Now that the polls are closed on the East Coast, people are going to start watching what happened in several "battleground" states. However, we aren't likely to see much of substance before 6 p.m. Tucson time.

Pennsylvania, with 20 electoral votes, and New Hampshire, 4 electoral votes, have limited early voting, so candidates did a lot of last-minute campaigning there. If early voting results are considered an indicator of how the state might go, these states are question marks and worth watching.

Florida has nearly 3 million voters who are registered as independents. Most of these are not people who went to Florida to retire, but younger people who are concerned about jobs. Many are Hispanic. Florida's 29 electoral votes are certainly worth fighting for. Considerable early voting may give a hint how Florida is leaning shortly after the polls close.

In North Carolina, with 15 electoral votes, Clinton's numbers are better, but it's generally considered a must-win for Trump to get to 270 electoral votes.

Voting rights advocates filed a lawsuit claiming that some counties in North Carolina canceled registrations of thousands of voters including those of a disproportionate number of African-American voters in violation of the National Voter Registration Act.

The number of early voters is very high in North Carolina. Democrats have the lead in the early vote, but it isn't as high as it was at this point in 2012, and Romney still won the state.

Even without North Carolina, according to Slate.com, if Clinton wins Florida and Pennsylvania, she can probably start practicing her acceptance speech.


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