America goes to the polls

Obama is joined onstage by his wife, Michelle, and their daughters, Sasha and Malia.  (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)

A cheering crowd gathered in New York’s Times Square to watch live election coverage.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Iquatius Cobb, left, and Momodou Colley in Times Square react to Obama’s victory.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

McCain and his wife, Cindy, acknowledge supporters at his concession speech in Phoenix.  (Matthew Cabanaugh / EPA)

A crowd in Chicago’s Grant Park cheers as CNN calls Obama as the winner.  (Kamil Krzaczynski / EPA)

CNN projects Obama as winner of the presidential election as a crowd watches in Chicago’s Grant Park.  (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)

Fourteen-year-old Nyheem Atkins tries to lead the crowd in a chant for Barack Obama in New York’s Times Square.  (Julie Jacobson / Associated Press)

Harlem residents watch live election coverage at a Democratic rally on in New York.  (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

Gregory McGee, left, and Jakeeta Stubblefield of Chicago, both Obama supporters, cheer election returns in an overflow area of the candidate’s rally in Grant Park.  (Charles Rex Arbogast/ Associated Press)

Obama supporters gather for his election-night rally in Chicago’s Grant Park.  (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

Obama supporters gather in Chicago’s Grant Park.  (Eric Thayer / Getty Images)

A silhouette is reflected on the stage in Chicago’s Grant Park, where Obama was prepared to speak at a rally Tuesday night.  (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Workers prepare the stage for Obama’s election-night rally in Chicago’s Grant Park.  (Shawn Thew / EPA)

A worker cleans bulletproof glass panes on the stage where Obama will speak in Chicago’s Grant Park.  (Shawn Thew / EPA)

Obama supporters line the fence near the stage in Chicago’s Grant Park.   (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

Gerard Jean-Baptiste, 22, of West Palm Beach, Fla., cheers for Obama.  (Mark Randall / South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

A woman makes her way to vote in a neighborhood on the west side of Philadelphia only a few feet from the polling station.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Voters line up to cast their ballots at First Ward Elementary School in Charlotte, N.C., on election day.  (Davis Turner / Getty Images)

Workers set up the platforms in the garden area for the election night gathering for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain at the Biltmore in Phoenix.  (Elise Amendola / Associated Press)

Poll worker Herdon Shelnut helps fellow poll worker Jerry Roby, 64, vote from a gurney before he is taken to the hospital by ambulance. Roby lost consciousness as he was passing out ballots at Compton Airport. Before firefighters took him out, Roby’s fellow poll workers pulled the gurney up to a ballot machine so that he could vote.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger heads toward the voting booth at Kenter Canyon Elementary school in Brentwood.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Voters wait in line to cast their ballots at Crenshaw Christian Center in Los Angeles.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

The Stars and Stripes provide a gauzy frame for voters who are photographed through the U.S. flag as they line up in Chicago to vote in the 2008 election.  (Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty Images)

Several dozen people wait to cast ballots at the Sponto Gallery in Venice Beach.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Poll workers Mark Osborne, right, and Odessa Jiles hang an American flag in front of the polling place at Transfiguration Catholic Church in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

The line is out the door at the Marble Hill Community Center in New York City.  (Julie Jacobson / Associated Press)

This voter was among the first to cast a ballot as the polls opened at 6 a.m. in Kansas City, Mo.  (Larry W. Smith / EPA)

Early-morning sun shines a light on voters in the conference room of the Sunnybrook Retirement Village in Madison, Miss.  (Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press)

A poll worker points the way from behind a booth at Douglas G. Grafflin Elementary School in Chappaqua, N.Y.  (Jeff Zelevansky / Getty Images)

Poll workers post directions to Transfiguration Catholic Church in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Temple University student Terrence Anderson uses a megaphone to encourages voters in Philadelphia.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)