A man votes at PS 20 Anna Silver Elementary School, on Election Day for the 2024 U.S. presidential election in Manhattan, New York City, US, November 5, 2024. (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly)

The first ballots cast on election day mirrored the nationwide divide. Overnight, the six registered voters in the tiny hamlet of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, split their votes between Harris and Trump in voting just past midnight.

Elsewhere on the East Coast, polls began opening at 7 a.m. (1200 GMT) in more than two dozen states. No matter who wins the White House, history will be made.

Harris, 60, the first female vice president, would become the first woman, Black woman and South Asian American to win the presidency. Trump, 78, would also become the first president to win non-consecutive terms in more than a century.

Opinion polls in the campaign's final days have shown the candidates running neck-and-neck in each of the seven states likely to determine the winner: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Reuters/Ipsos polling shows a significant gender gap, with Harris leading among women by 12 percentage points and Trump winning among men by 7 percentage points.

Control of both chambers of Congress is also up for grabs. Republicans have an easier path in the U.S. Senate, where Democrats are defending several seats in Republican-leaning states, while the House of Representatives looks like a toss-up.