Welcome back in for Al’s Afternoon Tea. Nice “I voted” sticker you’ve got there, partner.

How You Feeling Headed into the Evening?

At the moment, we’re thanking God that Hallmark’s “Countdown to Christmas” marathon is underway. It’s a reminder that whatever happens in life, love, or elections, there’s always hot cocoa.

I do not know if this is wishful thinking or “thus sayeth the Lord,” but unlike 2020, I enter the late afternoon with a deep sense that efforts to hijack the election are being deflated as they’re being launched. Ill-intended efforts are falling flat. Though it might look otherwise for a while, ultimately the arrows are falling short of their target.

If this sense is legit, the credit goes to God and all you who have been praying over this election.

While we are praising God, it appears we have been spared a tragic incident at the U.S. Capitol, where police have arrested a man at the visitor center who “smelled like fuel, had a torch and a flare gun.”  

What to Watch for This Evening

Yes, there will be a lot of bellwether results to watch out for. Lot of numbers. In Florida, Georgia, Virginia, New Hampshire, and Virginia, the polls close at 7 p.m. Those results will go a long way in telling us if it’ll be a short night or a long haul.

But one sure thing to watch will be the faces of the MSNBC news anchors — or for that matter, Newsmax’s.

Early on Election Night in 2016, it appeared that Hillary Clinton was going to win. Newsweek even had the cover of its next edition printed up and ready to go. With a shrug, I turned off the TV that night and headed out to pick up some take-out.

The restaurant I chose had a TV on tuned to MSNBC, but the sound was off. Oddly enough, Rachel Maddow looked like Chris Christie had just stepped on her kitty cat. So did all panelists. That made no sense.

When I got back in the car, I heard that Trump had won Florida. I had caught the moment MSNBC realized that Hillary was in a deep pickle.

So let’s keep an eye out for who has the pep in their step and the giddy in their delivery.

How Was Your Voting Experience?

We’d love to hear how voting went for you. — the good, the bad, and the ugly. Please share your story with us at [email protected].

Our usually silent Editor-in-Chief Karla Dial had such a surprisingly pleasant experience with her first Texas election today took enough time away from editing to write a great piece about it: “Rage Against the Machines: A Skeptical Journalist Goes to the Polls.”

Me? This was my first time voting in presidential election in Maryland since 1988. My wife and I voted early last week at the local community center. There were friendly folks all around. There were more seniors taking a yoga class than voters at that point in the day, so it was a quick in-and-out process.

Here in Calvert County, you fill out the ballot and they run it through a scanner. It’s unnerving not to see what the scanner actually records. I miss the old days in Prince George’s County, when we flipped mechanical switches and could hear the “clunk” of the votes being registered.

The polls will remain open for several more hours; the first to close nationwide will be Kentucky’s at 6 p.m. But we’re getting some early hints of how the day is going.

Good News Out of Arizona

A sign that it the election results might be legit? At about 2 p.m. Eastern time, election integrity watchdog Harmeet Dhillon posted that any minor issues that have been popping up in problematic Maricopa County are getting handled immediately.

Hi 👋🏼 everyone! Positive news from the ground in Maricopa County!

Things are going well, issues are being handled, and the main issue is those Arizona voters who haven’t gotten in line and voted! 🗳️ Let’s finish strong! pic.twitter.com/XeVZAb2Y2t

— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) November 5, 2024

Maricopa is usually as dysfunctional as the case of Real Housewives.

Florida Will Go Very Early for Trump

Real time data had 1.1 million more Republicans at the polls across the Sunshine State than Democrats by 1:30 this afternoon. As election analyst Eric Daugherty noted, even if Kamala Harris and Donald Trump split the independent vote, Trump will take the state by a million ballots. The GOP had an 11.5% advantage in turnout going into the afternoon; Daugherty says this would put Trump on a path to blow far past his projected totals in the state. And if Independents also lean his way? Fuhgeddabout it.

Which reminds me: What you’re seeing right now is who is turning out by party affiliation, not who they voted for, with unaffiliated voters being the wild card. Still, Team Trump has to be happy about the results in Florida at this point.

Is a formerly pro-Biden county in Georgia also boding well for Trump? According to Eric Daugherty, Republicans were outpacing Democrats by over 3% in early turnout in Duval County, which Trump lost in 2020. Daugherty says Duval traditionally has voted to the left of the rest of Georgia — meaning that if Trump actually wins Duval, that would signal good news in the Peach State.

Trump Trolls Harris After Voting

One of those votes will be Trump’s own. He spoke to the media after casting his ballot. When asked if he had any regrets about his campaign, he responded, “Regrets, you always have regrets. I can’t think of any, to be honest. But to use her expression, I can’t think of any. .”

"Do you have any regrets?"

Trump: "I can't think of any." pic.twitter.com/kidnnaHQwP

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) November 5, 2024

A Message to Determined Voters in Cambria County, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania’s Cambria County was having wretched issues with “software problems,” resulting in terrible delays earlier today. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley begged voters in the red county to stay in line to vote. Cambria went roughly 70-30 for Trump in 2020.

Fortunately, the local court has agreed to the county’s request to keep polling stations open until 10 p.m.

Whispers in Ol’ Virginia

We’re seeing whispers of low turnout thus far in northern Virginia, with strong turnouts in red areas of the state.  The Family Foundation Action had this round-up:

Virginia update from 10am: topline- rurals up, urban down.
– low turnout in Surrey
– low turnout in Suffolk
– very low in Fairfax, Arlington
– high rural turnout in places like Hanover, Frederick, etc.
– the 7th has high turnout across the board with Stafford, Orange, Spotsy,…

— The Family Foundation Action (@tffactionva) November 5, 2024

If these trends hold, it is not good news for Kamala Harris. On the other hand, there’s a good chance Democrats will hit the polling places hard after leaving their government and government-connected jobs.

Keep an eye on the extremely blue Fairfax County, which is chock full of liberals and government workers and is the engine that drives the Democratic vote in Virginia. If turnout in Fairfax County is low, Trump could take the Commonwealth.

But even a razor thin race would spell trouble nationally for Harris.  

Guam Goes to Harris, But Only Narrowly

Kamala Harris has won Guam by 3%. Joe Biden won Guam by 13%. Somewhere barricaded in the White House, Biden is now muttering, “I told you I was a better candidate!”

The Sickest Argument

A father took to CNN this morning to tearfully share that he was voting for Kamala Harris because he wants his daughters, in effect, to be free to have abortions.

“I have three daughters… women’s rights is pretty important to them and my daughters,” he said. “I‘m sorry, I‘m getting a little emotional. I didn‘t think I was going to do that. Their bodies, their choice kind of mentality.”

I wonder: Will he weep for the grandchildren he will never hold should his daughters abort any pregnancies?

Eyes on Election Workers

Election workers in swing counties with a history of election corruption had better be on their best behavior tonight. As Amuse reports, at least two media watchdog organizations — James O’Keefe’s O’Keefe Media Ggroup and his old outfit Project Veritas — have placed more than 100 citizen journalists undercover in election offices in Maricopa (Arizona), Clark (Nevada), Fulton (Georgia) and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) counties. This doesn’t include the army of poll watchers and lawyers fighting to keep this election on the up-and-up.

Election Worker Sends Bomb Threat to Own Office

Speaking of Fulton County, it needs serious therapy. A liberal poll worker there was arrested Monday and charged with sending a bomb and rape threat to his own office, claiming to be a voter concerned about election fraud. According to authorities, Nicholas Wimbish got into an altercation with a voter on October 16, then went home, researched the information available online, and composed a letter purporting to be from that voter. “Yesterday I had your young liberal woke idiot Nicholas Wimbish give me hell,” he wrote — and then issued all manner of threats.  

Hey Google! How Do You Define “Election Interference”?

Once again, Google is doing its best to throw the election toward the Democratic candidate by prioritizing liberal outlets, headlines, and search results.

What is this? @Google pic.twitter.com/tSkCQ1QRMR

— Emma-Jo Morris (@EmmaJoNYC) November 5, 2024

Elon Musk tried doing another Google search at 3 p.m. Eastern time; issue was still there.

I just tried this myself and Google still shows you where to vote for Harris, but not Trump, even when anonymous pic.twitter.com/b2nqGo9oRt

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 5, 2024

On the Stream Menu

Please check in with The Stream during the course of the night with the latest on Election 2024, both on our website and our social media pages. We’ll start posting updates at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.