Ricardo Arduengo / AP
People wave a Puerto Rican flag atop a moving vehicle during elections in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Nov. 6, 2012.
Associated Press reports — Puerto Ricans were facing a fundamental question on Election Day: Should they change their ties with the United States?
Citizens in the U.S. island territory cannot vote in the U.S. presidential election, but many were excited to participate in a referendum that could push the territory toward statehood, greater autonomy or independence. Full story…
Jeff Haynes / Reuters
A voter casts her ballot at Marie's Golden Cue pool hall during the U.S. presidential election in Chicago, on Nov. 6.
John Gress / Reuters
Charles Durham votes at the Gordies Foundation Barber School during the U.S. presidential election at Sam's Auto Sales in Chicago, on Nov. 6.
John Gress / Reuters
Josephine Troesch picks up her ballot at Su Nueva Laundromat during the U.S. presidential election in Chicago, Nov. 6.
Lucas Jackson / Reuters
Poll workers attempt to start a generator to power a polling site built to service residents of the Queens borough neighborhoods of Breezy Point and the Rockaways on Nov. 6 in New York. The original voting site was damaged during Hurricane Sandy.
Tom Mihalek / Reuters
Sharon Applegate, left, looks on as Josh Caruso signs a book before voting at the Bay Head Fire Company in Bay Head, N.J., on Nov. 6.
John Makely / NBC News
John Dotterweich, a site inspector for the Ocean County Board of Elections removes the "Vote Here" sign from the "Mobile Voting Precinct" after about fifteen voters cast their ballots in Little Egg Harbor, N.J. on Nov. 6. The voting bus allowed those affected by Hurricane Sandy to cast their vote at the American Red Cross shelter in the Pinelands Regional Junior High School.
Mike Groll / AP
Voters fill out their ballots in a vehicle storage bay at Armory Garage, a Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge and Ram auto dealership, on Nov. 6 in Albany, N.Y.
Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP
Dave Reyes II waits to be the first voter in his precinct outside of the polling station set up in the garage of the Gallegos residence in Stockton, Calif., on Nov. 6.
Jeff Haynes / Reuters
Barbra Hunter, of Chicago casts her vote at the Urbanimal Pet Store polling place in Chicago on Nov. 6.
Also on PhotoBlog:
Campaigning with Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, voting and election results.
Your Election Day photos
Share pictures of you voting, your polling station, what’s important to you, or anything else that best sums up this American experience with us. Post pictures on Twitter or Instagram by tagging them #NBCPolitics or upload photos using the form below. See what readers have already submitted.
Jeff Kowalsky / EPA
Nina Bush reacts as she casts her ballot on an electronic voting machine at the Toledo Police Museum in Toledo, Ohio on Nov. 6 in this combination photo.
Nina Bush said that she was happy that she was able to cast her vote, believing she had done 'a good thing' by voting in the presidential election, according to photographer Jeff Kowalsky.
Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA
Campaigning with Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, voting and election results.
Your Election Day photos
Share pictures of you voting, your polling station, what’s important to you, or anything else that best sums up this American experience with us. Post pictures on Twitter or Instagram by tagging them #NBCPolitics or upload photos using the form below. See what readers have already submitted.
Janie Osborne / AP
A father hurries his daughters along in order to cast his vote in Belgrade, Mont.
Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters
A boy holding an American flag peeks out of the voting booth as his mother votes in New Hampton, N.H.
Jeff Kowalsky / EPA
Alana Evert votes with her two-year-old daughter Nayaani Thompson in Toledo, Ohio.
David Maxwell / EPA
Christa Wegner, center, votes while her children Nathaniel and Patricia wait for her at a polling site in Akron, Ohio.
Joe Rimkus Jr. / AP
Kezia Gipson, 3, waits with her grandparents Doris Ross and Freddie Irvin in a voting line at the International Longshoreman's Association Office in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Darren Hauck / Getty Images
Rachelle Elliott helps her daughter Raya, 3, cast her vote Janesville, Wis.
David Becker / Getty Images
Jaime Lea photographs herself and her children, one-year old Scarlett and Zackary, 3, after casting her ballot at John Fremont Middle School in Las Vegas.
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Mark Humphrey / AP
Chip Wooten holds his 9-month-old daughter, Annie, as he votes in Nashville, Tenn.
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Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA
Campaigning with Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, voting and election results.
John Makely / NBC News
Billy Hague takes a break from cleaning up after Hurricane Sandy at his mother's house in the Ocean Breeze neighborhood of Staten Island, N.Y. on Monday.
By John Makely, NBC News
I've covered a fair number of disasters, but standing next to destroyed buildings with debris piled high, I've never asked anyone, "Are you going to vote in tomorrow's election?" Even with vastly different viewpoints of the two leading presidential candidates and the important issues that they represent, the question almost seems absurd standing in the mud, talking to people who have lost almost everything due to Hurricane Sandy.
Billy Hague took a break from cleaning up his mother's house on Quincy Ave. in the Ocean Breeze neighborhood of Staten Island, where the water reached almost ten feet. "You wander around aimlessly because you don't know what to do next,” he said.
In storm-hit areas, some polling places changed on Election Day
Hague, a contractor, said all of his tools were submerged in salt water, so they are now virtually useless. After police chased away looters a couple days ago, he made a big sign warning trespassers, though he adds, "Not that there is anything left to take." Asked about the election, Hague does not care. "People need basics right now, give me a break. It doesn't matter anyway because [New York] is a blue state."
John Makely / NBC News
A sign in front of Billy Hague's home reads 'No Trespass-will be shot.' in the Ocean Breeze neighborhood of Staten Island, New York on Nov. 5.
Around the corner from Hague lives Peter Emelock. A proud resident of the block for thirty-five years, though Emelock says he's a newcomer. "There are people who have been here for eighty years," says Emelock, as he takes a minute from cleaning his modest home. "What are you going to do? You have to rebuild. I'm learning this as I go. I gotta move on."
John Makely / NBC News
Peter Emelock takes a minute from cleaning his modest home in the Ocean Breeze neighborhood of Staten Island, N.Y. on Nov. 5.
He wonders if it might have been better if the house was completely gone. Emelock, his wife and their dogs barely escaped the storm surge as the water rushed in from the beach over Father Capodanno Blvd. "A neighbor called and said, 'You gotta get out' so we had a go bag and barely made it out in time. Next time when they say 'evacuate' we're gone."
Full election coverage from NBC Politics
"I am voting tomorrow. I feel like I should. My polling place is still open but my problem is the gas," says Emelock, as he wonders how much gasoline it will take to drive to the polling station, and if the state could do something more. "This is a Katrina for Staten Island and the East Coast. It took too long for [FEMA] to bite into this."
John Makely / NBC News
Marines work alongside members of the New York Sanitation department to clear debris from the Midland Beach neighborhood in Staten Island, N.Y. on Nov. 5
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Mel Evans / AP
Residents across the Northeast pick up the pieces after Superstorm Sandy killed more than 100 people in 10 states and left a trail of destruction.
Reuters, Getty Images
Campaigning with Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, voting and election results.
Mathew Brady / Library of Congress
Presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln is photographed before delivering his Cooper Union address in New York City on Feb. 27, 1860.
Going back as far as Abraham Lincoln, photography has played a key role in political campaigns. The invention of photographic technology in the 19th century was quickly adopted as a tool by politicians. As the technology evolved, politicians used photographs to help refine their public persona, leading to the emergence of the photo op.
Lincoln was the first presidential candidate to embrace photography, recognizing its ability to help propel his image and message. As a presidential candidate, his photo was actively used as part of his campaign. “Lincoln was the first president in which they made prints of his photographs and during the convention, fluttered them down like confetti,” says Kiku Adatto, a scholar at Harvard’s Mahindra Humanities Center, who has researched the history of image use in culture and wrote the book “Picture Perfect: Life in the Age of the Photo Op.” However, the portrait used during his campaign in 1860 is missing his now iconic beard as it was not until after he was elected that he made the decision to grow facial hair, believing it would make him more appealing to his constituents.
AP
New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Democratic presidential nominee, addresses a crowd with his plan for farm relief on Sept. 14, 1932 in Topeka, Kansas.
By the time Franklin D. Roosevelt was running for president in 1932, cameras had become increasingly portable. Photographers were no longer limited to doing formal sitting portraits at long exposures, allowing them to capture politicians “on the trail” of their campaign. FDR did not want the public to view him as disabled, leading him to go to great lengths to mask his paralysis while campaigning. Photographers helped him in this effort and would not take pictures of him in a wheelchair. The only indication of his disability are visible in images from public appearances, where he frequently appears clutching a podium, or another stable source, in order to hold himself upright.
CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images
A view from the control room as Kennedy and Richard Nixon participate in the first televised presidential debate in Chicago on Sept. 26, 1960. Nixon looked tired and ill during the debate while Kennedy looked well-rested and healthy. Those who listened to the debate on the radio thought Nixon had won; television viewers thought it was a victory for Kennedy. After the debate, polls showed Kennedy taking a slight lead over Nixon.
Television’s prominence by the 1960s helped John F. Kennedy in his quest for the White House. Keenly aware of his image, it famously played to his advantage during the first televised presidential debate between him and an uncomfortable-looking Richard Nixon. In addition, candid photographs of him with his young family made him feel approachable and familiar to the public. “To invite a photographer in for these so called ‘intimate moments’ is another form of a photo opportunity,” explains Adatto. “Brilliantly so by the politician because that is also staged intimacy. This is perfected by JFK. That’s why politicians on their websites don’t just have the classic photo op, but they incorporate the casual image: the snapshot that their supporters and staff take.”
Zeboski / AP
Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy go for a horseback ride on the grounds of the Reagan's retreat in Middleburg, Va. in on Sept. 1, 1980.
Having had a previous career in film, Ronald Reagan was well accustomed to staged, camera-friendly scenes. “With Reagan’s campaign in 1980 and ‘84, Reagan and his media team mastered the art of the photo opportunity,” says Adatto. “Never before until Reagan had the media team actually choreographed pictures, settings. So the photo op became not simply: how can I look good for the camera, but how can I construct the whole scene? As if you’re making a movie, and place the politicians - the candidate - in that scene.”
While at first successful, these elaborate staged events eventually led to the press feeling taken advantage of by the politicians. By the 1988 presidential election, between George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis, television reporters shifted their coverage to reveal the staged aspect of an event, according to Adatto. At one of these events, Dukakis appeared riding in a military tank as effort to increase his credibility on defense issues. Those images were then used against him by the Bush team in a commercial, and Dukakis went on to lose the election. The phrase “Dukakis in the tank” is now synonymous with a failed photo op.
Michael E. Samojeden / AP
Democratic Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis gets a ride in one of General Dynamics' new M1-A-1 battle tanks at its land systems division in Sterling Heights, Mich on Sept. 13, 1988.
Charles Rex Arbogast / AP
Supporters of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, try for a photograph of Obama during a rally on the College of Charleston campus in Charleston, S.C.,on Jan. 10, 2008.
The internet and social media now offer infinite outlets for user-submitted photos and video, changing the traditional role of the press. Both amateur and professional photographers now publish images on the web and through social media where they can be viewed by anyone. Associated Press photographers on the trail with the Romney campaign this election season have posted regularly to the photo-sharing app Instagram. Through Instagram, #aponthetrail offers glimpses of the sidelines of the campaign. “The spirit behind #aponthetrail is to show little vignettes of being ‘inside the bubble’ and also a different look at what it’s like to cover the campaign trail,” photographer Charles Dharapak said in an email. The process allows for more direct communication between the photographers and the public by sidestepping the role of the editor and publication. Previously, the public would only see images that had been selected by an editor and then published to a media outlet. Quirky images from the sidelines of a campaign would often go unseen.
Charles Dharapak / AP ; Evan Vucci / AP
Left: Romney rally Port St. Lucie, Fla. #aponthetrail; Right: Gov. Romney speaks with press aboard his campaign plane. #aponthetrail
We are now in a visually saturated culture, surrounded by cameras. With images everywhere, politicians are increasingly guarded and public events feel contrived. While the Obama administration is active in social media, and during the 2008 campaign used it to successfully gather supporters, press access has been restricted. Instead, the administration shares photos by its own photographer, Pete Souza, through Flickr. “All leaders practice the art of image-making, we just have these modern means to do it and in the world of the internet and smartphones, it has become far more democratized and widespread,” says Adatto. But she also says that while there is “less ability to deceive, there is also the potential to exacerbate the problem of the photo op culture: the attention to gaffes, the attention to failed images, the incessant surveillance, or the incessant attention to image-making itself, where we get so deep into the images that we begin to live in a house of mirrors, of images within images, within images and don’t try to seek the truth or the reality beyond those images.”
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Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
A young supporter of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney peeks under a barrier during a campaign rally at Avion Jet Center on Nov. 5, 2012 in Sanford, Fla. With one day to go until the election, Romney is making one final push throughout swing states.
Emmanuel Dunand / AFP - Getty Images
A young supporter of presidential candidate Mitt Romney is dressed as "Super Romney" at a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada, on Oct. 24.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
A supporter dressed in costume is seen cheering during a campaign event for President Barack Obama at City Park in Denver, on Oct. 24.
Reuters, Getty Images
In the final push in the 2012 presidential election, candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama make their last appeals to voters.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
President Barack Obama sits aboard Marine One as it lands on the South Lawn of the White House on October 23, 2012 in Washington, DC. Obama was returning from campaign events in Florida and Ohio.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Secret Service agents look on during a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre on October 23, 2012 in Morrison, Colorado.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
A motorcycle police officer blocks an on ramp as Mitt Romney's motorcade passes by on October 23, 2012 in Denver, Colorado.
More election coverage from NBC Politics:
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The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd recaps Monday's final debate and previews the next two weeks leading up to the election.
I think one of the most difficult things to do when you’re in a debate must be to keep your reactions in check while you’re not talking. Vice President Joe Biden was very animated Thursday night. I wonder if sometimes he isn't mindful that he is always on camera during a debate, or maybe it's just part of his technique.
NBC's David Gregory and Tom Brokaw discussed Biden's reactions in their post-debate commentary. See the video below.
NBC News
NBC News’ Michael O’Brien also reported on Biden’s debate reactions
The vice president threw up his arms, laughed, scoffed and rolled his eyes in reaction to Ryan’s attacks – a seemingly visceral reaction to what Biden frequently called “malarkey” offered up by the House Budget Committee chairman.
Biden’s response to Ryan’s proposals to reform Medicare into a “premium support” or voucher system was a typical refrain for the vice president: “Folks, use your common sense: who do you trust on this?”
NBC News analysis: Both Joe Biden and Paul Ryan performed their tasks well but may not have persuaded many undecided voters.
Library Of Congress
Abraham Lincoln-Hannibel Hamlin campaign button from the 1860 presidential election.
With the presidential election less than a month away, there is a barrage of political paraphernalia and tchotchkes everywhere you look. Probably even the places you don't look, if you live in a swing state. Over time, whether red or blue, some of these items will gather meaning (and possibly value) and become prized possessions, serving as a reminder of maybe the first election you participated in, a campaign you donated to, or a historical object passed down from a politically passionate family member.
Do you have any political memorabilia you are saving? We want to see the material from past presidential elections that still resonates and holds meaning to you. Share your photos and their stories with us.
How do you participate?
We’ll select our favorites and publish them on PhotoBlog next week. Stay tuned!
Smithsonian's National Museum of American History
Souvenir Kraft Macaroni & Cheese boxes from the 1996 Democratic and Republican national conventions.
The Smithsonian's National Museum of American history has an entire collection of these objects. The curators of its political division, Harry Rubenstein and William Lawrence Bird, attend both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in order to maintain the museum's status as “the largest holding of presidential campaign material in the United States.” In a conversation with NBC News published this past August, Bird says of the collection:
There are about 100,000 objects. They have been gathered to reflect the nation’s political culture since the beginning of the colonial settlements up through the current 2012 political campaigns. The Smithsonian Institution made a commitment to build a major national collection to show the political process and the story of American democracy when it opened the National Museum in 1964.
AP, file
Sen. John F. Kennedy makes his way through a crowd of supporters and journalists as he arrives in Los Angeles, July 9, 1960 for the Democratic National Convention.
Library of Congress
A poster for the presidential campaign of Theodore Roosevelt, with Charles W. Fairbanks for Vice President.
Paula Bronstein / Getty Images
A customer looks at U.S. President Ronald Reagan memorabilia for sale at the Political Americana shop which specializes in original presidential political items, on June 10, 2004 in Washington, DC. Tourists from all over the country have come to the nation's capitol to honor former U.S. President Ronald Reagan who died at the age of 93 on June 5 after a ten year battle with Alzheimer's disease.
Robyn Beck / AFP - Getty Images
Judy DeVries from California poses with her pins at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Florida, on August 30, 2012 before the start of the last day of the Republican National Convention (RNC). The RNC will culminate later today with the formal nomination of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan as the GOP presidential and vice-presidential candidates in the US presidential election.
Jim Young / Reuters
A supporter of U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) attends a campaign rally at The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, October 18, 2008.
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Tomas Bravo / Reuters
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez holds the sword used by former military leader Simon Bolivar while celebrating from a balcony at Miraflores Palace in Caracas on October 7, 2012.
Ariana Cubillos / AP
Supporters of Hugo Chavez celebrate in downtown Caracas on Oct. 7, 2012. Chavez won re-election and a new endorsement of his socialist project Sunday, surviving his closest race yet after a bitter campaign against opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.
Ariana Cubillos / AP
Supporters of Hugo Chavez perform a mock funeral for opposition candidate Henrique Capriles as they celebrate in downtown Caracas on Oct. 7, 2012.
By NBC News staff and wire reports — President Hugo Chavez scored a comfortable election victory that could extend his rule to 20 years and vowed to deepen his self-styled socialist revolution after a bitterly fought race against a youthful rival who has galvanized Venezuela's opposition.
Slideshow: Hugo Chavez through the years
"Truthfully, this has been the perfect battle, a democratic battle," Chavez thundered from the balcony of the presidential palace on Sunday, waving a replica of the sword of independence hero Simon Bolivar. "Venezuela will continue along the path of democratic and Bolivarian socialism of the 21st century." Read the full story.
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