it is a mad dash to the finish line as we hit election day in america. >> both presidential candidates holding rallies well past midnight seeking support in swing states. >> well, i got to tell you, this is sure worth staying up for. >> the election is now. the election is now. can you believe it? >> hillary clinton is bringing out the starow ? whoa livin' on a prayer ? >> and donald trump is battling until the very end. >> hillary clinton is the most corrupt person ever to seek the office of the presidency of the united states. >> after the name calling and wild twists, it all ends today, election day. why early voting could be a major factor. where voter registration fraud is being investigated this morning and the very first

we are finally here. >> can you believe it? good tuesday morning, everyone. election day 2016 finally here. it's been a bruising and at times ugly year and a half of campaigning but today the voters get the last word. >> that's right. we made it. hillary clinton and donald trump held dueling rallies overnight capping off a frenzied day of marathon campaigning. they hit state after state making nine stops between them. >> and this scene overnight moments ago in new yor after she was joined in north carolina by jon bon jovi and lady gaga who said clinton is unstoppable. she arrived home. donald trump used his final pitch to reach out to working class voters in grand rapids, michigan and promised to keep jobs from leaving the country while also slamming clinton as a corrupt operation. clinton has a slight four-point edge with 47%

but they are in a virtual tie in two battleground states. you saw florida there and now north carolina. 47 to 45. >> trump is predicting a big win and calling clinton, quote, the face of failure. meanwhile, clinton is trying to appeal to unity asking voters to choose between that or division. abc's elizabeth hur has the latest. elizabeth, good morning. >> reporter: kendis and diane, good morning to you. and, yes, it all comes down to this, for both clinton and trump today and that is why they're leaving nothing to chance and campaigning to the very last minute. dueling rallies kicking off decision day in america. >> so, it's now officially tuesday, november 8th. >> i got to tell you, this is sure worth staying up for. >> reporter: just after midnight more famous friends joining hillary clinton at her final

? livin' on a prayer ? >> reporter: clinton getting celebrity support from lady gaga to jon bon jovi and bruce springsteen in the crucial final hours. ? you can't start a fire ? >> reporter: while donald trump made his closing arguments in michigan with running mate mike pence, arguing they don't need any big names to win pointing to his standing room only crowds. >> today is our independence day. >> reporter: election day voting officially kicked off at the stro community of dixville notch, new hampshire. this morning, trump and clinton after crisscrossing the country are back in their home state of new york to cast their ballots, two of the least liked candidates in history now leaving everything to voters. >> we will make america safe again, and we will make america great again. >> there is no reason, my

are not ahead of us if we reach for them together. >> reporter: and so millions may be headed to the polls today, but both campaigns are focused on one number, that's 270. that's how many electoral college votes you need to win the white house. kendis and diane. >> and another number to throw at you, four, that's how many votes hillary clinton received at dixville notch early this morning but also mitt romney got a write-in vote of one. >> all right. big numbers there to start things off. >> elizabeth, thank you. but the numbers do mean a lot. a lot of people will be focused on them. of course, that big one being that 270. >> yes, so jon karl takes a look at where the candidates have their best chances to reaching that number. he's at abc's election headquarters in times square. jon. >> reporter: look what donald trump would have to do to win. he would have to carry every single one of the states that are remaining toss-up, and watch what happens if he does that, he carries arizona, florida,

hampshire, the second congressional district in maine and he's still short, so that's why donald trump is looking up in the industrial midwest. looking at these bright blue states hoping to turn one of them red. >> all right, a big reason trump chose michigan to be that last stop in his campaign earlier in the morning. >> now, tens of millions of americans won't be at polling places today because they've already voted. nearly 45 million ballots have already been cast. levels of participation, and so far there's been a drop-off among black voters in north carolina from the historic levels that supported president obama. now, turnout is higher among hispanics in florida, nevada as well as colorado. and in addition to voting for president, there are plenty of congressional races on the ballot today. the entire house and a third, of course, of the senate up for grabs. >> abc's arlette saenz joins us with some of those races to watch this morning. arlette. >> good morning, diane and kendis.

the majority on capitol hill. today's number to watch in the senate is five. democrats need to flip five seats in order to take control. there are seven races that are pure toss-ups where anything can happen. many of these toss-ups are in battleground states where donald trump and hillary clinton are neck and neck. republicans are defending their seats in north carolina, pennsylvania and new hampshire where republican senator kelly ayotte is running against the state's democratic governor split ticket voters could be key in that state. another toss-up race is in missouri, the state's secretary of state jason kander, a democrat, is challenging republican senator roy blunt. kander is one of the cycle's breakout stars. he is a military veteran who caught people's attention with an ad where he assembled a gun while blindfolded. then in wisconsin we're actually seeing a senate rematch. republican senator ron johnson is facing off against russ feingold, a democratic senator he actually defeated back in 2010. this race was leaning toward

but it's now in a dead heat. as for the house, republicans are trying to defend their biggest majority in nearly 90 years. democrats are eyeing 30 seats to take control. diane and kendis. >> many admit it's probably not going to happen that they'll be able to overcome that majority there. arlette, thank you. and election day is just getting started. we'll, of course, have complete coverage tonight, but still ahead in this half hour, live reports from both the clinton and trump headquarters in new york. >> and also still ahead, the freebies and deals on election day. >> open, the markets are reacting. see what will happen on wall street today and why yesterday was the best day in eight months. and new this morning, a massive sinkhole swallowing everything around. we're going to tell you where this took place and what happens

you bet on me all those years ago, and i will always be grateful for the privilege you gave me to serve. >> of course, president obama in philadelphia last night and the last rally of his presidency. in a nearly 20-minute speech in front of 33,000 people, he seemingly passed inton in hopes that she'll be elected. >> and here in new york, police will be out in force today. 5,000 officers being deployed to secure midtown manhattan. >> both hillary clinton and donald trump are holding election night events in the area just a few blocks from each other, and that's about the number of cops that would be used for new year's eve in times square or a visit by the pope just to give you an idea how seriously the nypd is taking this. as for securing the vote, investigators in indiana are looking into alleged cases of voter registration fraud. state police allege employees

democratic party either made up information or forged signatures on voter registration forms in several indiana counties. no charges have been filed so far. in the meantime, voting monitors from the justice department will be on the job today in 28 states. they'll be watching polling places trying to guard against intimidation and disruptions. but there will be fewer of them today than four years ago. that's because of a supreme court ruling which limits the deployment of observers in jurisdictions with a history of voter discrimination. > asia posted mostly narrow gains overnight in their final trading sessions before the election. that followed wall street's best day for eight months. investors powered a broad-based rally ending a nine-session losing streak. all three major averages posted gains of more than 2%. abc's rebecca jarvis looks ahead to what could come after today's voting. >> reporter: wall street sees clinton as the status quo candidate. they basically know what to

trump is the wild card, and the bottom line is investors hate that type of uncertainty. they like to know what exactly they're betting on, which is why major banks are predicting with a trump win that stocks would automatically fall, whereas with a clinton win, stocks would stabilize or even rally. >> and one reason being credited for that rally was fbi director james comey. you saw his photograph there. he made that statement that renewed the investigation of hillary clinton's e-mails and said that they found no evidence warranting charges. >> day in america. our live team coverage continuing from trump and clinton's headquarters. plus, the incredible moment a scuba diver was found after 18 hours at sea. ? and off you go, ? ? ? and off you go, ?

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both candidates will be watching the results come in from their different victory parties here in new york. >> they'll be a few blocks away from one another. clinton at theafter visit center, the convention center and trump's party at the hilton midtown hotel and you can see the abc news election headquarters in times square right there in the middle. we have team coverage on both candidate, kenneth moton at the clinton headquarters but we begin with adrienne bankert over at >> reporter: early tuesday morning election day donald trump wrapping a campaign blitz. >> so it's now officially tuesday, november 8th. >> reporter: rallying his supporters in grand rapids, michigan. >> today is our independence day. today the american working class is going to strike back finally. >> reporter: the republican

marathon day of eight states in 24 hours including florida and new hampshire. long lines of supporters waiting overnight to see him. >> we're winning ohio. we're winning iowa. we're winning, we think, new hampshire. >> reporter: donald trump returning to new york to vote at 10:00 a.m. >> all right. adrienne, thank you. just a short distance away the clinton camp has set up shop under the glass ceiling of the javits center. >> clinton is hoping history tonight and shatter that glass symbolically. kenneth moton is there. >> reporter: a woman on the cusp of history standing with this nation's first black president in front of thousands in the birth place of the nation, philadelphia. >> i will be a president for all americans. >> reporter: this unprecedented image, the clintons and the obamas united. >> i'm asking you to work as hard as you can this one last

americans, this fighter, this stateswoman. >> reporter: overnight clinton received some star-studded help from the boss, bruce springsteen, jon bon jovi and lady gaga who made her way to north carolina where clinton made her closing argument. >> love trumps hate. thank you. let's go, north carolina. god bless you. >> our thanks to kenneth moton. stay with abc news for all the election results. our political team will be here all night starting at and we'll be here with you at 4:00 a.m. eastern time. now to our other top story. a third body has been discovered on property owned by suspected serial killer todd kohlhepp. the real estate agent held without bond after confessing to four murders back in 2003. investigators say it'll be back on his property though the effort scaled back. prosecutors say kohlhepp has been cooperating with the investigation. and right on the heels of its massive recall samsung has a

korean prosecutors raided the company's headquarters this morning as part of an investigation into political corruption. samsung is accused of giving money to the daughter of a close friend of south korea's president. that friend is accused of improperly influencing government affairs. two more incredible stories from overseas. an australian diver recovering from mild hypothermia but this is after he was lost at sea for 18 hours. rescuers said it was like finding a needle in a haystack had they spotted the man. he was on a solo dive trip and without his personal device when strong currents separated him from his boat. he was found, get this, about 30 miles from where he had first entered that water. new video shows a huge sinkhole opening up in japan. the sinkhole caused by ruptured undergroundwater main, nearby buildings including a 7-eleven were evacuated as officials feared the hole could widen and take the neighborhood with it. >> scary stuff. up next in "the pulse," the real-life version of snakes on a

what airline did this happen on? >> speaking of scary stuff, and an american couple shows off their true love for christmas to make us recover from that snake

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certain cities 45% off rides to their polling place, though they'll have to pay full price for the return trip. >> wow. and 7-eleven is giving away coffee. you'll have to download the app but i don't even think you have to vote to get that. >> no. >> just free coffee to celebrate election day. >> exactly, and you can get a gallon of ice tea at white castle when you get a pack of 30 sliders. >> and if you have more of a sweet tooth, krispy kreme participating locations are also offering free doughnuts but with that one, you have to show your "i sure you vote or stop people who did and ask for their sticker. >> and that's one way that you can just visit different krispy kremes and show them the same i voted sticker. >> we thought this a little bit. but maybe this image sums up a lot of the national mood right now. a house on the market in a divorce sale. >> so right there on the lawn as well as a sign supporting trump and pence and another for clinton and kaine, have no fear, america, hopefully it's all over tonight. and by over we mean possibly that divorce and who knows if

peacefully, the election and the divorce. good luck to all. >> good luck. and passengers on board a flight in mexico didn't have such great luck. a real-life snake on a plane scenario. yeah. not as cute as that one. check it out. a five-foot snake slithered out of an overhead bin. >> five feet. >> during this aero mexico flight, >> and then it actually -- >> wait for it. >> wait for it. >> ah. it actually falls onto the seats. >> so that prompted an emergency landing. you'th could remove the reptile hitchhiker. the man who took this video called it, quote, a unique experience. i would imagine once they resumed the flight, it was free shots for everybody. wouldn't you say? get off. creeped out by that. >> kendis hates snakes. all right. so there is -- let's get to warm thoughts. a jolly couple from omaha, nebraska, officially changed their names to santa and merry

they got the official okay from a judge yesterday ending a seven-year-long quest. they've been trying to get their names changed for seven years. they met back in 2009 when santa was working on a part-time gig at nursing homes and holiday parties. and they say the name change is just all about bringing joy to the people. >> when they started the whole thing, they were actually not -- their hair wasn't salt and pepper at all. >> no, seven ages. they aged a lot in seven years but they look great. re 3, 2, 1 [whispered 'rocket']

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checking our top stories on this much anticipated election day, donald trump is back in new york city where he'll cast his ballot this morning. he wrapped up a whirlwind day of campaigning making five stops in five states including a final midnight rally in michigan. hillary clinton also arrived back home in new york overnight. she held back-to-back star-studied rallies in philadelphia and north carolina bon jovi and lady gaga. both candidates will watch the election results in manhattan just blocks away from each other tonight. heavy rain in texas, louisiana and mississippi. could keep some voters home. there will be some lighter rain up to the great lakes. everywhere else, though, pretty mild and warm day compared to the usual. and finally this morning, the very long and winding campaign trail has led us here to election day morning. so what does a candidate do until the votes are counted? >> well, there's plenty of time

superstitions if they have any so joining us once again, arlette saenz has some insight for us into how they pass the time now. >> right, so both hillary clinton and donald trump have been in this race for over 500 days so they've worked very hard and don't want to ruin things or jinx anything at the last minute. we know what one person who has a very famous superstition is president obama. he actually plays basketball every election day. this started back in 2008 when he was running for president the first time around and he won the iowa caucuses and the south carolina primary the day that he played basketball. but then he lost new hampshire to hillary clinton when he didn't play. >> uh-oh. >> oh. >> so he became a little superstitious after that and did play basketball on election day 2008 and 2012 and worked out for him. we'll see if he ends up playing basketball today to help out hillary a little bit. >> maybe hillary and donald trump today go a little one-on-one. >> absolutely. >> hillary clinton talked about some of her superstitions

she doesn't like to talk about the early vote with her staff and get ahead of herself but also mentioned she has this bracelet she wears all the time and she actually wore it last night in philadelphia, and if you look closely, it's a bracelet that has a photo of her granddaughter charlotte and it's really sweet and her husband bill clinton gave it to her as a gift and she's worn it nearly every day of this campaign. as for donald trump, we don't know if he has any election superstitions but we know he is superstitious and a reporter said he was eating a meal and he threw salt over his left shoulder. >> is that right? >> we haven't confirmed that ourselves but there is a report about that in "the new york times." >> maybe kfc or a taco and that's part of his tradition. >> arlette saenz on the case for us on the donald trump superstition but, yeah, they must just sit home and try to be quiet and not jinx anything. >> exactly and hope for the best. arlette, thank you. that's what's making news in america this morning on election day. >> yay.

this is abc 15 news taking action. >> we don't have to accept a dark and divisive person for america. >> now to deliver the justice that we deserve. >> it all comes down to today. hillary clinton is and donald trump americans get out and vote. >> plus make sure your voice is heard you'll need to bring a few things with you to the poll. >> and the search resumes right now for the mother who has been missing for weeks why her husband is suspecting foul play. it is 4:30 on this election day. >> yeah, national wise.