It’s Election Day: What You Need to Know

It's Election Day in America, and as the polls are opening across the country, more than 80 million people have already voted.

Voting by mail nonetheless remained a popular choice this year, with more than 36 million mail-in ballots returned ahead of the election.

As of Monday night, Democrats held a 2-point edge nationally (37.9 percent to 35.9 percent) over Republicans in the early vote. That figure also marks an adjustment from 2020, when Democrats held a 14-point advantage in the early vote.

But with millions of votes still yet to be cast, there's no telling what the results will be just yet.

Voter registration is required in every state and territory except North Dakota. Many states also require voters to present some form of identification to vote.

The Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, will vote in the morning at his local polling station in Palm Beach, Florida. He will later hold a watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat nominee, has already voted by mail. She will hold her watch party at Howard University, her alma mater, in Washington.

As the votes are tallied, The Epoch Times website will track the results in real time. But it could be hours—or even days—before the winners are known.

It took four days for The Associated Press to declare Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential race due to states' differing rules on when mail-in ballots could be counted.

Some states have since implemented new protocols, including the use of ballot-counting machines, to speed up the process.

If the race is close and neither of the leading candidates concedes, a legal fight could ensue.

The results' final certification will be on Jan. 6, 2025, when Congress meets in a joint session to count the electoral votes.

—Samantha Flom, Austin Alonzo, Jack Phillips, and Lawrence Wilson

In the final days before the election, many voters told The Epoch Times they'd had enough of the politics and campaigning, though some were still anxious about the outcome.

"I can't take four more years of open borders and Kamala," said Jack, a voter in Mt. Pleasant, Wis., who declined to provide his last name.

Jack describes himself as "diehard MAGA." It's his third time voting for former President Donald Trump.

Ethan Jones, 41, of Traverse City, Michigan, said a Trump loss would cause him to feel panic.

"This country hasn't done the best in the last four years, and to continue down that path, I feel, would be devastating for every generation, living and coming," Jones said.

Wendy Sherman, a resident of Elkhart, Indiana, held the opposite view. She said she'll be "absolutely devastated" if Harris loses.

"The last time Donald Trump won, I cried."

Tiffany Darby, 42, of Belleville, Michigan, also backs Harris. She said she feels "confident" her candidate will win.

But "if it doesn't go in our favor," Darby added, "I'm very worried about the future for us."

The prospect of social unrest after the election was also a concern for some—especially after the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

Other voters said they're not so worried. Though they expressed a strong preference for one candidate, they said their lives—and the world—would continue just fine if their choice lost.

Craig, a young Trump voter who works at a Kwik Trip in Wisconsin, said a Harris win would be "stressful." But he drew the line at using more forceful language.

"At the end of the day, it is not the end of the world," he said. "This is not the last election."

Kristin Short, 42, of Bay City, Mich., shared that outlook.

"Because I don't feel strongly about either one, it's going to be a little anticlimactic no matter who wins," Short said. "Either way, we'll be fine. The world's not going to end."

—Samantha Flom, Joseph Lord, Nathan Worcester, Emel Akan, Lawrence Wilson, Jeff Louderback, Arjun Singh, Stacy Robinson, and John Haughey