campaign stops in Pennsylvania, Biden said he had no regrets for how he ran the race. He also said he was superstitious about making predictions on Election Day.

"I think we're going to reestablish that blue wall" in the Midwest, he said. The former vice president also marveled at the expanded electoral map this year for Democrats, who are competitive across the Sun Belt for the first time in decades.

"You can't think of an election in the recent past where so many states were up for grabs," Biden said. "The idea I'm in play in Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida? I mean, come on. Texas??"

Biden was likewise sanguine about President Donald Trump, who reportedly may try to claim victory on Tuesday night before the votes are counted. Biden is scheduled to speak in Wilmington.

"If there's something to talk about tonight, I'll talk about it," he said. "If not I'll wait till the votes are counted the next day."

— Christina Wilkie

A federal judge ordered U.S. Postal Service inspectors to sweep mail processing facilities in 12 postal districts nationwide on Tuesday afternoon for ballots to ensure that they are delivered by voting deadlines.

The order came on the heels of a new court filing by the Postal Service that showed the fifth consecutive day of fewer on-time ballot deliveries.

The Postal Service said its processing score fell from roughly 91% to a new low on Monday of 89.59%, and the districts affected by the order have particularly low deliver ratings.

The order, by Judge Emmet Sullivan in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., directed that Postal Service inspectors begin their sweeps no later than 12:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday and to continue looking through 3 p.m. ET.

The facilities subject to the order are central Pennsylvania; Philadelphia; Detroit; Colorado/Wyoming; Atlanta; Houston; Alabama; northern New England; greater South Carolina; South Florida; Lakeland, Florida; and Arizona.

Sullivan also ordered that the Postal Service, by no later than 4:30 p.m. ET, "shall file a status update certifying compliance with this paragraph upon confirming, in the most efficient manner available, that sweeps were conducted and that no ballots were left behind."

Postal Service data reveals that around 300,000 ballots nationwide have been scanned after being accepted into the mail system without later scans showing their delivery.

— Dan Mangan

More than 100 million voters cast their ballots early in the 2020 election, according to data from the NBC News Decision Desk and TargetSmart, an analytics firm.

That total more than doubles the number of early and absentee ballots cast in 2016 — about 46 million.

The historic number was fueled by the Covid-19 pandemic. Democrats were more likely to vote early or absentee, according to the data, though Republicans are counting on their voters to show up in larger numbers on Election Day.

About 43% of early or absentee votes were cast by Democrats and about 37% were cast by Republicans. Women also cast more ballots early than men did. Women cast about 53% of early ballots and men cast about 44%, while the data does not include gender for the remaining voters.

-- Tucker Higgins

President Donald Trump is back at the White House and is scheduled to remain there through Election Day.

The president will be briefed on the race throughout the day at the White House, a person close to the Trump campaign told NBC News. As election returns roll in Tuesday night, Trump will be in the Oval Office with family and top aides to monitor the results, NBC reported.

A "war room" has also been set up in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, located next to the White House, according to NBC.

Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told NBC that the war room setup "needed to be in close proximity to the president and there is no expense whatsoever to American taxpayers for the use of a room in the EEOB, where events like prayer services and receptions for outside groups frequently occur."

"Every piece of equipment, including Wi-Fi and computers, was paid for by the campaign, and no White House staff is involved. The arrangement has been approved by White House counsel," Murtaugh added.

Multiple outlets reported that an election night party with hundreds of guests will be held in the East Room of the White House. Guests will be required to be tested for the coronavirus, according to NBC. — Kevin Breuninger

The reporting of presidential election results from North Carolina will be delayed by at least 45 minutes due to voting deadline extensions being granted to four precincts that were unable to open on time Tuesday morning.

One of them, the Plainview fire station in the town of Dunn in Sampson County, had its deadline extended to 8:15 p.m. — 45 minutes past the state's Election Day deadline of 7:30 p.m. North Carolina does not report its voting tallies until all polling precincts are closed.

North Carolina is a battleground state in the presidential contest between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. The state has 15 Electoral College votes at stake.

Polls in in the state normally are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET. Precincts can have closing times extended if their openings are delayed by more than 15 minutes. The law allows an extension up to equal to the amount of time delayed.

The state elections board voted at an emergency meeting to extend the closing times at two locations in Sampson County, one in Cabarrus County and one in Guilford County after hearing about computer issues and problems with printers that contributed to opening delays.

In addition to the Plainview fire station precinct, other locations were extended by the amount of their delays, which ranged from 17 to the 34 minutes.

People who vote after 7:30 p.m. at the four precincts will cast provisional ballots, officials said.

– Dan Mangan and Hannah Miao

Correction: This post has been updated to reflect the accurate revised closing time of the Plainview fire station precinct in Sampson County.

President Trump expressed confidence in what he and his team are seeing so far in key states but signaled that the prospect of a Biden victory is on his mind.

"Winning is easy. Losing is never easy. Not for me it's not," Trump told reporters at a Republican National Committee office in Arlington, Virginia. Most of the RNC staffers in view of the camera wore masks, while Trump and some of his officials in tow, including chief of staff Mark Meadows and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, did not.

Trump, when asked, said he had not yet written either an acceptance speech or a concession speech.

"I'm not thinking about concession speech or acceptance speech yet. Hopefully we'll be only doing one of those two," he said.

The president touted the slew of large, in-person rallies he held in the days before the election, saying that his final push and his performance in the last debate against Joe Biden boosted his campaign. Asked how he was feeling, Trump acknowledged his voice was "a bit choppy" following the swing-state sweep.

"God did not design it for that much," he said.

"We had some incredible rallies and incredible times, and I hear we're doing very well in Florida and we're doing very well in Arizona and incredible in Texas," he said.

"I'm looking at different locations and we're seeing lines of people," he added, "and they're wearing a lot of red material, including hats."
— Kevin Breuninger

The New York City Police Department "is ready" to respond to potential demonstrations after the election and has advised local businesses to secure items outside their storefronts as a precaution, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

"We are not seeing any major demonstrations being planned at this moment," de Blasio told New York City radio station 1010 Wins, encouraging people to demonstrate peacefully if they have concerns.

"I think it will play out more as we see results, but the city's ready, the NYPD is ready, and the most important thing here is that people need to participate in this election and then, obviously, respect the will of the people," he said.

Some New York City businesses in recent days have boarded up their storefront windows in case of post-election disorder, though de Blasio said the city didn't advise them to do so. — Noah Higgins-Dunn

First lady Melania Trump cast her ballot on Tuesday in Palm Beach, Fla., where photos and video showed that she was the only person in her polling station who was not wearing a mask.

The first lady entered the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center at around 10 a.m., and waved and smiled to reporters.

Trump contracted Covid-19 last month along with President Donald Trump and their son Barron, and since then she has remained largely out of the public eye in the White House.

On Tuesday, the first lady said she was feeling "great."

Trump's appearance in a public space without a mask is all but certain to draw criticism from public health experts, especially as the nation experiences a record surge in coronavirus cases.

The president has repeatedly dismissed the importance of wearing masks, despite an overwhelming consensus among scientists that they prevent the spread of coronavirus.

— Christina Wilkie

WASHINGTON — The acting Department of Homeland Security secretary said Tuesday there was no indication that a "foreign actor" had compromised U.S. votes as the nation enters its final day in the 2020 presidential race.

"We have no indications that a foreign actor has succeeded in compromising or manipulating any votes in this election," Chad Wolf told reporters, adding that the results from the election may take a few days.

"It is important to recognize this process may require time," Wolf said referencing the Covid-19 pandemic and the influx of mail-in votes.

Alongside Wolf, DHS official Christopher Krebs said that while he had seen some indications of disruption, the U.S. election systems proved to be resilient.

Top U.S. government officials, as well as leaders of the intelligence community, have previously flagged attempts by Russia, China, and Iran to influence the U.S. election. — Amanda Macias

President Donald Trump departed the White House for a visit to the Republican National Committee Annex in Arlington, Virginia, more than an hour after he was scheduled to roll out.

Trump was originally set to exit the White House at 9:45 a.m., but on Tuesday morning that departure time was updated to 11 a.m. The president was not seen walking out of the White House residence until 12:03 p.m., according to the White House press pool.

The White House declined CNBC's request for more information on the president's schedule.

Trump had traveled extensively on Monday, flying to four key swing states and delivering long speeches at five campaign rallies — the last of which ended after 1 a.m. Tuesday morning.

On Election Day morning, Trump called into Fox News, where he said he planned to declare victory "when there's victory, if there's victory." — Kevin Breuninger

A dark money organization has quietly spent nearly half a million dollars on ads against President Donald Trump in the buildup to Election Day.

The ad spending spree came from a group called A Healthy Future, which has spent over $400,000 on Google, YouTube and Facebook ads in at least the past 10 days.

The group is taking aim at Trump's executive order intended to lower prescription drug prices. The order was signed by the president in September.

One of the ads argues that the executive order could impact the development and pricing of an eventual coronavirus vaccine.

"America needs a cure for Covid-19 now and innovative biopharmaceutical companies are rising to the challenge. So why is President Trump risking American lives with dangerous executive orders?" the voiceover in the ad says.

NBC News' Decision Desk will make calls on races tonight and beyond. CNBC will bring those calls to you on the air, as well as on this blog and our homepage.

For a guide on how NBC decides to call races, go here. – Mike Calia

Election Day voting in five key battleground states got off to a mostly smooth start on Tuesday, according to monitors affiliated with the national nonpartisan democracy group Common Cause.

State leaders for the group in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida and Georgia reported that voting was proceeding with little sign of systemic problems on a briefing held around 10 a.m. ET.

Suzanne Almeida, interim director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, said that despite Covid-19 it was "almost a regular Election Day in Pennsylvania thus far," though she said that the state faced many long lines, particularly in communities of color.

Catherine Turcer, the executive director of Common Cause Ohio, also reported long lines but few signs of systemic trouble.

"All in all, a pretty good report from North Carolina," said Bob Phillips, the executive director of Common Cause North Carolina. "No major machine problems, no long lines, no Covid issues. All good things. A few precincts did not open on time."

Liza McClenaghan, chair of the Common Cause Florida governing board, said the group had received 500 "mostly generic" inquiries. Despite traffic issues and some trouble with electronic poll books that were programmed incorrectly in Lake County, "it's going smoothly at the moment in Florida," she said.

Aunna Dennis, the executive director of Common Cause Georgia, said that some precincts in the state's Fulton County did not originally receive some necessary supplies, but that more supplies were eventually sent.

She said that in several precincts there were problems with the electronic voting software because of an update from the state sent Monday evening, and that the group was working to determine whether the issue was occurring statewide.

"There are technology procedures in place to work with those types of issues," she said. – Tucker Higgins

The U.S. Postal Service on Election Day reported its fifth consecutive day of fewer on-time ballot deliveries, according to a court filing on Tuesday.

The Postal Service said its processing score fell from roughly 91% to a new low on Monday of 89.59%.

The Postal Service has been under fire since Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy took over the reins of the government agency in May, 2020.

Before policy changes implemented on his watch, on-time delivery rates were around 95%.

There are 28 states that will not accept ballots that arrive after Election Day, even if they are postmarked before Nov. 3rd.

On Nov. 1, a judge ordered the agency to remind senior managers they must follow its "extraordinary measures" policy and use its Express Mail Network to expedite ballots ahead of Tuesday's presidential election. – Valerie Block

Former FBI Director James Comey is talking again, and a lot of people are not happy about it. Again.

Comey, whose controversial letter to Congress about Hillary Clinton in October 2016 is widely blamed for contributing to her defeat that year, tweeted his support of current Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday.

"Vote for your country," Comey wrote in his Twitter post, which contained a photo of him raising a Biden/Harris coffee mug, while wearing a Biden/Harris 2020 t-shirt with the words "Truth," "Hope," and "Decency."

Comey promptly received a barrage of scathing replies from people who either still blame him for Clinton's loss, or for what they consider a baseless "hoax" of an FBI investigation into President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and its ties to Russians. Trump's firing of Comey as FBI director in 2017 led directly to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller to continue that probe.

Comey on Oct. 28, 2016, sent Congress a letter saying the FBI had learned about the existence of emails that appeared pertinent into an investigation into the use of a private email server while Clinton was secretary of State under President Barack Obama. That letter came less than two weeks before Election Day, and rocked Clinton's campaign.

Comey months earlier had infuriated Clinton supporters, as well as backers of Trump's campaign, for a long-winded news conference about that same probe in which he said both that "no reasonable prosecutor" would lodge charges against Clinton in the case, while saying at the same time "there is evidence of potential violations of" laws about the handling of classified information.

The political data news site FiveThirtyEight in 2017 said that the disclosure of Comey's letter to Congress, "at a maximum ... might have shifted the race by 3 or 4 percentage points toward Donald Trump, swinging Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida to him, perhaps along with North Carolina and Arizona."

"At a minimum, its impact might have been only a percentage point or so. Still, because Clinton lost Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin by less than 1 point, the letter was probably enough to change the outcome of the Electoral College," the site's founder, Nate Silver, wrote. –Dan Mangan

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden took two of his granddaughters to see his childhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Tuesday morning, part of a series of informal Election Day campaign stops in the battleground state.

Biden said his two granddaughters, Finnegan and Natalie, had never seen his childhood home, so he wanted to show them. Outside the modest house, supporters filled the streets, chanting and cheering.

While he was in the house, Biden wrote a short prayer on the wall: "From this house to the White House with the grace of God." It was the second time he had written on the wall there, the first time was during Biden's successful campaign as President Barack Obama's running mate in 2008.

Pool reporter Alexi McCammond tweeted photos of the prayer. ---Christina Wilkie

Twenty-one states — including the key swing states of Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania — on Monday hit record highs in the number of average daily new coronavirus cases reported, Johns Hopkins University data show.

• Michigan is averaging more than 3,500 new cases a day, up nearly 60% from a week earlier.
• Ohio is averaging 3,100 new cases a day, a 31% rise from last week.
• Pennsylvania is averaging nearly 2,300 new cases a day, 24% higher than a week ago.

The Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed at least 231,566 people in the U.S., has been a defining issue in the 2020 election between President Trump and Joe Biden. But while the crisis has formed the cornerstone of Biden's closing argument, Trump has shifted his focus elsewhere in the final days of the race.

Trump has long downplayed the virus, and in a spate of lengthy campaign speeches Monday spent relatively little time discussing the pandemic, even as experts in his own administration warn that the U.S. could be on the cusp of the most dangerous period yet.

Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, reportedly said in a leaked memo dated Monday that the U.S. is entering "the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic."

On Monday, Trump repeated his claim that the recent increase in cases is due to an increase in testing. Experts, including Trump administration officials, dispute that assertion.

Some states, such as Ohio, where Joe Biden visited on Election Day eve, have also hit new peaks in hospitalizations. — Kevin Breuninger

Democratic nominee Joe Biden stopped by a canvass kickoff event in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday morning, the first of several informal stops he plans to make throughout the day.

Biden arrived at the Carpenters Local Union Hall 445 shortly after 9 a.m. ET, where about 60 supporters, including Pennsylvania's senior Sen. Bob Casey, were waiting to welcome him.

Biden noted that he scored his first unanimous victory last night – with 5 out of 5 votes cast – in tiny Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, which traditionally votes for president just after midnight on Election Day.

"So based on Trump's notion, I'm gonna declare victory right now," Biden joked, poking fun at President Donald Trump, who reportedly may try to claim victory on Tuesday night before all the votes are counted.

Biden then gave a shorter version of his stump speech, telling the crowd through a handheld megaphone that he ran for president to restore the soul of the nation, to rebuild the middle class and to unite the country. –Christina Wilkie

With Election Day under way, millions now await the results of the all-important presidential race and the composition of the U.S. Senate.

CNBC posted a schedule of when each state's polls close and how many electoral votes each state is allotted so voters can keep track of results on Election Night. Results by state tend to trickle in in the hours immediately following poll closure.

The first states to close their polls are Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia, where voting concludes at 7 p.m. ET. Most of Florida's polls close at 7 p.m., while the panhandle will close at 8 p.m. The last state to close its polls is Alaska at 1 a.m. ET.

Here are when battleground state polls close and their electoral votes:

• 7 p.m.: Most of Florida (29 EVs), Georgia (16 EVs)
• 7:30 p.m.: North Carolina (15 EVs), Ohio (18 EVs)
• 8 p.m.: The rest of Florida, Pennsylvania (20 EVs), New Hampshire (4 EVs)
• 9 p.m.: Arizona (11 EVs), Michigan (16 EVs), Minnesota (10 EVs), Texas (38 EVs), Wisconsin (10 EVs)
• 10 p.m.: Iowa (6 EVs), Nevada (6 EVs)

—Thomas Franck

The narrow Republican majority in the Senate is in play on Election Day. Whether it stays Republican or flips Democratic could determine the size of any additional coronavirus stimulus package, which has remained elusive for months.

• The status quo — Donald Trump as president, a Republican Senate and Democratic House — does not favor the odds of a large stimulus package.
• If the Senate were to flip Democrat — and there's no expectation that Democrats would lose the House — a reelected Trump might be pushed into more stimulus than he and Republicans want.
• If Democrat Joe Biden were to win the presidency and the Senate were stay in GOP hands, the former vice president might have to accept a smaller stimulus than he wants.
• A blue sweep — Biden wins, Democrats take the Senate and keep the House — would favor a much larger stimulus approach.

The Republican Senate has been pushing for less than a quarter of the $2.2 trillion package passed last month in the Democratic-controlled House. The White House has generally been offering something in the middle. Talks to try to get more stimulus before the election between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had showed glimmers of promise but ultimately failed. — Matthew J. Belvedere

The presidential election between incumbent Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden and key Senate races aren't the only outcomes to watch today and the days to come. Here's a list of ballot propositions across the country that NBC News will be tracking:

• Arkansas – Measure 2: Ranked choice voting for all elections; switch to open top-four primaries for state offices
• Arizona – Prop 207: Legalize marijuana
• California – Prop 22: Classify Uber/App-based drivers as independent contractor
• Colorado – Prop 115: Ban abortion after 22 weeks of gestational age
• Louisiana – Amendment 1: Constitutional Amendment to say that right to abortion is not guaranteed
• Mississippi – Measure 3: New state flag
• Montana – Init 190: Legalize marijuana
• New Jersey – Question 1: Legalize marijuana
• South Dakota – Amendment A: Legalize marijuana
• South Dakota – Measure 26: Medical marijuana
• Virginia – Question 1: Establish an independent redistricting commission

—Hannah Miao

Don't get too excited about the early vote tallies this election night, warned David Wasserman, the House editor for the Cook Political Report and an NBC News contributor.

While Americans are used to having a pretty good idea of where votes stand on election night, Wasserman said the large numbers of mailed and early votes this year could skew initial results. That's because more Democrats than Republicans are expected to vote by mail or early as opposed to on Election Day and states have varying rules about when election officials can begin counting different types of ballots.

In states like Florida, North Carolina and Texas, for example, mailed and early votes will likely be reported first, according to Wasserman, and could favor Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Wasserman said this "blue mirage" could be "erased" or diminished once Election Day votes are tallied.

On the flip side, in the battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, a "red mirage" may appear to show President Donald Trump taking the lead initially because those states bar election officials from counting early and mailed ballots until either the day of or day before Election Day. Such a lead could be narrowed or overtaken once all those mailed and early ballots are counted. —Lauren Feiner

North Carolina, Florida and Ohio will be key to victory for President Donald Trump or Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Republican pollster and political strategist Frank Luntz told CNBC.

"If Donald Trump wins all three of them, he's going to be in this," Luntz said on "Squawk Box." "If Biden wins even one of those three, it's Biden's presidency."

The three states all began processing mail ballots before Election Day and expect to have results by Wednesday morning, therefore offering an early look at each candidate's prospects.

Luntz said if the president can win all three states, the election outcome may hinge on the results in Pennsylvania, which may take some time. The state did not start processing ballots until 7 a.m. Tuesday and cannot begin counting ballots until polls close on Election Day.

Trump won North Carolina, Florida and Ohio in 2016. —Hannah Miao

Some airline crews will lodge at airport hotels and avoid downtown accommodations just in case there are protests and unrest during and following Election Day.

United Airlines pilots with layovers in seven cities this week, including Washington, Chicago, Portland, Oregon and Philadelphia, will stay close to the airport "out of an abundance of caution," the pilots' union told members.

"In order to prevent any potential delays of our crewmembers getting to where they need to be on time, we have relocated some of our crews to airport hotels," a United Airlines spokesman said in a statement.

United and Alaska Airlines flight attendants will also change to airport hotels away from some city centers, according to the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, their union.

Airlines regularly switch crews' hotels during special events, demonstrations, natural disasters and other issues, but the move tied to an election is unusual, according to unions.

"We are closely monitoring the situation and will make adjustments as needed," an American Airlines spokesman said in a statement. "The safety of our team members is our highest priority."

The Allied Pilots Association, the union of American's roughly 14,000 pilots, told members to "exercise increased vigilance with regard to personal security during the coming days, as election-related unrest may occur."

The union told pilots to avoid large groups, protests and going out alone.

Delta Air Lines said it can change crew hotels when warranted but declined to provide specifics "out of many safety and security considerations."

— Leslie Josephs

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden began Election Day by attending Mass at St. Joseph of the Brandywine Catholic church in Wilmington, Delaware.

Following services, the Biden family visited the burial plot of Biden's elder son, Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in 2015. Joe Biden has often said that Beau's encouragement was a major factor in his decision to run for president.

Also buried at the cemetery are Biden's first wife and his daughter, who were both killed in a car accident in 1972.

Biden was joined by his wife, Jill Biden, and by two of their granddaughters.

Biden is expected to make several stops in Pennsylvania throughout the day Tuesday, and to address the nation Tuesday night from Wilmington. – Christina Wilkie

The final CNBC/Change Research States of Play polls came in last night. The found that Joe Biden held onto his consistent but slim lead over President Trump in six key states: Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina, Florida and Michigan.

Read more here. – Mike Calia

President Trump and Joe Biden barnstormed swing states on the final day of the campaign Monday. Trump went to Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, all states he won in 2016. Biden, meanwhile, focused heavily on Pennsylvania and made a stop in Ohio.

As usual, their messages couldn't have diverged sharply. Biden hammered Trump over his response to the coronavirus pandemic and vowed to act as a uniter if he is elected. Trump targeted an array of his adversaries, casting himself as someone under siege.

Read our wrap of Monday's campaign events here. – Mike Calia