US election: Melania Trump breaks cover to be with husband Donald as voters go to polls

Donald Trump says he is as he voted alongside his wife Melania near his home in Florida.

The former president, sporting a red baseball cap with ‘’make America great again’ emblazoned on the front was supported by Melania, smiling and wearing sunglasses, at the . Polls are with a very divided electorate but Trump in typically bombastic fashion claims he and the Republicans have a significant lead.

“I feel very confident, we went in with a very big lead today, we Republicans have shown up in force so we will see how it turns out,” he said. "I have been very honoured to find out the lines are long, the conservative lines, the Republican lines are very long."

There have also been fears that there could be trouble from either side which loses the election such has been the strength of feeling in each camp and the violence that took place involving Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol Building, in Washington, four years ago.

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But Trump says he would be the "first" to accept a "fair" election and he is not expecting any trouble from his supporters. “If it’s a fair election, I’d be the first one to acknowledge,” Trump said, though what meets that definition wasn’t clear. And he added he doesn’t need to tell his supporters to be peaceful.

"I don't have to tell them that. Of course there'll be no violence. My supporters are not violent people," he said. Trump then went on to visit a local campaign office to thank his supporters and Melania also spoke to praise them for doing “a great job” and for putting in so much “hard work”.

More than 82 million Americans voted early. Those casting ballots so far on Tuesday have mostly encountered a smooth process around the country, with isolated reports of some hiccups that regularly happen, including long lines, technical issues and ballot printing errors.

Democrat candidate Kamala Harris and Trump entered election day focused on seven battleground states, five of them carried by Trump in 2016 before flipping to in 2020: the “blue wall” of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin as well as Arizona and Georgia. Nevada and North Carolina, which Democrats and Republicans respectively carried in the last two elections, also were closely contested.