The home stretch: Here is the election news for November 5th, Election Day

Today is the day! It's the calm before the storm for us right now, but as we wait with bated breath for tonight, we are the ones with work to do. Here's what's in the news today – but most importantly, get out and vote!

Where is everyone?

After a final day of campaigning on Monday that lasted late into the night for both candidates, campaigners are counting down the hours until results arrive in personally meaningful places.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump will spend the day at his Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida before heading to an election night party at the nearby Palm Beach County Convention Center. His vice president-elect, JD Vance, has nothing on his public schedule.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, will be in Washington, DC today. She will host her own wake party tonight at her alma mater, Howard University. Her vice presidential candidate, Gov. Tim Walz, will accompany her there after a political stop in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Where is the data?

We're still hours away from the actual data, but here's the final trickle of polls from the past day.

Marist released its final national poll of the cycle yesterday, which showed Harris with a four-point lead, 51-47.

FAU/Mainstreet released swing state polls on Monday, and their Pennsylvania poll showed Harris ahead by two points, 49-47%.

And Atlas Intel rates Trump up one point, 50-49, in the fourth poll they conducted last week.

The unit models are currently blocked. In FiveThirtyEight's election scenario simulator, Harris wins 5o out of 100, Trump wins 49 out of 100, and the last possible 1% has that pesky Electoral College tie hanging around.

What's up?

The first Election Day update was released from Pennsylvania for mail-in voting data. As of Election Day morning, 1,877,000 mail-in ballots had been returned in the state of Pennsylvania.

The New Hampshire town of Dixville Notch, whose tiny population has voted publicly at midnight on Election Day since 1964, was divided even among its six residents. Three voted for Harris, three for Trump.

Both candidates appeared in Pittsburgh last night, each as part of their penultimate campaign events.

If you still need to create a voting plan, visit pa.gov.

What is everyone saying?

Opinion pages across the country today are full of messages to both sides. Here are a few voices to hear on Election Day.

Ingrid Jacques assures USA Today readers: “Yes, the stakes are high. But our democracy will survive this election.” “Call me a dreamer, but I'm not too worried about the future of our democracy, regardless of whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins the presidential election on Tuesday. I have no doubt that there will be protests across the country no matter who the winner is, and that is worrying. However, I am also convinced that our system of government will survive. However, that is not the rhetoric we have heard from the candidates and their campaigns. Both Trump and Harris tended to cast their opponent as a threat to democracy and used fear tactics to drive away their supporters. Trump has called Harris a left-wing extremist who would turn the United States into a Marxist mecca. Harris called Trump a fascist, a lunatic and a tyrant. All of this is making Americans nervous, and many people have serious fears for the future of our country. That’s a disgrace.”

“I am a presidential historian. “This is my biggest regret about Trump,” laments Jon Meacham in the New York Times. “As a presidential biographer, I tend to think historically and seek analogies from the past to shed light on the present. And so Trump's years-long march of fear, prejudice, resentment, xenophobia and extremism reminded me of grievance-driven figures from Huey Long to Joseph McCarthy to George Wallace. For me, Mr. Trump was a difference, not of kind (we have long struggled with illiberalism in America), but of degree (since the Civil War, no figure with such illiberal views had actually won the White House). Then he proved me wrong. His concerted efforts to overturn the November 2020 election were almost successful – solid evidence that he is indeed prepared to follow through on the authoritarian threats he so freely makes. I now see him as a true aberration in our history – a man whose contempt for constitutional democracy makes him a unique threat to the nation.”

The Washington Post editorial board advises: “Election night may not go as you expect. Keep your head.” “In the early hours of November 4, 2020, then-President Donald Trump declared that he had won the election, citing early vote counts that showed him with a lead. In fact, many thousands of mail-in ballots, disproportionately cast by Democrats, still had to be counted in the battleground states. When this was the case and Mr. Trump's lead disappeared, Trump cried fraud and launched his attempt to overturn Joe Biden's victory, culminating in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. As results emerge Tuesday evening – and possibly in the days following – Americans should prepare to be patient as they monitor early results that do not necessarily indicate the final outcome. Delays could occur in new and unpredictable ways. In all likelihood, however, this will no more be due to fraud than the slow count in 2020. In fact, the voting system is probably more secure than ever.”

Daniel Friedman of The Hill explains: “The era of political polarization is over.” “From media claims that we are a hopelessly divided country to incessant personal attacks on the character and track records of presidential candidates, it is no surprise that the Most people believe the American electorate is more polarized than ever before. However, a closer look at the two parties' respective platforms reveals a story of a homogeneous citizenry and a nation united in temperament and values. Political polarization fluctuates depending on various social and political factors at home and abroad. Since the mid-2000s, the Democratic and Republican parties have trended in opposite directions on various issues along the political spectrum. However, in this election we are witnessing a return by both parties and their presidential candidates to centrist policy positions.”