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When Kelvin Thomas voted Tuesday on Chicago's south side, he expressed relief the campaign's mudslinging was over. But he couldn't shelve his irritation with Donald Trump.
Thomas, who works for a cleaning service, said it's crazy that getting a job sweeping floors requires experience, yet a candidate with no record of working in government could become president. But his dismay over Trump is balanced by his anticipation of seeing Hillary Clinton elected.
"I got to see a black president. I'm going to see a woman president and I got to see the Cubs win the World Series. It would take five lifetimes to see all that. It's great."
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At dawn Tuesday, dozens of voters lined up outside a polling station at a strip mall in Denham Springs, Louisiana. Back in August, Donald Trump visited this town after historic floods inundated neighborhoods with 10 feet of water, destroying 90 percent of local homes. Bill Smith, 59, said Trump's visit confirmed his decision to back the candidate.
By showing up, Trump "really invigorated the people," said Smith, sales manager at a car dealership. "His opponent, Hillary Clinton, didn't bother to show up in the state of Louisiana."
Smith said he is confident Trump can unite the divided country.
And if Clinton is elected?
"Then we pray. We pray like crazy," he said.
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David Hansen identifies himself as a Republican. But when Hansen, 63, voted Tuesday morning at a church in the St. Paul, Minnesota suburb of Roseville, he rejected both major party candidates in favor of Libertarian Gary Johnson.
"Until more of us do that, nothing is going to change," said Hansen, who is the chief financial officer at a small company and is the grandfather of four. "The Republicans are going to be far right and the Democrats are going to be far left... I couldn't vote for either one of them."
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Amina Abboushi calls herself a proud Muslim. But she said her identity as an American brought her to an elementary school in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. She voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
Abboushi said she is dismayed both by the investigation of Clinton's use of a private email server and Trump's fiery rhetoric. Abboushi, who is 34 and works for a mortgage company, said she'll support whoever wins. But she yearns to see people united to solve problems, rather than focus on what divides them.
"You can't just point out one trait - somebody's Mexican, somebody's Muslim, somebody's white, somebody's black," she said. "As soon as you start segregating that way it's just all downhill from there, because if you have to separate like that, you're not doing what's best for all."
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By the time polls opened at 6 a.m. Tuesday in Indianapolis, more than 90 people lined up in the chilly darkness outside the East 91st Christian Church, waiting to vote.
Ranita Wires, a 50-year-old homemaker, cast her ballot for Hillary Clinton.
"I trust Hillary," she said. "I don't believe there's anyone perfect in politics, that's for sure. I think she'd make a better president, she's more qualified."
Like other voters at the church, Wires said she was relieved the campaign was finished.
"This has been the worst," Wires said. The divisions exposed by the campaign point to the need not just for healing, but for more voter education, she said.
"You go to other countries, they understand their politics. I think we listen to the sound bites off of television, and we don't really look at the big picture."
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Thomas Tillotson and Russ Van Deursen differed when they voted for president early Tuesday in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, where polls opened just after midnight. But they were in solid agreement on one thing.
"It's an honor and privilege to be first and this is my 11th time doing it and it never gets boring," said Tillotson, a 71-year-old business consultant who voted for Libertarian Gary Johnson. He said both major parties have "gone in directions that really don't fit who I am and what I believe."
Tillotson, who voted for Clinton, also embraced his right to vote.
"It's very exciting to be the first in the nation," he said. 'Your vote is right out there in the small little hamlet that we have of seven or eight voters and it feels like you're a real part of democracy."
