Barack Obama has won a second presidential term. The television networks began calling the election for the president after projecting Ohio in his corner, a few minutes after 11 p.m.
Obama defeats Republican Mitt Romney to become the nation’s third consecutive two-term president.
Moments earliler on Twitter, Obama thanked supporters: "We're all in this together. That's how we campaigned." See full story.
See the results as they begin to roll in on our elections results page. Also, follow the latest developments on your mobile phone.
12:15 a.m.: Upated Electoral College count from Real Clear Politics: Obama 290, Romney 203.
12:13 a.m.: Republican Doug Collins elected to Congress in new 9th District seat in northern Georgia. See story.
12:10 a.m.: Republican Rep. Tom Graves of Ranger has won a second full term in the U.S. House. See story.
12:07 a.m. Republican Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah has defeated a Democratic challenger to win an 11th term in Congress. See story.
12:02 a.m.: Republican Rep. Rob Woodall of Lawrenceville will return to Washington after the freshman congressman defeated a Democratic challenger in his first re-election bid. See story.
11:53 p.m.: Democratic Rep. John Barrow held off a Republican challenger Tuesday to win a tough re-election battle in an east Georgia district that had been retooled to ensure his defeat. See story.
11:35 p.m.: Latest Electoral College count from Real Clear Politics: Obama 275, Romney 203.
11:25 p.m.: Election called for President Barack Obama.
11:20 p.m.: Latest Electoral College count from RCP: Obama 257, Romney 203.
11:15 p.m.: Networks calling Iowa for Obama, and they are getting ready to call Ohio for the president.
11:12 p.m.: Democratic Rep. David Scott of Riverdale has been elected to another term in Congress, defeating defeated Republican S. Malik. See story.
11:10 p.m.: Democratic Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta will return to Congress for a 14th term. See story.
11:07 p.m.: Updated Electoral College count from RCP: Obama 244, Romney 203.
11:05 p.m.: AP calls California, Washington, Hawaii, Minnesota for Obama; Romney wins North Carolina, Idaho.
11 p.m.: A crowded field of candidates had yielded few clear winners late Tuesday in Brookhaven's first city elections for mayor and City Council. Georgia's newest city is scheduled to be up and running in six weeks. With eight of 12 precincts reporting, attorney J. Max Davis claimed just under the 50 percent mark for mayor, and computer consultant Sandy Murray was the next highest vote-getter. In early returns, Jim Eyre, owner of a real estate investment company, had more than half of votes for the District 2 city council seat. Tuesday's vote appeared to leave the city council seats in districts 1, 3 and 4 headed for Dec. 4 run-off elections. Two dozen candidates were vying for the five seats.
10:55 p.m.: AP calls Nebraska for Romney
10:52 p.m.: Georgia's dominant GOP seemed to fall short of its goal of winning a two-thirds "supermajority" in the state Legislature. See story.
10:49 p.m.: Voters have decided to return Republican Rep. Tom Price of Roswell to Washington. See story.
10:47 p.m.: Updated Electoral College count from RCP: Romney 184, Obama 163.
10:41 p.m.: AP calls Arizona for Romey; Maine called for Obama.
10:16 p.m.: Updated Electoral College count from RCP: Obama 163, Romney 162.
10:11 p.m.: From Jamie Dupree: With 66 percent in from GA 12, Rep John Barrow D-GA leads 54-46 percent; one of the last Blue Dogs might still survive.
10:08 p.m.: AP calls New Hampshire for Obama.
10:07 p.m.: Republican Gary Herbert wins governor race in Utah.
10:03 p.m.: CNN projects Romney will win Utah.
9:52 p.m.: NBC and CBS declare Democrat Elizabeth Warren the winner in theU.S. Senate race in Massachusetts.
9:49 p.m.: CNN and AP project Obama will win Pennsylvania.
9:39 p.m.: From Jamie Dupree: The road to 270 is getting, shall we say, very very difficult for Mitt Romney
9:31 p.m.: Electoral College update from Real Clear Politics: Obama 158, Romney 153.
9:24 p.m.: Obama wins New York, Michigan; Romney wins Nebraska, Wyoming, Kansas, Louisiana, South Dakota, Texas and North Dakota.
9:19 p.m.: AP calls Mississippi and Arkansas for Romney. Obama wins New Jersey.
9:12 p.m.: Swing state update from Jamie Dupree: Romney leads in Virginia; it's close in Florida and North Carolina; Ohio big right now for Obama.
9:10 p.m.: Updated Electoral College County from Real Clear Politics: Romney 154, Obama 123
9 p.m.: Democrat Maggie Hassan wins governor's race in New Hampshire.
8:56 p.m.: From AP: Exit poll shows joblessness and high prices top voters' worries. Half still blame Bush instead of Obama.
8:52 p.m.: AP calls Alabama for Romney.
8:51 p.m.: Latest AP update: Obama wins the reliably Democratic Northeast; Romney secures his conservative base.
8:46 p.m.: Jamie Dupree's update on Florida: Map is looking almost identical to 2008; the only question will be the margins for Obama and Romney.
8:41 p.m.: With no Democratic challengers, three GOP Republicans lawmakers from Georgia have easy wins: Reps. Paul Broun of Athens, Lynn Westmoreland of Sharpsburg and Austin Scott of Tifton.
8:37 p.m.: Another quick Electoral College count from Politico: Romney 67, Obama 64
8:30 p.m.: Republican Pat McCrory wins governor race in North Carolina
8:26 p.m.: Networks call Georgia for Romney. See story
8:24 p.m.: AP calls Tennessee for Romney.
8:16 p.m.: Updated Electoral College count from Politico: Obama 64, Romney 40.
8:14 pm..: AP's U.S. Senate calls so far: Dems win in Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island, and Florida. Republicans win in Tennessee. Independents win in Maine.
8:10 p.m.: Democrat Jack Markell wins governor race in Delaware.
8:07 p.m: New AP calls: Obama wins Illinois, Connecticut, Maine, District of Columbia, Rhode Island, Maryland and Massachusetts. Romney takes Oklahoma.
8:03 p.m.: From Jamie Dupree: Obama leading in early returns in North Carolina right now; Dems were ahead in the early vote there.
8 p.m.: AP is calling Indiana for Romney, joins CNN in calling South Carolina for Romney.
7:56 p.m.: CNN is projecting Romney will win South Carolina and its nine Electoral College votes.
7:46 p.m.: From political blogger Jamie Dupree: In early vote/absentees from Florida, Obama is outperforming 2008 in Orange, Osceola, Hillsborough counties. Early vote/absentee numbers way down for Obama in Miami-Dade County - only leads Romney by 300-plus votes.
7:39 p.m.: With 270 Electoral College votes at stake, Romney leads so far with 13 to Obama's 3.
7:32 p.m.: AP calling West Virginia for Romney.
7:19 p.m.: From AP: Democrat Peter Shumlin wins governor's race in Vermont.
7:17 p.m.: From the Associated Press: Obama takes Vermont's 3 electoral votes, Romney wins 8 in Kentucky.
7 p.m.: Polls in Georgia now closed.
6:13 p.m: Less than an hour before the polls close in Georgia.
5:44 p.m.: Here are some interesting findings from exit polling, according to political blogger and Washington observer Jamie Dupree: 60 percent said the most important issue for voters was the economy, next was health care at 17 percent; 24 percent rated the economy as good, 75 percent said it is bad and 39 percent said the direction of the economy is "getting better"; 41 percent said the government should do more, 53 percent said the government is doing too much - it was flipped 51-43 percent in 2008; 15 percent said President Obama's response to Hurricane Sandy was the most important factor in their vote and 55 percent said it was minor/not a factor; 26 percent want all of Obamacare repealed, 23 percent said repeal some, 18 percent said leave as is and 25 percent said expand it.
5:21 p.m.: Rochelle Peterson thought she had it timed perfectly. She arrived at Hightower Elementary School in Doraville at 11 a.m. and was the only one in line to vote. Then she was told she had already done so. "I walked in and they said the records show that you have already been sent an absentee ballot," said Peterson, 72. "I said absolutely not. I always come here and vote and I have never had a problem." Peterson said that after about 45 minutes, she was allowed to vote at the precinct, where she has cast her ballot for years. Poll workers recognized her. But she is still leery. "I am concerned that whoever got this absentee ballot has voted and mine won't count," she said. "They seemed to tell me that mine would be taken and other would be cancelled."
5:10 p.m.: Less than two hours before the polls close.
4:55 p.m.: Georgia's secretary of state's office is "extremely concerned" at reports of problems at the polls in Fulton, according to office spokesman Jared Thomas. "There are lots of reports of folks who registered on time but are not in the system, reports of places that ran out of provisional ballots, reports of not having let people cast provisional ballots," Thomas said. "Keep in mind, the provisional ballot is the ultimate safety net. It's not a matter of 'if' you can fill it out." Thomas said the secretary of state's office is "doing everything we possibly can to communicate that the provisional ballot is the ultimate safety net to cast your ballot, no matter what."
4:26 p.m.: Pittman Park Recreation Center at 950 Garibaldi St. SW in Atlanta is operating with only one operable computer to process voters, according to a caller who just left the precinct. The caller said she was told the precinct was supplied with five computers, but only two worked initially. Now it's down to one working computer. The caller said poll officials have called repeatedly for technical help but it hasn't arrived.
4:06 p.m.: Fulton County has seen a "high volume turnout" but also has had sporadic "issues with machines and facilities," according to interim elections director Sharon Mitchell. She said her office has fielded a number of technical calls and questions from poll staffers. She said the problems were not unusual given the size of the county's electorate. Asked about reports that poll workers were not showing up and that some voting machines were not working, she said her office has not received calls on either of those issues.
3:50 p.m.: There were no lines at mid-afternoon at Mount Bethel United Methodist Church on Lower Roswell Road in east Cobb. The entire process took only five minutes. Across the street at the East Cobb Government Services Center, there were also no lines.
3:41 p.m.: Kelley McTaggart of Sandy Springs turned 18 in October and registered to vote for the first time. The excited teen was certain to mail in his registration form before the Oct. 9 deadline. He never received a registration card but figured Fulton County was just behind. A couple weeks ago McTaggart checked online and still wasn't in the Secretary of State's database. On Tuesday, he simply showed up to the polling place nearest to his home. Poll workers were nice, but he still wasn't in the system. They helped McTaggart fill out a provisional ballot.
3:16 p.m.: Are cell phones contributing to technical problems some polling places are experiencing? We're looking into a comment one voter relays from a polling official at the Druid Hills Baptist Church on N. Highland Avenue and Ponce De Leon that "machines went down because of cell phone use."
2:40 p.m.: No lines reported at Sope Creek Elementary in east Cobb County. Lines are typically shortest in mid-afternoon at most locations.
2:33 p.m.: Anniston Road Baptist Church polling place in Snellville reports times of 15 minutes. Early this morning, voters waited two hours.
2:20 p.m.: The Lassiter High sign mystery has been solved. Seems like it was weekend pranksters, not the Romney campaign.
1:51 p.m.: A Fulton voter tells the AJC she had been voting in the same location for 20 years, but today a poll worker told her she was not "in the system." She was given a provisional ballet. She got back in line and tried another poll worker who was able to find her in the system and she was able to vote normally. The AJC is checking out the story.
1:30 p.m.: Georgia's not the only place with voting problems. A federal hotline has received more than 35,000 complaints from across the country.
1 p.m.: AJC reporter Ariel Hart is working on a story saying the Georgia Secretary of State's office is "extremely concerned" at reports of problems at the polls in Fulton County Tuesday morning.
12:40 p.m.: An email to the AJC says a school sign outside Lassiter High School telling voters to "Remember to vote for Romney Tuesday" has been removed. Lassiter High, in Marietta, is a polling place. The first tweet the AJC found about the sign was sent at 5:50 p.m. Monday.
12:25 p.m.: The "rain, rain, go away" chant has finally worked. Afternoon voters will not need umbrellas.
12:15 p.m.: According to Chance Bartels of Sandy Springs, who has been waiting on line for an hour, the machines are back up at Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in Sandy Springs. He said the line is more than 30 yards long and moving very slowly. "It's like gridlock traffic," he said.
Noon: A reader emailed the Journal-Constitution about delays voting at Cogburn Woods Elementary in north Fulton, sahying there were 15 computers set up to vote, but only two computers for checking people in. He said there were usually only one or two people actually voting while the other 13 machines stood empty.
11:50 a.m.: Seeing more reports via social media of very short waits to vote: East Cobb, Marietta, Dunwoody, Georgia Tech, among sites where voters said it took only a few minutes.
11:30 a.m.: Turnout is heavy in storm-ravaged areas of New York and New Jersey, the Associated Press says.
11:18 a.m. East Cobb resident says he voted in five minutes at the Lutheran Church on Paper Mill Road.
11:10 a.m.: Voting machines reportedly malfunctioned at Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Sandy Springs.
10:54 a.m.: At Asa Philip Randolph Elementary School on Campbellton Road in southwest Atlanta, many of the voting machines stood empty Tuesday morning despite a long line that snaked through the building. According to voter Lanettia Sullivan, that was because one of the two computers used to verify voters before they proceeded to the voting machines was not working. Sullivan said she was about 80th in line when she queued up at 6:40 a.m. She finally was able to vote just before 8 a.m., and she said that when she left, the line had grown to about 350 people.
10:42 a.m.: In East Point shortly after the polls opened lines were wrapped half way around First United Methodist Church. By 10 a.m. about 400 people had voted, said poll worker Latoya Stephens. On non-presidential elections typically 800 cast their votes in the precinct that has about 3,500 registered voters. "I would say this is a heavy turnout," said Stephens.
Not all voters were happy. Latanya Stubbs, who wanted to vote for Obama, said she was turned away and told to go to another location in College Park where she could file a provisional vote because she had an East Point address on her voter registration card and her photo ID Georgia driver’s license has a College Park address.
Stubbs was in tears and angry and she walked out of the church. “They’re trying to throw people off,” she said. “This is where I voted last time. They don’t want me to vote. They tell me I got to College Park. If I can get a ride I can get over there. But I got a job to go to. I ain’t got the time to go flying around in this pouring rain.”
Poll worker Stephens said Stubbs was mistaken. “She could have voted here provisionally, but chose not to,” said Stephens. “We haven’t turned anyone away.”
10:40 a.m.: Fulton County interim elections director Sharon Mitchell said that based on 2008 numbers, she expects a 53 percent voter turnout, but the rainy weather could reduce that. She said in 2008 149,000 people cast early ballots in 45 days; this year, 152,000 cast early ballots in 21 days.
10:36 a.m.: At a morning briefing, Fulton County interim elections director Sharon Mitchell said three polls — A.P. Randoph Elementary, Palmetto Senior Center and John Burdine Neighborhood Center — began the morning using provisional ballots due to electrical problems with the electronic voting machines. She said the problems were fixed within 30 minutes.
10:20 a.m.: Weather update: Radar still showing rain all over the metro area. Channel 2 Action News meteorologist David Chandley says the rain should taper off by mid-day and be gone by 3 p.m.
10 a.m.: While voting was smooth at Winnona Park Elementary in Decatur, not so with the PTA bake sale. With the rain, PTA parents moved the table laden with pumpkin muffins topped with little American flags to a far corner of the cafeteria, but it was still too close to voting booths. Parents were told they could not hold the sale inside the polling place and they must cease operations. Nor could they give the baked goods away to voters without charge. They could not be inside under any circumstances. So, a search for a tent was undertaken to resume the sale outside – in the rain.
9:55 a.m.: The lines were moving smoothly at the Winnona Park Elementary School in Decatur after a brief glitch in the computer verification system was resolved around 9 a.m. The intown Decatur precinct had folks in line at 6 a.m. to cast their ballots despite the rain.
9:35 a.m.: After the early morning rush, wait times are decreasing. Many voters are reporting only a few minutes' wait.
9:30 a.m.: Fulton County ections officials to hold a news conference at 10 a.m. to discuss Election Day issues. Check out ajc.com for coverage.
9:00 a.m.: An AJC staffer says poll workers at one site in Clayton County were telling anyone who came to vote wearing any political logo or image that they had to cover the image before they were allowed in to pick up their yellow voting card. That's in accordance with Georgia law.
8:50 a.m.: Our news partners at Channel 2 Action News tell us they're getting many complaints from voters that polls are understaffed, resulting in longer waits than necessary.
8:40 a.m.: Hour-long wait reported at poll in downtown Powder Springs.
8:25 a.m.: Cobb police dispatchers say traffic is very heavy around polling sites.
8:10 a.m.: At Best Friend Park in Gwinnett it's taking about an hour to vote.
8:00 a.m.: Lines were also long at E. Rivers Elementary School in Buckhead.
7:55 a.m.: Returns from Dixville Notch, N.H. are in and Obama and Romney are tied 5-5.
7:48 a.m.: Voter reports just under 30 minutes to cast a ballot at Elizabeth Baptist Church in Marietta.
7:45 a.m.: Hundreds in line at Vinings polling location. Line wrapped around the building, voters standing in the rain.
7:40 a.m.: Caller reports election workers at poll in Palmetto didn't have keys to unlock the electronic voting machines. They offered paper ballots, but many refused and left.
7:33 a.m.: Voter reports on Twitter that more than 200 are in line at Centennial High School in Roswell.
7:30 a.m.: Photo posted on Twitter shows long line of umbrella-carrying voters standing in line outside New Prospect United Methodist Church in Sugar Hill (north Gwinnett).
7:20 a.m.: About 40 people were in line at Straight Life Pentecostal Church off Covington Highway in DeKalb County. It was taking about 15 minutes for voters to move through the line and vote.
7:13 a.m.: Election Day is starting out on a bad note, trafficwise, as numerous reports of wrecks are coming in from police and DOT.
7:03 a.m.: If you're going out to vote in the Roswell area, police say traffic lights and reversible lane lights are out along Roswell Road near Riverside and Azalea drives.
7:00 a.m.: Polls open in metro Atlanta and throughout the state.
6:48 a.m.: Jeff Westerfield told the AJC that he got to Grady High School at 5:30 a.m. to vote, "hoping to avoid the long lines that apparently aren't here."
6:30 a.m.: Voters lining up before polls open at 7 a.m. will need an umbrella. A light rain is expected until the afternoon, said Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Karen Minton. Morning temps are in the low 40s but will rise to the mid-50s.
6:15 a.m.: Eight people were in line at Grady High, with Westerfield at the head of that short line.
Joining Westerfield in that line was Andre Stallworth.
“Since I work nights, I was hoping to get in and get out,” Stallworth said. “I’m glad I can get it done early and just be done.”
Grover Hogan said he was “excited” about election day. “I’ve never seen such a short line of people,” he said.
Ricci DeForest said he has been voting at Grady High School “since forever.”
DeForest, who lives across the street from the school, said he didn’t go through the early voting process because he “likes the organic process of just doing it on election day. It’s just me and a few million other people.”
