It a terrorist attack. President Alassane Ouattara is declared the winner of ivory coast general election but the opposition is refusing to accept the result. So that its just gone past 11 g. M. T. Here in doha that is 6 am on the east coast of the United States where the long race to decide the countrys next president is entering its final stage polls have just opened in several states these are live pictures from charlottesville in virginia very early days at this point not too many people about the voters will decide whether to hand donald trump a 2nd term or elect the former Vice President joe biden to the white house already more than 98000000 people have cast ballots and early voting thats levels that have never been seen before in a us. And that action. While his own team on the ground for this game but his own dough is monitoring developments from new york christensen is in philadelphia pennsylvania one of the big battleground states and jamal the show is in washington in delaware about bidens home state and from washington d. C. We go to alan fischer and well get the latest from him in just a moment but 1st lets just take a look at how the loss of campaigning have unfolded a White House Correspondent can be how it begins our coverage. Us President Donald Trump wrapped up his Reelection Campaign still behind in the National Polls but convinced hell pull off a victory and i think were going to have a tremendous victory truck rally in 4 different battleground states but made his last rally in michigan as he did in 2016 with an 11th hour pitch to voters but if biden harrisson the radical left gain power they will collapse our economy and send our nation into a very steep depression terms rival former Vice President joe biden focused on the Northeastern State of pennsylvania calling in celebrity artists like lady gaga to wrap up the final night and in. Pennsylvania is the same state where bidens campaign started and also where he was born just 5 stair never take back our democracy where youd do this where youd be better than what weve heard. If youre being who you are best your vantage states of america as the candidates presented their closing arguments the number of americans who have voted prior to election day has set new records nearly 100000000 people have cast their ballots in early voting. Most polls show early mail in voting favors biden but trump believes his supporters are waiting until tuesday to cast in person votes but in the final hours of the campaign both candidates signaled they may not accept the results on election day sheeting can happen like youve never seen this is their dream and they are they are known for trouble even called a recent Supreme Court decision allowing an extension to count votes in pennsylvania as dangerous twitter flagged the tweet as potentially misleading with an immediate result on election day in doubt both candidates are preparing potential legal challenges to the results under no scenario while donald trump declared a victory a victor on Election Night casting widespread uncertainty over poll results now appears to be a tactic employed by both campaigns you know weve already seen challenges to extended deadlines for allowing a mail in ballots that have been postmarked by election day but that arrive a few days later they have been challenges to adjustments in the law as American Voters are anxious hoarding food. And boarding up businesses from new york to Los Angeles Joe biden will be in pennsylvania on election day donald trump will be watching the returns come in from the white house were to add additional fences have been erected around the perimeter in anticipation of civil unrest can really help at aljazeera the white house let us get to our correspondents 1st up on official joins us live from washington d. C. And island so here we are one of the most consequential and tumultuous elections in American History perhaps the stage is set. Welcome to election day in america 2020 people have been waiting for a very long time for this and both sides believe this is the most important election that they will face in their lifetime on one side you have the democrats seeing that america simply cant afford 4 more years of donald trump you see he has mismanaged the economy he has mismanaged his handling of the corporate violence he has wrecked the vision throughout the country he has promoted racists and its time for him to go as for the republicans they say that donald trump has been the most consequential president in their lifetime he has done a great deal for ordinary working people across america he has helped raise the Employment Status of blacks hispanics and various other minorities as well and he deserves another 4 years given that his initial project has been derailed by the covert virus which they say was sent here by china so that sets the table for the next 1218 hours or so will we get a result on tuesday night that is unlikely there are many states such as pennsylvania say that they will continue to absentee ballots no theres been a move by the republicans to have the voting stopped after the polls close but of course what that tends to overlook is that many people who are serving in the military overseas will use their mail in ballots so the argument that the democrats are using in the last few hours is that if you do that then you will deprive people who are defending the country from actually having a say in who runs the country this has been a contentious election nothing much is going to change in the next few days its going to be a contentious postelection as well the current incumbent of course of the building behind you is donald trump hes been high speed campaigning in the last few days where will he be following events and how much anxiety will there be in his camp given the state of the polls. Well youve got to give donald trump credit here is a man in his seventys who was hospitalized because of covert he was struggling to breathe on the friday that he was airlifted from the white house and taken to the hospital he was released 3 days later and hit the campaign trail not long after that and in the last few days hes been doing for 5 rallies a day in front of thousands and thousands of people so all election day he will leave the white house he wore go to arlington he will speak to Republican Party workers there thanking them for their efforts and then he will head back to the white house but before he does all that hell be appearing on his favorite cable channel on one of his favorite shows and hell be talking about the election and newdow repeating many of the themes that he has hammered away over the last few weeks what is interesting is that the polls this time around see that donald trump is not going to win if you speak to anyone in the Truck Campaign who say that was exactly the same 4 years ago none of the polls and i remember them none of the pauls give donald trump a chance to win but the pauls have been static this time they have been consistent since the middle of summer donald trump calls them fake pauls for all that does is set the table for what i see could be a contentious postelection and he is convinced that he will get another 4 years in the building behind me here and dawn is breaking across washington d. C. We need to see how the day unfolds all of the time being thanks very much lets cross now to demolish whos live for us outside a polling station in wilmington in delaware which is bidens home state of course. All odds as weve just been hearing favoring the former Vice President clearly he wont be taking anything for granted. No it seems that the democrats have learned their lesson from last time around with the Vice President ial candidates coming to harvest urging voters to go out and vote as if their life depended on it showing that in the final stretch the final hours just before polling open that there was this desperate urge by the democrats to try and garner as much support as possible and to tell all their supporters not to take anything for granted that just because the polls are favoring them it doesnt necessarily mean as we heard there from them that thats will translate into a victory and it was the responsibility of everybody to get out there the message has been consistent with what biden as well has been pushing out which was that their campaign was a campaign to do better for america and their campaign was to save american democracy from 4 years of its a roach and under President Donald Trump and those kind of messaging are ones that really are rallying people around that its not just a question of choosing who the next president is but actually the core of the votes is americas democracy and its poor ism. Thanks very much indeed lets cross over now to philadelphia in pennsylvania kristen sumi is standing by for us that and kristen this is very much one of the big battleground states and it may be some time before we get a result. Absolutely right this is considered the Tipping Point the state that could deliver the electoral votes that either count candidate need to get over the top 20 electoral votes up for grabs here and polls open at the top of the hour you can see behind me election workers starting to get ready to welcome voters around the corner a few have already lined up to cast their ballots this state has seen more visits from the candidates than any other joe biden was in pittsburgh last night he held a drive in rally with the pop star lady. He is trying to rally. People to the polls he talked about unifying the country he said to the voters there that you represent the backbone of the country working families making an appeal to some of the same voters who helped put donald trump over the top here back in 2016 biden will be back in philadelphia today he needs to really mobilize urban voters in particular minority voters who have increased in population percentage since the last election thats something that could work in joe bidens favor and then hell wrap up the day in pennsylvania anyway in scranton which is his hometown where he grew up president for his part has been stoking the flames weve already heard a bit about that he was in just outside of scranton yesterday speaking to voters there he warned that he was also appealing to those working class voters that helped put him over the top the 1st time around hes also been trying to expand that base with ads targeted at the Minority Community here in the state in suburban women voters as well hes been reaching out to but that working class not College Educated white man is the backbone of his support and thats a strong group here in pennsylvania he also warned president that there could be violence in the streets because the Election Results are not expected to come in right away here this is in downtown philadelphia where i am im seeing some boarded up windows and storefronts theres concern about that and President Trump has really been stoking. The question of the concerns about law and order and the validity of the Election Results here in Pennsylvania State law prevents election workers from counting the ballots until election day itself and they are. See so many mail in votes this year 300000 mail in votes im sorry 3000000 mailing votes requested thats way more than. Any time in the past because of changes in the law that allow that to happen this year anyone can vote by mail but again the counting doesnt start until today so the results are expected to take a few days and the early results are expected to be more the person bodies and is expected to favor donald trump a bit more where democrats have taken out more of the mail in ballots so we could see this race be very close change evolve over the coming days and things could be very uncertain in fact the governor is warning people to stay calm and to have faith and just be patient philadelphia a key study perhaps the key which everything pivots we shall see kristen thanks very much indeed. Oh well polls have just opened into jimmy here in new jersey and in new york its on the life or south side the polling station there. Like everywhere its been a challenging year across the United States not least didnt you youll can see whats the sense now election day is upon us and the door has broken from the day that the American People decide on. The i would say its a nervous quite frankly this is a solidly blue state new york so its no secret that this state will most likely go for joe biden theres no mystery to that but i think there is particularly here in new york and in new york city a lot of nervousness about this election why because they remember back to 4 years ago it was 4 years ago election day that Hillary Clinton had a big planned a Victory Party set up here in new york with thousands of people at a huge Convention Center here in the city she was 6 back did to win that election to have a huge party here in new york and we all remember what happened then everyone left many of them in tears so i think a lot of democrats here in new york are particularly nervous about this selection hoping in their view that this doesnt turn into another situation like 20164 years ago. But well have to certainly see now the sun is starting to come out here in new york where at one of the main polling stations here in brooklyn and i got to say theres only about 12 people that were in line when the polls opened about 15 minutes ago excuse me you ask yourself why probably because more than 1100000 new yorkers people in new york city have already voted in early voting and here in the state of new york about 2 and a half 1000000 people have already voted in early voting so while we do expect to see lines this morning progress is that day progresses here in new york and elsewhere we might not see the same lines that weve seen on same day voting in previous years because so many people after all ready for. But it gave thanks a lot gabriel is on to new york early voting perhaps key in all of this as we hear yet in fact a record 98000000 americans have already voted across the country and many of them have done it all by mail before election day thats largely due to some reluctance to vote in person during the pandemic but across the u. S. There is no single uniform procedure for processing in tubby elating those votes rob reynolds explains. Theres been a tremendous surge in mail in and absentee ballots cast in this election were going to see tens of millions of more americans vote by mail than have in any other former president ial or any election really this despite President Donald Trumps repeated false claims that mail in voting is rife with fraud no theres theres no evidence of widespread fraud the process catch is that the process is to bahrain to catch these sorts of issues percentage is about 0006 percent of all ballots cast 9 states plus the district of columbia send ballots automatically to all active registered voters in the rest of voters may request absentee ballots despite fears that trump appointed postal officials were engineering a mail service slow down observers say delivery time has not so far been an issue weve actually been hearing good stories about very quick delivery when will all these ballots be counted well it depends on the state all across the spectrum of the United States you have a variation in the rules of which the voters need to abide by the way in which ballots are counted be be it the laws and policies and procedures or the type of equipment that theyre using most states begin processing and preparing mail in ballots for tabulation well before november 3rd that means theyll get results quickly its just a handful of states that dont allow that crowd. The same to occur untel election day or after but that handful includes the crucial swing states of wisconsin and pennsylvania ballot counting there could delay knowing who won if were down to the wire and its all contingent upon a couple of states we may not know the projected outcome and tell long after election day a couple of days maybe a week and as millions line up for early voting armies of lawyers from both sides are poised to dispute the results in the courts there have been more than 300. 00 lawsuits around Election Administration so far this year just days ago the Supreme Court ruled against republicans allowing pennsylvania and North Carolina to continue counting ballots after election day look im im a former Elections Official litigation can reach havoc in the election process specially in the middle of the conduct of the election there are many variables but the bottom line is have patience unless one of the candidates wins in a landslide americans and people around the world may have to wait a while before they learn who has been elected president of the United States robert oulds Al Jazeera Los Angeles so 2 candidates 2 contrasting visions for the future of america lets start with the corona virus pandemic trump has promised to develop a vaccine by the end of this year but hes refused to collaborate in global efforts by me money as promised access to free testing and investment of 25000000000. 00 in vaccines to making free for all americans and a nationwide mosque mandate trump says he will create 10000000. 00 new jobs in 10 months he will cut taxes for workers and boost manufacturing at home biden wants to spend 700000000000. 00 on American Products research his proposals include raising taxe