Long lines, painstaking ballot counts and pandemic precautions: The U.S. election in pictures

Americans were voting under the shadow of a surging coronavirus pandemic to decide whether to re-elect Republican Donald Trump, one of the most polarizing presidents in U.S. history, or send Democratic rival Joe Biden to the White House.

Below, U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about early results from the 2020 U.S. presidential election in the East Room of the White House in Washington, early Wednesday morning.

(Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Democratic presidential candidate and former vice-president Biden speaks to supporters in Wilmington, Del., as his wife, Jill Biden, looks on.

(Andrew Harnik/The Associated Press)

Statue of Liberty

Below, a woman dressed as Statue of Liberty stands near a polling place in Hoboken, N.J.

(Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Long Line

Voters wait in a long line to cast their ballots at Church of the Servant in Oklahoma City, Okla.

(Nick Oxford/Reuters)

Voting with a friend

Barton Foley, 32, with his cat, Little Ti Ti, on his shoulder, casts his ballotat Ballard High School in Louisville, Ky.

(Chanda Khanna/AFP/Getty Images)

Close inspection

Electoral workers inspect a ballot during the vote-by-mail ballot scanning process at the Miami-DadeCounty election department in Miami, Fla., Tuesday.

(Bryan Woolston/Reuters)

Face-off

Biden supporters confront a Trump supporter outside of a polling site in Houston, Texas.

(Go Nakamura/Reuters)

March for the vote

Demonstrators marching for voting rights raise their fists in unison as a heavily armed Alamance County sheriff keeps guard on the steps of the County Courthouse in Graham, N.C.

(Jonathan Drake/Reuters)

Little Havana

Cuban American supporters of Trump celebrate in Miami's Little Havana neighbourhood.

(Marie Morrissey/CBC)

Late vote

Voters wait in line at a polling centre in Kenosha, Wis.

(Wong Maye-E/The Associated Press)

Central location

Voters fill out and cast their ballots at the Cross Insurance Center polling location where the entire city votes in Bangor, Maine.

(Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

Ballot verification

Election judges verify and count ballots at the Denver Elections Division building in Denver.

(Chet Strange/AFP/Getty Images)

Vote here

A poll worker waves a voter overat the registrar of voters in San Diego.

(Mike Blake/Reuters)

Canadians on watch

A patron votes in a mock poll while watching election returns at the Unicorn bar in Calgary.

(Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

Late night

A boy sleeps at the table at a watch party for Republicans on election day in Austin, Texas.

(Sergio Flores/AFP/Getty Images)

Biden rally

Biden rallies supporters in the West Oak Lane neighborhood of Philadelphia.

(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Trump rally

Trump speaks in Grand Rapids at one of his two final rallies in Michigan.

(Kamil Krzaczynski/Getty Images)

Casting the first vote

Voters in Dixville Notch, a village of 12 residents in New Hampshire, kicked off election day at the stroke of midnight on Tuesday by voting unanimously for Biden.

(Joseph Prezioso/AFP/Getty Images)