Tens of millions of Americans are voting to decide whether to re elect Democratic President Barack Obama or hand the job to Republican Mitt Romney.

Polls will start closing soon and a winner could become clear within hours - so stay with us for that.

Turnout is crucial, with polls suggesting a neck and neck race, but giving the president a slender lead in crucial swing states.

Romney continued campaigning to the end, visiting Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The importance of the crucial swing state of Ohio for both campaigns was underlined by Vice President Joe Biden, whose plane also arrived in Cleveland on an unannounced stop.

After a hard fought race that began nearly two years ago and cost more than 2 billion US dollars, national polls by Washington Post/ABC News and the Pew Research Center both give Obama a three point edge over his rival.

More than 30 million voters had already cast their ballots before today's polls opened, with more than 30 states allowing either absentee voting or early voting in person.

That is nearly a quarter of the total votes cast in the 2008 presidential election, when more than 130 million people voted.

33 of 100 seats in the US Senate are also up for election while all 435 seats in the House are being contested.

Republicans need to gain three Senate seats to end Democratic control while Democrats need to gain 25 seats in Congress.


Story by: Vijay Narayan