Voters line up in voting booths to cast their ballots
America’s ugly and unpredictable presidential election entered its final hours on Tuesday, with voters flocking to polls to choose between Democrat Hillary Clinton, hoping to become the first woman to serve as commander in chief, and Republican Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman who tapped into a searing strain of economic populism.
Mrs Clinton appeared to have multiple paths to triumph, while Mr Trump needed to prevail in most of the battleground states to secure an upset. Control of the Senate was also at stake, with Democrats needing to net four seats if Mrs Clinton wins the White House.
As the result of the vote looms, we take a look back at how election day unfolded across the US in pictures.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to vote at Douglas G Graffin School
The White House as seen on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016 in Washington. After nearly two years of bitterness and rancor, America will elect its 45th president today, making Hillary Clinton the nation’s first female commander in chief or choosing billionaire businessman Donald Trump, whose volatile campaign has upended U.S. politics. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, and his wife Melania, casts their ballots at PS-59, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
Law enforcement officers stand outside Jacob Javits Center in New York, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, before Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s election night rally. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Voters line up in voting booths to cast their ballots at Robious Elementary School in Chesterfield, Va. on Tuesday Nov. 8, 2016. (Shelby Lum/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)
A man votes in the bakery department at a Randalls grocery store in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
A group of volunteers for Hillary Clinton, from left, Kelley Layton, Steve Haerter, and Joyce DeVane wave to passing traffic on 3rd Street in Neptune Beach, Fla., Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, near the polling place at the Beaches Branch of the Jacksonville Public Library. (Bob Mack/The Florida Times-Union via AP)
Poll worker Paris King passes out “I Voted” stickers on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, at the Crystal Spring public library voting precinct in Crystal Springs, Miss. (Justin Sellers/The Clarion-Ledger via AP)
A line forms as people wait to vote on Election Day in the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Voters cast their ballots on Election Day at the Foodland Grocery Store and Mercado in National City section in San Diego on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. (John Gibbins/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP)
Russell Madison, from Humansville, Mo., votes in a game room on a family farm Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016 near Humansville, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
A young visitor takes a photo of a giant cutout of Republican candidate for president Donald Trump in front of the Trump House owned by Lisa Rossi in Youngstown, Pa, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
With her newborn son George by her side, Lara Ibrahim fills out her election ballot from her hospital bed at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. Dozens of patients at the hospital were able to vote from their beds thanks to a volunteer program. Ibrahim had planned to vote at her usual polling place but ended up giving birth earlier than expected. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
People in patriotic top hats take photographs next to cardboard figures depicting Donald Trump the Republican, left, and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidates, during the Election Night Party at the US Embassy in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. (Balazs Mohai/MTI via AP)
In pictures: As we await the results… Let’s take a look back at how election day unfolded in the US
