US Election: As polls open, Arab-American vote divided over Gaza

Voting is now underway in Arkansas, adding to nearly 30 states where polls are currently open. Arkansas contributes six electoral college votes, a modest figure compared to populous states like California, with 54 votes, and New York, with 28.

The number of electoral votes per state largely depends on its population size, which directly affects its representation in the Electoral College.

Meanwhile, voting has also begun in states such as Mississippi and North Dakota, which opened polls about 30 minutes ago.

The Uncommitted National Movement, which aims to hold the Democratic Party accountable, has recently faced accusations, following a report that alleged the group receives donations from a Democratic Party-aligned PAC.

Critics claim that despite its strong opposition to Kamala Harris, the group has also expressed disdain for Donald Trump, leading some to question whether it would endorse any candidate at all- including third party candidates.

According to a recent report by Middle East Eye, the organisation allegedly received $400,000 from a Democratic PAC, restricting its ability to back any leader other than Harris.

In response, Uncommitted called these claims "unfounded and absurd."

In September, the movement announced it would not endorse Harris, arguing that she had failed to meet its key demands.

However, the group encouraged uncommitted voters to resist a Trump presidency.

Led by anti-war activists, the Uncommitted National Movement was established to pressure President Biden and Vice President Harris into endorsing a permanent Gaza ceasefire and enacting an arms embargo on Israel.

During Michigan’s Democratic Primaries, the group urged voters to register as "uncommitted," seeking to convey dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party on these issues.

pic.twitter.com/mtPIEishd9

— Uncommitted National Movement 🌺 (@uncommittedmvmt) November 5, 2024

Some Republican-led states say they will block the Justice Department's election monitors from going inside polling places on Election Day, pushing back on federal authorities' decades-long practice of watching for violations of federal voting laws, the Associated Press reports.

Officials in Florida and Texas have said they won't allow federal election monitors into polling sites on Tuesday.

And on Monday, Missouri filed a federal lawsuit seeking a court order to block federal officials from observing inside polling places.

The Justice Department announced last week that it's deploying election monitors in 86 jurisdictions across 27 states on Election Day.

The Justice Department declined to comment on Monday on the Missouri lawsuit and the moves by other Republican-led states.

The race between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump is a dead heat, and both sides are bracing for potential legal challenges to vote tallies.

The Justice Department’s election monitoring effort, a long practice under both Democratic and Republican administrations, is meant to ensure that federal voting rights are being followed.

According to a report by the nonprofit organisation Center for Countering Digital Hate, false or misleading claims about the US election made by billionaire Elon Musk have garnered a staggering two billion views on his social media platform this year.

The report highlights that at least 87 of Musk's posts have promoted election-related claims that fact-checkers have determined to be false or misleading.

Notably, Musk, the owner of Tesla and SpaceX, has publicly endorsed Donald Trump for president.

The report also indicates that X (formerly Twitter) is playing a significant role in facilitating the spread of misinformation regarding electoral fraud.

In Pennsylvania, one of the seven pivotal swing states, some users on X have exploited instances where local election administrators flagged incomplete voter registration forms, misrepresenting these events as examples of election interference, as noted by the watchdog group Common Cause.

Furthermore, Cyabra, a company that employs AI to identify online disinformation, reported that an X account with 117,000 followers was instrumental in disseminating a false video that falsely claimed to show mail-in ballots for Trump being destroyed in Pennsylvania.

Voters are beginning to arrive at their local polling stations to select their next president. 

In New York City, where polls opened just over an hour ago, some residents are casting their ballots at the Anna Silver Elementary School in Manhattan. 

A man votes at PS 20 Anna Silver Elementary School, on Election Day for the 2024 U.S. presidential election in Manhattan. Photo by @andrewkellyfoto pic.twitter.com/vaCwXiRkMX

— corinne_perkins (@corinne_perkins) November 5, 2024

A staff member for Donald Trump, who served as a regional field director for the Republican Party in western Pennsylvania, was dismissed on Friday after it was revealed that he is a white supremacist, according to US news outlet Politico.

The publication identified Luke Meyer, 24, as the Pennsylvania-based field staffer who had worked for five months for the former president and operated under the pseudonym Alberto Barbarossa as an online white nationalist.

Meyer is reportedly a co-host of the Alexandria podcast alongside Richard Spencer, the organiser of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he has regularly expressed racist views.

After Politico presented evidence linking him to the Barbarossa alias, Meyer acknowledged the connection and admitted to concealing his online identity from members of Trump Force 47, the branch of the Trump campaign responsible for volunteer mobilisation efforts.

It’s just after 6 am (11:00 GMT) on the East Coast, marking the official opening of polls in Vermont.

Polling began earlier in the small town of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, right after midnight Eastern Time (05:00 GMT) on Monday.

Following Vermont, polling will open in New York and Virginia, with additional polling locations across the six time zones of the United States set to open as morning breaks.

Election Day is here! Polls are now open in Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and Virginia. Find all of the information you need about your polling place and voting hours at https://t.co/PbebAZob1u. pic.twitter.com/ryc3iVRcLB

— Indivisible Guide 🥥🌴 (@IndivisibleTeam) November 5, 2024

Major stock markets rose and the dollar remained under pressure Tuesday as the United States votes in a knife-edge presidential election.

Equities in Shanghai and Hong Kong won strong support from hopes over China's economy, while European indices grew slightly as investors await interest-rate decisions from the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England on Thursday.

"A contested election result could cause volatility on the markets," noted Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

"Equally, a clear winner quickly after voting ends could provide some relief to investors."

A win for Republican Donald Trump is expected to boost the dollar, restoke inflation, and send Treasury yields higher owing to his pledges to slash taxes and impose tariffs on imports.

Analysts see less upheaval from a win by Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

"A pro-tariff Trump presidency could see the dollar strengthen amid concerns higher inflation will prompt the Fed to keep interest rates higher," predicted Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

"There is likely to a period of volatility particularly if the result is contested, but investors should keep their eyes on long-term horizons as historically financial markets have risen over the course of both Democratic and Republican presidencies."

In a presidential election that appears to be incredibly close, it was fitting that the first votes cast on Election Day were evenly split, with three for Donald Trump and three for Kamala Harris.

The tiny New Hampshire resort town of Dixville Notch has a tradition dating back to 1960 of being the first in the nation to complete in-person voting. The town’s six voters began casting their ballots on the stroke of midnight Tuesday and the vote count was complete 15 minutes later.

In an election where tensions have run high, the setting in Dixville Notch couldn’t have been more congenial. Voting took place in the living room of the Tillotson House, with cookies and coffee and a couple of very friendly dogs.