ELECTION DAY

Party stalwarts have hoped that overturning Roe will reverse their midterm fortunes. The countervailing winds are probably still too strong.

Due to ongoing effects of the pandemic, 73 precincts across Chicago will be without an election site for the June 28 primary election.

Hurricane Agatha touched down as a Category 2 storm in Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph.

Breaking down what we know about how this could end.

Counting of mailed ballots in Pennsylvania is drawing renewed scrutiny amid a too-close-to-call U.S. Senate primary between Republicans David McCormick and Dr. Mehmet Oz. Former President Donald Trump blasted the state’s elections procedures on social media, even though there are no indications of any wrongdoing with those ballots other than a printing error that was slowing the tally in one county.

New text messages apparently between Hannity and Meadows on Election Day match what Hannity actually talked about on his programs.

A federal judge has ruled that a former Kentucky clerk violated the constitutional rights of two same-sex couples, who were among those to whom she wouldn’t issue marriage licenses.

Mackenzie Salmon 'overreacts' to the biggest storylines from the AFC Divisional round games and looks ahead to the AFC title game.

Asked if voters could have confidence in the results, Biden said "it all depends" on the passage of federal legislation.

How The Washington Post and ProPublica researched election-related posts in Facebook groups.

A federal judge has rejected motions to dismiss eight lawsuits that challenge Georgia’s sweeping new election law.

For those who enjoyed a break from political ads for a little while, get used to them ramping up again after the holiday season, if not sooner.

"My wife actually dropped it off personally two weeks ago, so it's there," Wolf said in a radio interview. A spokesperson said it was an "honest mistake."

A Rosie’s Gaming Emporium will not be coming to Amherst County.

Del. Chris Hurst is responding after he was pulled over while his girlfriend was allegedly caught flipping campaign signs.

Voting on Election Day appears to have gone smoothly with few issues involving voting or equipment-related matters.

Voting on Election Day appears to have gone smoothly with few issues involving voting or equipment-related matters.

A year after the NCAA gave athletes Election Day off, football teams all over the country were back practicing on the first Tuesday in November.

How is The Washington Post doing election results this year? Learn more about when we will report results, how our approach to displaying results is different in 2020, how our model works and how we will conclude who has won or lost a race.

Afternoon temperatures the next few days will be more "typical" of December

Early voting hit a record high in Virginia's dead heat governor's race between former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin.

Election Day is just around the corner, so Roanoke NAACP hosted its first “Votercade” to push people to vote.

Valley Metro wants to make sure people have a way to get to the polls on Election Day, Nov. 2.

Democrats hold a substantial early voting lead in the hotly contested Virginia governor race between former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin.

But Republicans are poised to narrow the gap, with most of their votes likely to come on Election Day.

With one week until Election Day, the eyes of the nation are on Virginia’s gubernatorial race.

Republican candidate Delegate Jason Miyares was in Lynchburg Thursday, leading a news conference with Judy Smith, a victim of violent crime.

One local race is House District 22, which includes sections of Bedford, Campbell and Franklin Counties, as well as parts of Lynchburg.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki bluntly calls out GOP lawmakers about their spending during the Trump era and their refusal now to raise the national debt limit. Psaki said they "spent like drunken sailors," during the last four years. (Oct. 4)

We'll probably never know exactly how uneven the effects of the pandemic have been.

Early in-person voting starts Friday in the Commonwealth.

Forty-six candidates are on the ballot to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom in Tuesday’s recall election.

Early in-person voting for November elections is just around the corner, and the Lynchburg registrar wants your input on extending office hours.

A new report shows fewer than one-third of voters who cast ballots in last year’s U.S. presidential election did so at a polling place on Election Day as the coronavirus pandemic led states to greatly expand mail-in balloting and early voting.

“There are really no good answers here,” said Jane Pinsky, director of the North Carolina Coalition for Lobbying & Government Reform.

Republican-led state legislatures across the country are waging an assault on voting rights following the 2020 election, and North Carolina is no exception.

Republican-led state legislatures across the country are waging an assault on voting rights following the 2020 election, and North Carolina is no exception.

It's another victory for religious groups at the Supreme Court.

With the Virginia primary set for Tuesday, Democratic candidates are mobilizing people in every corner of the Commonwealth.

After losing a leadership role for calling out former president Donal Trump's false election claims, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) disputed that those falsehoods have animated the GOP's push in dozens of states to enact new voting restrictions.

As Republicans roll back access to the ballot, Democrats in certain states have been quietly moving to expand voting rights.

A new law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis will make it harder for people to vote by mail and blocks private donations to assist elections.

The modest adjustments to the For the People Act are meant to address concerns from state and local elections officials, not to woo skeptical Republicans.

Democrats are rethinking parts of their legislation to overhaul U.S. elections.

More than 111 million Americans voted before Election Day in 2020.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that the state elections commission should not remove from the rolls voters flagged as possibly having moved, something conservatives have wanted done for nearly two years.

Maintaining accurate voter rolls is a bipartisan concern, but there is little agreement on the best way to do it. Republicans say Democrats are too lax, resulting in bloated voter rolls that undermine confidence and invite fraud. Here is an explanation of how voter rolls are maintained, how states do it differently and the conflicts over this year’s legislative proposals. WHAT ARE VOTER ROLLS AND HOW ARE THEY MAINTAINED? In 2016, New York City’s Board of Elections improperly removed more than 200,000 names from the voter rolls.

Iowa Republicans cut back early voting and Election Day hours Iowa Republican Governor Kim Reynolds signed a GOP-backed law this week to restrict the state's early and Election Day voting. CBS News reporter Adam Brewster joins CBSN's "Red & Blue" host Elaine Quijano to discuss efforts by Republicans across the country to limit voting access.

As Nate Wlodarchak drove people to the polls on Election Day, he couldn't stop picturing his life without student debt. On the campaign trail, now President Joe Biden had promised to forgive $10,000 of the loans for all borrowers, which would practically reset Wlodarchak's balance to zero. However, with the Biden administration coming in amid dual and historic economic and health crises, student loan forgiveness may not come as quickly as some had hoped. An aide for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said cancelling student debt would make the biggest strides toward closing the racial wealth gap since the Civil Rights movement. On his first day in office, President Biden signed an executive order extending the pause on monthly payments for federal student loan borrowers through September 2021.

In Virginia, that weekend also featured a holiday that commemorated the lives of two Confederate generals — until now. Friday marked the first time in over 100 years that the Commonwealth of Virginia did not officially celebrate the former state holiday, Lee-Jackson Day. Many have commented on Northam's post saying that Confederate soldiers need to be honored. "...I will honor those confederate soldiers despite the new ideology that this is the present. Confederate soldiers helped us win wars and they are being disrespected."

ET, California's electors cast their state's 55 Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden, putting him over the 270 needed to win. Maine awards two of its four electoral votes to the statewide winner but also allocates an electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each of its two congressional districts. Garlin Gilchrist opens the state's Electoral College session at the state capitol in Lansing on December 14, 2020. Once a candidate reaches 270 electoral college votes, Pence will declare the winner. Once a candidate reaches 270 electoral college votes, Pence will declare the winner.

Electors are casting their ballots Monday in the Electoral College and will declare the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Three hundred and six electors will vote for Mr. Biden and 232 will vote for Mr. Trump. The electors are not necessarily bound by law to vote according to the state's results, and there were 10 "faithless electors" in 2016. December 23 : All copies of the electors' votes must be delivered to the recipients. : All copies of the electors' votes must be delivered to the recipients.

Electors will cast their ballots Monday in the Electoral College and declare the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Maine awards two of its four electoral votes to the statewide winner but also allocates an electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each of its two congressional districts. The electors are not necessarily bound by law to vote according to the state's results, and there were 10 "faithless electors" in 2016. Can Mr. Trump still challenge the results after the electors vote? December 23: All copies of the electors' votes must be delivered to the recipients.

Electors will cast their votes Monday in the Electoral College and declare the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Maine awards two of its four electoral votes to the statewide winner but also allocates an electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each of its two congressional districts. The electors are not necessarily bound by law to vote according to the state's results, and there were 10 "faithless electors" in 2016. Can Mr. Trump still challenge the results after the electors vote? December 23: All copies of the electors' votes must be delivered to the recipients.

Youth group helping register many first-time voters ahead of Georgia's Senate runoff A group of high school students launched a program to register young first time-voters and registered about 18,000 young voters in Georgia for Election Day in November. Mark Strassmann shares their story.

The Nevada Supreme Court made Joe Biden's win in the state official on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020, approving the final canvass of the Nov. 3 election. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)LAS VEGAS – The Nevada Supreme Court made Joe Biden’s win in the state official on Tuesday, approving the state's final canvass of the Nov. 3 election. Steve Sisolak results that will deliver six electoral votes from the western U.S. battleground state to Biden. Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, a Republican who has avoided the public eye in recent weeks, presented the results to the court. That was up from a turnout of 76.8% during the presidential election in 2016, when Democrat Hillary Clinton carried Nevada by a little under 2.5% over Trump.

Cannabis companies likely have an eventful four years ahead of them. Pot stocks have been hot following Election Day, with big names in the space gaining on the prospects of a Joe Biden presidency. Exchange-traded funds tracking the space have also soared over that time frame, with one of the biggest winners being the Amplify Seymour Cannabis ETF (CNBS), up nearly 23%. As such, CNBS is "the only derivative-free cannabis ETF that's up year to date," with a more than 18% gain as of early Monday, Seymour said. The ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ), the largest pot ETF by assets under management, is down almost 22% for 2020.

DANVILLE, Va. – The city of Danville will soon receive $15 million from the company behind its new casino. The Investing in Danville Committee met virtually on Thursday for the first time since the Caesars Entertainment complex was approved by voters on Election Day. Caesars will pay the city $15 million dollars by the end of the year, which committee member Ann Stratton said is a “historic investment” for Danville. $6 million will go towards a new Danville Police Department headquarters. The remaining $9 million could be spent on anything within the city of Danville.

After months of travel to battleground states before Election Day, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency now is looking at taxpayer-funded trips abroad, including the tropics, in the Trump administration's last weeks. Administrator Andrew Wheeler had been invited next month to Taiwan, a trip with an estimated cost of $45,000, EPA spokesman James Hewitt said Thursday. “Administrator Wheeler remains head of the agency and will continue to advance environmental progress both here and abroad,” Hewitt said. The New York Times, which first reported Wheeler’s travel plans, said Wheeler and other EPA officials were expected to travel by chartered flight to minimize exposure to the coronavirus. Hewitt, the EPA spokesman, did not immediately respond to a question asking whether Wheeler was doing any planning to help the agency transition from one administration to the next.

Native Americans were among the difference-makers who swung the race to Biden in Arizona. That show of force is now translating into leverage for Native Americans seeking more representation in top levels of the federal government. Native voters say they were motivated by many of the same things as other voters. She also was part of a group helping to boost voting among Native Americans. “People need to start paying attention to not only Navajo votes but across the board nationally, Native votes,” Davis said.

DANVILLE, VA. – Danville City Council is moving forward with its plans to bring a Caesars resort and casino to the River City. This comes following an overwhelming “yes” vote to a casino referendum on Election Day. A committee is already working on deciding how to spend the first $15 million from Caesars, which is expected to be paid upfront to the city sometime soon. “We’re going to work closely with them through the permitting process, through the development process, all that kind of stuff. So we’re all kind of working together to make sure things happen as smoothly and quickly as possible," Larking said.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, file photo, poll workers assist a voter on Election Day at Frank McCourt High School, on New York's Upper West Side. Poll workers in some states who came in contact with voters on Election Day are now reporting they have tested positive for the coronavirus despite painstaking efforts to secure election sites. In most places, poll workers were required to wear masks. The cases emerged while election workers continued counting thousands of ballots. It's difficult to trace cases back to polling places because the virus manifests in different ways, and some people never get symptoms.

Turnout among voting-eligible Americans ages 18-29 increased significantly from 2016 to 2020 and a majority of them supported Biden, according to preliminary analysis from Tufts University. "Progressive voters are the future of this country, progressive policies are the future of politics, and we are going to keep fighting to make sure that Biden's administration is as progressive as possible," Weinberg said. Young voters' electoral impactVoters ages 18-29, particularly young people of color, supported Biden at a greater rate than any other age group, NBC News exit polls show. About 90% of young Black voters supported Biden, compared with 34% of White youth and 57% of all youth voters in Georgia. Meanwhile, progressive Democrats have criticized moderate Democrats for catering more to center-right voters than those who consistently vote blue.

U.S. Secret Service is seen during President Donald Trump campaign speech just four days before Election Day outside of Raymond James Stadium on October 29, 2020 in Tampa, Florida. More than 130 U.S. Secret Service officers have been ordered to isolate after testing positive for Covid-19 or being exposed to an infected co-worker, The Washington Post reported Friday. The outbreak is thought to be partially related to President Donald Trump's campaign rallies, sources told the paper. Covid-19 infections have also recently afflicted prominent figures in the Trump campaign and White House, including Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, campaign advisor Corey Lewandowski and White House political affairs director Brian Jack. White House spokesman Judd Deere declined to comment and referred questions about the Secret Service outbreak to the USSS.

But the election was largely smooth, in large part because 107 million voters that cast their ballots early and took the pressure off Election Day operations. Election experts said the large increase in advance voting — 107 million people voting early in person and by mail — helped take pressure off Election Day operations. Among the many lawsuits filed since Election Day is one in Nevada by the Trump campaign alleging voter fraud. “On Election Day, we didn’t have any reports of anything significant," said Lisa Schaefer, who leads the bipartisan County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. “The system held up given the extraordinary circumstances that election officials faced,” said Amber McReynolds, who leads the National Vote at Home Institute.

DANVILLE, Va. – Danville voters delivered a big win for Caesars Entertainment’s planned casino on Election Day. The company aims to break ground on the $400 million project next year with a scheduled opening date of 2023. Former Caesars CEO Tony Rodio, who is advising the company on the Danville project, said he’s elated to become part of the Danville community. “2023 can’t come soon enough," said John Mason, who owns the Foxglove boutique shop across Main Street from the planned casino site. It’s a win-win situation for everybody involved.”Caesars confirmed the casino will also have a sportsbook for betting on games.

Biden announced his plans to launch the COVID-19 task force during remarks at his victory party Saturday night. He said those advisers would help him take the proposals he’s released during the campaign for dealing with the pandemic — which include investments in personal protective equipment and loans for small businesses as well as plans to implement more standardized public health guidelines — and turn those proposals into a “blueprint” that he’ll enact when inaugurated president next January.

The Republican Party of Pennsylvania asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to halt an ongoing count of mail-in ballots received in that state after Election Day, a move that came hours after Democratic nominee Joe Biden overtook President Donald Trump in the vote tally there. The party also asked the Supreme Court to order the Pennsylvania secretary of state to log and segregate those ballots, but to take no other action, including counting them, for now. The GOP already was seeking to overturn an order by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that extended the normal 8 p.m. Hours later Friday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito ordered Pennsylvania's county elections boards to segregate all ballots received by mail after 8 p.m. Tuesday and to count them separately from other ballots. Alito's order essentially mandates guidance issued in the past two weeks by state Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar to the counties calling for them to segregate the ballots received after Election Day.

Here, Christina A. Cassidy, a reporter for The Associated Press who covers voting and election security, offers some insight into the post-election process for fixing ballots:UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES CAN A BALLOT BE CURED? In states that lack such a process, ballots with these problems are generally not counted. But a few states do not use signature verification to validate a mail ballot, including Pennsylvania. In a few states, if the problem is identified before Election Day, the voter is sent a replacement ballot. Partisan poll watchers can report concerns to party officials, who can raise objections and file lawsuits.

The two most powerful people in Congress — at least for the next two months — renewed their calls for coronavirus stimulus on Friday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., again called for a targeted aid package. Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for Republicans to restart aid talks that fell apart before the 2020 election. She told reporters that the "imperative to act could not be greater" after the U.S. posted a record of more than 120,000 new Covid-19 infections on Thursday. The chambers of Congress failed to find common ground on relief before the election, as Senate Republicans tried to pass a $500 billion aid bill and House Democrats approved a $2.2 trillion package.

There was intense focus on Pennsylvania, where Biden led Trump by more than 27,000 votes, and Nevada, where the Democrat led by about 22,000. Trump stayed in the White House and out of sight, as more results trickled in and expanded Biden’s lead in must-win Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, officials were not allowed to begin processing mail-in ballots until Election Day under state law. In Nevada, there were a number of provisional ballots cast by voters who registered on Election Day, and officials had to verify their eligibility. The AP has declared Biden the winner in Arizona and said Thursday that it was monitoring the vote count as it proceeded.

And he had demanded in advance that the results be known on Election Day, which is never a given. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell waited until Friday morning to tweet that “Every legal vote should be counted. All sides must get to observe the process.”Whether that dynamic will continue if fuller election results deliver the presidency to Biden is another key unanswered question. If the vote count goes against him, does he really want to be remembered as the president who burned down the building on his way out the door? ___EDITOR’S NOTE -- Nancy Benac is White House news editor and has covered government and politics for The Associated Press for four decades.

FINCASTLE, Va. – Some Virginia voters doubted if their votes had been counted on Election Day after a viral, but misleading, social media post. The post claimed some votes were ignored by the Commonwealth based on a section of the Virginia Department of Elections' voter information page. “Different offices across the state are different sizes and have different numbers of staff, which means they move at different paces.”The Virginia Department of Elections also used social media to counter the claims about the ballots. Clark hopes voters understand there is no need to worry about a ballot once it is in the system. “We’ve probably been working anywhere from 10 to 16 hour days at the election office," Clark said.

The image Eric Trump shared in his post claimed that there was a huge, inexplicable increase in voter turnout in Wisconsin this year. The image showed voter turnout percentages during presidential elections over the last 20 years in Wisconsin, with voter turnout hitting 89.25% this year. The Wisconsin Elections Commission calculates voter turnout based on the entire voting-age population, not just registered voters. But as of 7 p.m. on Sunday, the Wisconsin Elections Commission reported 3,684,726 registered voters. The Wisconsin Elections Commission received “a lot of calls” about the false rumors, said the state's top elections official Meagan Wolfe.

A North Dakota state legislative candidate died from COVID-19 in October — one month before Election Day. David Andahl, a Republican running for the state's House of Representatives won his race on Tuesday. DavidAndahl.comAndahl was running alongside fellow District 8 candidate David Nehring, who won 40.72% of the vote, while Andahl won 35.53%, according to state data. North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said Governor Doug Burgum has no authority to appoint a replacement. This comes after the governor announced Wednesday that he was appointing a coal company executive, Wade Boeshans of BNI Energy, to the seat, according to the AP.

Karen Mahabir, fact check and misinformation editor for The Associated Press, says her team of reporters has had no shortage of work since Americans stopped voting late Tuesday. Here, she answers three quick questions about the misinformation landscape at the moment. We know they stepped up all their efforts to curb misinformation, which seems to be working for the most part. They're taking action. ___SOME RECENT AP STORIES ABOUT MISINFORMATION:— Claim that Sharpie pens ruin Arizona ballots misses the mark— Trump and allies spread falsehoods to cast doubt on election— Did social media actually counter election misinformation?

WASHINGTON – Two days after Election Day, protests across the United States are scattered, happening in places from Portland, Oregon and Seattle to Washington, D.C. Similar protests — sometimes about the election, sometimes about racial inequality — took place in at least a half-dozen cities, including Los Angeles, Houston, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and San Diego. In Portland, demonstrators engaged in what authorities said was widespread violence downtown. Here, Elizabeth Kennedy, deputy Washington bureau chief for The Associated Press, who is leading coverage of election-related protests, breaks down what AP journalists across the United States have been encountering. There was no widespread violence at the polls or in the immediate aftermath.

FILE - In this Nov. 3, 2020, file photo, a long line of people waiting to vote stretches around City Hall on Election Day, in Honolulu. Overall, the state’s vote-by-mail election appears to have been a big success, leading to record numbers of voters participating. The law also gives voters the option to vote in person at voter service centers, where people may also register to vote or get help with casting a ballot. Ma said people waited between two to four hours on Tuesday at the two voter centers on Oahu, an island with about 549,000 registered voters. Another factor was people who view voting in person on Election Day as sacrosanct and something they wanted to do.

With the race unsettled in several key battlegrounds, Trump's strong Election Day surge may not be enough to overcome a Democratic operation that also turned out its vote. But the tight presidential races and unexpected Democratic losses in congressional races demonstrated the resilient power of Trump’s appeal with rural, white voters and a growing polarization that may outlast his leadership. “But in this election we found it’s not ticking fast enough for the Democrats.”Even as the winner of the White House was unclear, Republicans had victories to celebrate Wednesday and white, rural voters to thank. Trump held one of his final, largest campaign rallies in Butler, drawing an estimated 54,000 people two days before Election Day. State Republicans spent months signing up new GOP registrants in the county — the GOP netted 11,000 voters over Democrats since Trump's 2016 election.

Postal Service inspectors found just 13 ballots — all in Pennsylvania — during an Election Day sweep of mail processing centers ordered by a federal judge. The ballots were found in two separate mail processing facilities and were expedited for delivery to local election offices, according to court records filed Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in Washington, D.C., had given the Postal Service until Tuesday afternoon to search 27 facilities in several battleground areas for outstanding ballots and immediately deliver any ballots discovered to election offices. Justice Department attorneys representing the Postal Service said they could not meet the judge's order without disrupting the agency's own Election Day operations. Instead, they are expedited directly to the boards of elections,” Postal Service spokesman Dave Partenheimer said.

Unlike in previous years, states were contending with an avalanche of mail ballots driven by the global pandemic. Every election, what’s reported on election night are unofficial results, and the counting of votes extends past Election Day. This year, with so many mail ballots and close races in key states, counting every vote was expected to take more time. “These ballots were cast by tens of thousands of Michigan citizens who have the right to have their vote counted. Slowing the process down was the fact that local election officials could not begin processing and scanning ballots ahead of Election Day, as most states did.

Returned ballots, where the voter could not be located, are stacked in United States Postal Service containers during the 2020 Presidential election in Provo, Utah, U.S., on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. The Postal Service on Election Day failed to deliver a significant percentage of mail-in ballots to several states that could determine who wins the presidential contest between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden, a court filing revealed Wednesday. "I'd like you to explain just what the heck happened yesterday," Sullivan told Joseph Borson, the Justice Department lawyer who is representing the Postal Service in the case. "Whether we should spend time on that today, I'm not sure we should, but I'm not going to forget it either." Kevin Bray, Postal Service executive responsible for mail processing in the election, is scheduled to testify when the hearing resumes at 1:30pm ET.

There’s no doubt that Election Day this year was one for the books. After record-setting early voting, people still showed up in droves on Election Day to cast their ballot. Below are 10 photos -- all from Getty Images -- that give an indication of how different this Election Day looked. (2020 Getty Images)Protesters march through the streets around Black Lives Matter Plaza on Nov. 3 in Washington DC. (2020 Getty Images)Did you feel things were different this year?

At least 159.8 million Americans voted in the 2020 presidential election, according to NBC News projections Wednesday morning. The projected vote total marks a record high number of ballots cast in a presidential election and the highest voter turnout rate among eligible citizens since 1900. ET, NBC News projects that Democratic candidate Joe Biden received more than 68.6 million votes, President Donald Trump received more than 65.9 million votes and other candidates received more than 2.1 million votes. The projected 159.8 million cast ballots represent the highest number of voters in a U.S. presidential election in history. NBC News' projected 159.8 million ballots cast in 2020 would constitute about a 66.8% voter turnout rate among eligible citizens — the highest since 1900.

History said that the market would be volatile leading into the presidential election. What does the history of stocks and elections suggest about the S&P 500 for the rest of 2020, once Election Day is in the rearview mirror? With so much still unknown about how this election will end, here are potential outcomes for the stock market based on the history of elections. It is the day after Election Day, and the outcome in the race between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden is far from decided. In election year Novembers since 1944, the S&P 500 has risen, on average, of 0.8%, according to CFRA and S&P Dow Jones Indices data.

WASHINGTON – America woke up Wednesday morning without a winner of the presidential election. Some states, including Florida, began counting absentee ballots days before Election Day — and had definitive results within hours of the polls closing. It just means the country doesn't know who won the presidential election for the time being. And they will prevail.”Vote tabulations routinely continue beyond Election Day, and states largely set the rules for when the count has to end. The U.S. has endured a presidential race without an immediate winner before.

WHY AP CALLED NORTH CAROLINA FOR TRUMPThe Associated Press declared Donald Trump the winner in North Carolina on Friday after concluding there were not enough ballots left to be counted that would allow Joe Biden to overtake his lead. Friday was the deadline for counties in North Carolina to certify their results. Following updates from most counties in the state, Trump was leading by about 73,690 votes, or 1.3 percentage points. But a few individual contests, including North Carolina, remained too early to call. Now that Trump has been declared the winner in North Carolina the only state yet to be called is Georgia, which is conducting a hand tally of the presidential race there.

Every election, results reported on election night are unofficial and the counting of ballots extends past Election Day. The Georgia lawsuit filed in Chatham County essentially asks a judge to ensure the state laws are being followed on absentee ballots. Campaign officials said they were considering peppering a dozen other counties around the state with similar claims around absentee ballots. Trump, addressing supporters at the White House early Wednesday, talked about taking the undecided race to the Supreme Court. Ohio State University election law professor Edward Foley wrote on Twitter Wednesday: “The valid votes will be counted.

WASHINGTON – Election Day ushered in skirmishes near the White House and relatively minor demonstrations in California and elsewhere on the West Coast, but none of the widespread unrest that some had feared in the hours after the polls began closing around the country. In Washington, D.C., police created a wide security perimeter around the White House, where President Donald Trump watched the election returns and hosted guests. Mostly peaceful protests overtook streets near the White House earlier this year following the killing of George Floyd, who was Black, by a Minneapolis police officer. Hundreds of people gathered in a generally festive mood Tuesday night on a street near the White House that was recently renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza by the city's mayor, who is Black. Seattle police advised residents in a tweet about a pair of marches moving through separate neighborhoods.

BENTON, Tenn. – The mayor of a Tennessee town died on Election Day when he was hoping to get reelected. WBIR reports the Mayor of Benton, Jerry Stephens, died at the age of 80. Election officials for Polk County, where Benton is located, said that the race is still considered active. Officials said that if Stephens wins the race, the winners of the two town commissioner seats will appoint a new mayor at their next meeting. According to WBIR, the vice mayor, Joe Jenkins, will serve as mayor until a new one is sworn in.

Democrats will keep their House majority, NBC News projected Tuesday, as the major U.S. parties jockeyed for control of the White House and Senate in the 2020 election. Democrats entered Election Day heavily favored to keep control of the chamber. As of early Wednesday morning, NBC News estimated Democrats would hold 227 seats and Republicans would have 208 in the next Congress. Democrats have a 232-197 majority in the current Congress. One representative is a Libertarian, while the House has five vacancies.

Postal Service says it can't meet a federal judge’s order to sweep processing centers for undelivered mail-in ballots. THE BACKGROUND:U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan's order came after weeks of bruising court decisions for an agency that has become heavily politicized under its new leader, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. Much of Sullivan’s order hinged on postal data showing roughly 300,000 mail-in ballots in several states had not received scans showing they had been delivered. The Postal Service said it had already conducted rounds of morning checks at all its processing hubs. Further, the agency said has been performing daily reviews of all 220 facilities handling election mail and planned another sweep hours before polling places closed Tuesday.

Voters lined up at polls across the nation for Election Day, investors traded stocks higher and CNBC's Jim Cramer was left surprised about the returns made on the session Tuesday. "[Many worried] the election [would] freak people out, but the opposite happened," the "Mad Money" host said. "We ended up with a bizarrely bullish session where both the Biden stocks and the Trump stocks rallied." The S&P 500 made the highest gains, moving 1.2% to 3,310.24. Amgen, Johnson & Johnson and Chevron were the only three Dow components to fall, according to FactSet.

It's Election Day, and CNBC.com's MacKenzie Sigalos digs into a trove of historical financial data to learn whether the stock market prefers Republicans or Democrats to win the White House. Plus, the "After Hours" team brings you a look at what Election Day in America looks like as the coronavirus pandemic grips the country. President Donald Trump has warned that the stock market will crash if former Vice President Joe Biden wins the presidential election. Some market experts have also raised concern about the potential for a "blue wave" if Democrats gain a majority in the Senate, win the White House and keep control of the House. However, history shows that stocks usually do well regardless of which party controls the White House or Congress.

Election Day is here, and U.S. stocks are surging. The major averages climbed on Tuesday, adding to Monday's gains as investors hoped for a clear outcome to what is shaking out to be a neck-and-neck presidential election. The market may also have to tolerate uncertainty for longer than it did following the 2016 election, Tepper said. TradingAnalysis.com founder Todd Gordon recalled being "up trading S&P futures all night" during the 2016 election. He had his eye on the materials space, flagging stocks such as International Paper, Ball Corp., PPG Industries and his top pick, Martin Marietta Materials.

Voters fill ballots at the Kentucky Exposition Center during the election in Louisville, Kentucky, on Nov. 3, 2020. Voters across the country head to the polls on Tuesday for their last chance to cast a ballot in the 2020 election. At least 100 million Americans had already cast their ballots heading into Election Day, reflecting high early voting turnout for the race between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden, along with down-ballot contests, amid the coronavirus pandemic. While there were some reports of long lines, malfunctioning machines and misinformation on Tuesday, for the most part, wait times were greatly reduced thanks to the early voting trend. Here's a look at Election Day scenes across the country:

Investment activity in 401(k) plans was more than twice the normal daily average (or about 0.06% of balances) on the eve of the U.S. presidential election, according to 401(k) provider Alight Solutions. Investors mostly moved from equities toward fixed income on Monday, which has been the norm over the past several weeks. Still, the increase in daily 401(k) activity so far this week could portend a trend that occurred four years ago. In 2016, the biggest trading day in 401(k) plans – and of all time, at that point – was the day after the presidential election. Net trading activity on Nov. 9, 2016 was 4.5 times the normal trading level (or about 0.10% of 401(k) balances) with money flowing to fixed income.

Among the three precincts voting at the Mount Greenwood school, election workers reported more than 600 voters on Election Day. A record number of more than 1.7 million voters cast ballots ahead of Election Day as coronavirus health concerns prompted more use of mail-in ballots and early voting sites. In Will County, nearly half the registered voters cast their ballots before Election Day. This year’s 190,689 early voters included what’s known as “in-person absentee” voting, which wasn’t included in the 2016 total of 108,902 early voters, according to the office. We’re strong; we’re united, we’re a team.”All Chicago voting sites will be following all federal and state public health guidelines, Hernandez said.

Biden in election night speech: "We feel good about where we are"

In case you didn’t know it already, today is Election Day. If you haven’t registered to vote yet — it’s not too late. You can still do so in Illinois, and this is how. If you are planning on heading to the polls, here are some things you should keep in mind.