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Dawn breaks for US elections with first polling stations opening on east coast

Voting in the state of New York is expected to be one of the longest ones

NEW YORK, November 8. /TASS/. The first polling stations have opened on the east coast of the US. As the Massachusetts Election Council spokesman told TASS, voting in small communities on the Atlantic coast begins at 5:45 am local time (13:45 Moscow time).

The spokesman explained that "the time the voting begins depends on the city hall clerk who is entitled but not obliged to open the polls as early as that. However, people in small communities are prone to vote as early as possible. In any case, according to the Massachusetts law, voting stations will remain open until 8:00 pm (20:00 Moscow time)."

Maine’s Secretary of State spokesperson said that in communities with fewer than 500 inhabitants, voting would start between 6:00 am local time (14:00 Moscow time) and 10:00 am local time (18:00 Moscow time) while in larger towns, polling stations would open between 6:00 and 8:00 am.

Voting in the state of New York will be one of the longest. The New York Election Council spokesperson told TASS that polling stations would be open from 6:00 am local time (14:00 Moscow time) till 9:00 pm local time (05:00 on November 9 Moscow time). The spokesperson added that "at some polling stations, voting may be extended if voters form lines in front of the voting booths."

Oregon and Washington are the two states where the voting time is not fixed as most people there vote by post. Nevertheless, any voter in Oregon has the right to come to the city hall and vote in person while in the state of Washington voters need to put their sealed ballot papers in post boxes before 8:00 pm local time.

The last polling station to close on US mainland is in the Alaskan city of Adak where the voting will end at 8:00 pm local time (8:00 on November 9 Moscow time) while in Hawaii ballot casting will finish one hour earlier.

At the November 8 elections, US citizens will be voting to elect the next president, vice president, 435 members of the House of Representatives, 34 senators and 12 state governors.