As it happened: Final election countdown

As the US presidential election comes to an end, many tourists are picking up quirky keepsakes to commemorate this unforgettable race for the White House.

Relive the highlights of the 19-month election campaign in 170 glorious seconds.

Enjoy the ride...

FBI Director Comey, who sensationally unveiled a new email investigation into Clinton at the end of October, only to exonerate her yesterday, has been honored with a lifetime achievement award by a group whose board has longtime ties to Trump. The nonprofit Federal Drug Agents Foundation, which honoured Comey, lists more than three dozen board directors on its website, including the head of the company that publishes the pro-Trump National Enquirer and the developer of a Trump-branded tower in Toronto.

AFPCopyright: AFP

BBC Newsnight's Emily Maitlis was just live on Facebook in New York with celebrated novelist Martin Amis and conservative commentator Ann Coulter and they had an argument.

APCopyright: AP

A polling monitor in Ohio has reported this fraught exchange.

Shachi Kurl, executive director of the Angus Reid Institute - a Canada-based public opinion research organisation - is in suburban Cleveland observing the US election as a member of the International Visitor Leadership Program.

Quote Message: It's coming up on 2pm at the Lake County Administration Centre and the lineup to cast a ballot on the last day of early voting extends into the hallway, almost out the door. Janet Clair, director of the Lake County Board of Elections, is a busy woman. This is her eighth election on the job, and she says this one is the most "unique". The biggest concern she's seeing at polling places is that people think their votes won't actually be counted. As Clair begins to demonstrate how electronic voting machines work, she is called away and asked to speak to a distraught voter who believes her ballot will be among those un-counted. The woman, on the brink of tears, is wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with an American flag, the silhouettes of two soldiers and the words "American Strong". "I've been voting for 38 years," she says. "I know what's been going on; it's just now that it's come out." Clair tries to reassure the woman. "Would you feel better if you knew I've sworn an oath?" "I don't think it’s you," the woman responds. "It's people higher up in the party." She doesn’t say which party she means. In soothing tones, Clair brings the voter around, explains patiently and in detail why she can trust the electronic voting machine, and convinces her to cast her ballot. The woman votes and thanks her. "This is what I’m dealing with," Clair says when the woman leaves. "All these conspiracy theories going around."

It's coming up on 2pm at the Lake County Administration Centre and the lineup to cast a ballot on the last day of early voting extends into the hallway, almost out the door. Janet Clair, director of the Lake County Board of Elections, is a busy woman. This is her eighth election on the job, and she says this one is the most "unique". The biggest concern she's seeing at polling places is that people think their votes won't actually be counted. As Clair begins to demonstrate how electronic voting machines work, she is called away and asked to speak to a distraught voter who believes her ballot will be among those un-counted. The woman, on the brink of tears, is wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with an American flag, the silhouettes of two soldiers and the words "American Strong". "I've been voting for 38 years," she says. "I know what's been going on; it's just now that it's come out." Clair tries to reassure the woman. "Would you feel better if you knew I've sworn an oath?" "I don't think it’s you," the woman responds. "It's people higher up in the party." She doesn’t say which party she means. In soothing tones, Clair brings the voter around, explains patiently and in detail why she can trust the electronic voting machine, and convinces her to cast her ballot. The woman votes and thanks her. "This is what I’m dealing with," Clair says when the woman leaves. "All these conspiracy theories going around."

BBCCopyright: BBC

We've updated our poll tracker to take in the national polls that have been released so far today. At the moment, our poll of polls has Hillary Clinton with a four point lead over Donald Trump, 48% to 44%.

Of the polls released today, Mr Trump is leading in just one - an LA Times tracker that has him up 48% to 43%. However, doubts have been raised over the quality of that particular poll because of how it weights the views of a 19-year-old black Trump supporter in Illinois, which you can read about here. 

BBCCopyright: BBC

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The Clinton campaign has enlisted a star-studded line-up for its final "Get Out the Vote" rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, at midnight.

Lady Gaga, Jon Bon Jovi and DJ Samantha Ronson are scheduled to appear at the event, according to the campaign. 

Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton will also attend. 

The BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan has spent a lot of time on the campaign trail speaking with Americans who have shaped the long and often contentious road to election day. 

With just one more day to go, she looks back at some of the voters and voices who will ultimately determine who takes over the White House in January. 

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright tweeted a video of her campaigning and knocking on doors to get out the vote for Hillary Clinton. 

Albright, who served under former President Bill Clinton, was the first woman to hold the cabinet post. She also served as US ambassador to the United Nations and was a member of President Clinton's National Security Council.

In the video, she's seen telling supporters "that this election is more important than anything that most of us have ever seen and we have the best candidate", she said, referring to Hillary Clinton.

She appears to have toned down her language from when she told female Bernie Sandsers supporters during the Democratic primaries: "There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other."

She later said it was the "wrong time to use that line".

BBCCopyright: BBC

The BBC's Regan Morris spoke to Annie Visner, who along with her kids are first in line for Trump's last rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

She's a Canadian legal resident of the US and "the only reason I don't want my citizenship yet is I don't want that man's name on my papers", she said, referring to President Obama. 

They arrived at 09:30 local time (14:30 GMT) for the 23:00 rally. There are about 40 other people lined up as of 16:00 local time.

APCopyright: AP

NASA announced on Monday that astronaut Shane Kimbrough cast his ballot from the International Space Station at some point over the last few days. 

But he's not the only astronaut to vote while circling the globe in 2016. Kate Rubins also voted before she returned to Earth a week ago. 

A 1997 Texas law allows American astronauts to vote from space. Many of NASA's astronauts live in Houston when they're not in space.

10 US election oddities

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The political scheming of this wild US election cycle has been enough at times to make even the Lannisters of TV's Game of Thrones blush.

George RR Martin, the novelist who created the dark world of Westeros, seems to agree.

He shared his support for Hillary Clinton in a series of posts on his blog, while blasting Donald Trump. 

The author, whose book series A Song of Ice and Fire is the basis for the hit HBO series, voted early last week in New Mexico. 

The Hillary for New Mexico Twitter account tweeted a photo of the novelist speaking to volunteers and supporters on Saturday.

In his blog, which is entitled Not a Blog, Martin revealed on Sunday he was suffering from vote anxiety. 

"The election still has me in a state of high anxiety. I am not sleeping well, and I think I check 538 about three dozen times a day, hoping for some good news. Tuesday cannot come fast enough for me. I think I speak for a lot of Americans when I say that I desperately want this thing to be over," he wrote.

No wonder he can't seem to finish The Winds of Winter, the sixth installment in the fantasy saga. 

He said in another post, referring to Trump: "In my lifetime, there has never been a presidential candidate more unfit to lead this nation."

Anyone know if they can vote by raven in the Seven Kingdoms?

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

In making his final plea to voters in Raleigh, Trump said if he doesn't win the election, it will have been "the single greatest waste of time, energy and money".

"Just imagine what our country could accomplish if we started working together as one people, under one god, saluting one American flag." 

We've been digging through our archives for footage of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump... 

Here's an extract from a Jeremy Paxman interview with Clinton in 2014: 

And here's Emily Maitlis with Donald Trump as part of her 2011 film Donald Trump: All American Billionaire:

Watch more on our US election YouTube playlist

Evan McMullin, the anti-Trump conservative independent candidate, thinks that by blocking a win in the state of Utah he can seize the entire presidency.

If neither candidate wins 270 electoral college votes, the president will be decided by Congress' House of Representatives.   

An election hasn't been decided by the House since 1824, and a third-party candidate hasn't won an electoral college vote since 1968.

ABC News's political analyst Matthew Dowd describes this scenario “as close to not happening as improbable can get", but try telling that to Team McMullin.

Who is Evan McMullin?

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He's promised "Brexit times five" and even "Brexit times 10".

Now Donald Trump has found a new formula for describing the victory he hopes to pull off on Tuesday, telling a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina: "Tomorrow's going to be a very historic day. I think it's going to be a Brexit plus plus plus. Does that make sense? Plus plus plus." 

Trump believes he can defy the establishment and the pundits by replicating the success of the referendum campaign to get Britain out of the European Union.

His campaign manager Kellyanne Conway has said he means that despite the Remain team's robust campaign in the final days before the referendum, the Leave supporters were able to turn out voters. 

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As Clinton and Trump dash across battleground states in their final pitch, a record three million voters have already cast a ballot in the all-important state of North Carolina.

Only three states have had a higher turnout for early voting than North Carolina, according to the University of Florida elections project.

While Democratic early voting was slight down from the 2012 election, Republican early voting was up by 13%.

But the state could prove to be a big wildcard as independent voting turnout was up about 40%, the Charlotte Observer reported.

The anti-immigrant rhetoric of Republican Donald Trump has energised a disparate American movement accused of racism and anti-Semitism.

The group, known as the alt-right for "alternative right", have adopted a cartoon frog called Pepe as one of their symbols leading to it being classified as a hate symbol by a prominent civil rights group.

Now the frog's creator, Matt Furie, is trying to reclaim the cartoon, which he says, has been "hanging out with the wrong crowd."

Read more about James Cook's experience with alt-right movement

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