America Votes: Scenes from polling places

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• See Election Day through photos.

The big picture: Voting looks different from one community to the next. Here are snapshots from polling places across the U.S. We'll be updating this story throughout Election Day.

Raleigh, North Carolina

Election Day morning began quiet and foggy. Outside a polling place near downtown Raleigh, Congresswoman Deborah Ross was on a walk with her dog, Wylie, in Boylan Heights, a neighborhood in her district. There was no line around 8:30am.

— Lucille Sherman for Axios Raleigh

Las Vegas, Nevada

Phoenix, Arizona

Voting went smoothly across the Phoenix metro area throughout the morning, with short wait times at most voting centers.

Zoom in: In the southeastern suburbs of Phoenix, 35-year-old Curtis Monson voted for the first time Tuesday, for Harris: "It was the first time I felt the need to," he said.

• Monson told Axios he wouldn't have voted if Biden stayed in the race, but said Harris seems like a "capable" and "normal person," who will quell the "crazy" state of American politics.

The big picture: Arizona supported former President Trump in 2016 and President Biden in 2020 — the first time the state had elected a Democrat in more than 20 years.

• Since then, Arizonans have voted against nearly every statewide candidate backed by Trump — but polls show voters here have grown disillusioned by Biden and other national Democrats as well.

— Jeremy Duda and Jessica Boehm for Axios Phoenix

Charlotte, North Carolina

Around 10am at Precinct 212 in Mecklenburg County in the crucial swing state of North Carolina, the line takes voters about an hour. The majority-Democratic precinct is one of the largest in the Charlotte area — of the more than 14,000 voters registered to it, more than half are Black.

— Michael Graff for Axios Charlotte

It drizzles outside mid-morning in Charlotte as Jacquelyn Gates Singleton props a Harris-Walz campaign sign on the back of a sedan. Her two little girls stand beside her as she holds up her iPhone and hits record.

What they're saying: Serenity Singleton, 6, tells the camera that today, they're voting for Rosa Parks, who her mom met when she was her age. Her other daughter Tilyn, 11, says she's voting for Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X's wife, whom her mom met when she was her age, as well.

• Jacquelyn Gates Singleton then tilts the lens toward herself: "Today, I am filled with gratitude for those who educated and empowered me," she says.
• "My vote is a tribute to those who fought for me, and I hope it inspires you to honor this hard-won right and to make your voice heard. Let's go. My daughters, today, we vote."

Jacquelyn tells Axios she's doing this for her oldest daughter, Genesis, who died two years ago from terminal illness. Health care, Black maternal health and mortality rates are all reasons for her to vote this election.

— Alexandria Sands with Axios Charlotte

Bensalem, Pennsylvania

Voters at one Bucks County voting polling location encountered long waits to cast their ballots. Many frustrated voters left the polling place at Samuel K. Faust Elementary School without voting, saying they'd return later in the day, former Bensalem councilmember Ed Tokmajian told Axios.

— Isaac Avilucea with Axios Philadelphia

Austin, Texas

At the University of Texas' Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs, a steady trickle of students popped in to cast their ballots.

• "As an American citizen I feel an obligation to participate in the electoral process," Jonathan Dexter, a second-year undergraduate student majoring in mechanical engineering, told Axios as he left the polling place.

— Asher Price with Axios Austin

Carrboro, North Carolina

Polling places across the Triangle, from Raleigh to Durham to Carrboro, were fairly quiet Tuesday morning to midday. In Carrboro, a small town that leans heavily Democratic, Republicans didn't even have a volunteer table set up at Carrboro High School, as they have in the past.

What they're saying: Haley Autry and Sage Rampley, both 25, arrived at the high school early afternoon, eager to make their voices heard.

• Autry, who was voting for the first time, planned to vote for Trump. "He seems to have a little bit more of a head on his shoulders. He can answer questions directly."
• Rampley declined to say who she's picking for president but that "there's things I like about both. There's things I don't like about both." She added that she's excited about voting for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein.

Nils Ekholm, 45, a Carrboro resident who moved to the area from New Hampshire for work, said he's always voted for Democrats for president and did so again today.

• "To put it bluntly, Nazi Germany needs to stay in the history books," Ekholm told Axios.

— Katie Peralta Soloff with Axios Raleigh

West Palm Beach, Florida

Trump supporters and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani gathered in West Palm Beach on Tuesday afternoon as the former president cast his ballot at his local polling station.

• Giuliani showed up in the classic Mercedes-Benz convertible a judge ordered he turn over in a defamation judgment against him.
• One Trump supporter told Axios he got Giuliani to sign his gold Trump sneakers.

State of play: As Trump voted at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreational Center, snipers stood guard from a nearby rooftop and dozens of police vehicles blocked a lane of traffic.

• Nearby, authorities erected barricades near the Palm Beach County Convention Center, where Trump is going to appear at an election night watch party.

What they're saying: Brandon Hansen, a 27-year-old Lake Worth resident, voted early but said he came out with his family to show his support. The small business owner said he was better off economically four years ago and has been feeling the strain of inflation.

• "I have a family. I want them to be able to thrive, I want to thrive. And I want to be able to buy a house."
• Cradling his 3-month-old son, Hansen said he voted against Amendment 4 – which would enshrine abortion rights in the Florida Constitution. "I had ultrasounds of him at 1 month old and I couldn't imagine anyone trying to cut it up and take it out."

— Martin Vassolo with Axios Miami

New Orleans, Louisiana

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Nearly 1.3 million Minnesotans had cast an early absentee ballot as of 9am on Election Day, Axios' Torey Van Oot reports from Minneapolis based on the latest Secretary of State data.

State of play: That's close to double Minnesota's early vote total for 2016, the first election in which the option was widely available in the state.

• In 2020, a record 1.9 million residents voted early in person or by mail amid the pandemic.

The big picture: Minnesota led the nation for turnout in 2020, with just under 80% of eligible voters casting a ballot.

• Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon told reporters last week that while they're shooting for No. 1 for the third consecutive presidential election, other states have "really stepped up their game."

— Torey Van Oot with Axios Twin Cities

Smyrna, Georgia

Voters in Cobb County, a once deep-red Republican stronghold that today is a Democratic-leaning battleground, said concerns about the U.S./Mexico border, economy and reproductive rights drove their votes for former President Trump.

What they're saying: Connor Sullivan, a 24-year-old who recently moved back to Smyrna, told Axios he voted for former President Trump because the developer and entertainer was unapologetically proud of America.

• Sullivan, who said he doesn't consider himself a hardcore conservative, said he's concerned about the U.S./Mexico border and the economy.

Context: In 2020, Biden won Cobb by 14 percentage points. In the 1990s, U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich launched his GOP congressional takeover there.

— Thomas Wheatley with Axios Atlanta

Westminster, Colorado

A small line formed outside a polling center in Westminster, a suburb north of Denver, shortly before 2pm on Tuesday.

The big picture: The lines at the Adams County Human Services Center had been steady throughout the day, with roughly 20 or so people, an Adams County poll worker tells us.

• It's not unusual to have short lines in a state where most voters cast ballots before Election Day, due to mail-in voting.

Zoom in: William Louie, 68, of Aurora, said he cast his ballot in Adams County after some confusion about where he was supposed to vote, since he lives near the border of three different counties.

• He brought his cat, Tiger, to the polling center. "Why not?" he told us.

Between the line: Louie, a U.S. Army and Air Force veteran, says he voted for Trump, saying his medical care was far better under his administration.

• Louie received cancer treatment at the VA Hospital, something he credits to Trump.

— Esteban L. Hernandez with Axios Denver

Go deeper: Get local and statewide election results from our Axios Local newsrooms across the country ... subscribe here.

• Still need to vote? Find a voter guide for your area here.