Live Blog: The U.S. Presidential Election

The results (electoral votes in parentheses):

Battleground States

# Florida (29) - 67% reporting - Obama 50% - Romney 49%
# New Hampshire (4) - 8% reporting - Obama 61% - Romney 37%
# Ohio (18) - 25% reporting - Obama 56% - Romney 43%
# Virginia (13) - 36% reporting - Romney 54% - Obama 45%

States Called

Mitt Romney
# Alabama (9)
# Arkansas (6)
# Georgia (16)
# Indiana (11)
# Kentucky (8)
# Mississippi (6)
# Oklahoma (7)
# South Carolina (9)
# Tennessee (11)
# West Virginia (5)

Barack Obama
# Connecticut (7)
# Delaware (3)
# Illinois (20)
# Maine (4)
# Maryland (10)
# Massachusetts (11)
# Rhode Island (4)
# Vermont (3)

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, New Yorkers head to makeshift polling sites:

Amazing pictures: Staten Islanders Brave Cold, Darkness To Vote buzzfeed.com/jtes/staten-is… via @jtes

— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) November 7, 2012

Early voting increased by 25% in Iowa: wapo.st/YUBzTc

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 7, 2012

RT @ryanlizza: Interesting text from Obama's VA campaign just now. twitter.com/RyanLizza/stat…

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) November 7, 2012

Via Rachel Weiner of "The Washington Post" -- About an hour before the first states began reporting, Mitt Romney told reporters on his campaign plane that he had just finished writing a victory speech of around 1,100 words. He said he had “only written one speech at this point.”

Exit polling shows Virginia as a 49%-49% tie -- the polls close momentarily.

CNN has called Vermont for President Obama

Via CNN -- exit polls in Florida show state electorate is 67 percent white, 13 percent black, 16 percent latino. In 2008 whites were 71 percent, blacks 13 percent, and latinos 14 percent -- and Obama won the state.

First results are starting to trickle in:

Indiana (11 electoral votes) - 1% reporting - Romney 60% - Obama 32%

Kentucky (8 electoral votes) - <1% reporting - Romney 69% - Obama 30%

New Hampshire (4 electoral votes) - <1% reporting - Obama 65% - Romney 33%

Worth noting that the fabled first vote in Dixville Notch, NH was a tie. #vote2012 blogs.seattletimes.com/uwelectioneye/…

— RFE/RL (@RFERL) November 6, 2012