seats. democrats 49, a power shift here. also possible for the democrats, though a far more difficult path than back in the house. political experts have told us that one indiana senate race can be an early bellwether. joe donnelly being challenged by republican businessman mike braun. the theory goes if donnelly wins in a land slide, the blue wave is far more likely. but if braun unseats him, republicans might be in for a very good night nationally with about 50% of the vote being counted so far. braun is ahead, but nbc currently defines this race as too close to call. our team is following other key races that might give an early sense whether power is shifting in this country, including contests in florida and virginia. the polls just closing in florida right now. a state the president won in 2016, he has repeatedly said tonight's election is a referendum on him. 27 house seats up for grabs in

the sunshine state plus one senate seat. and the governor's mansion. early on democrats are ahead in florida, but there is still a lot more vote counting to do, and we will be watching it for you. >> okay. a lot of hard work ahead. thanks, kris. as we mentioned polls in california close in just three hours at 8:00 p.m. if you can vote, even if you're not registered. in fact, we had a lot of people at the santa clara county registrar's office looking to get provisional ballots. looking at lines from earlier this afternoon, anoushah rasta joins us. there are lines behind you. >> reporter: janelle, yes, there are. it's been a busy day and this is what the line looks like now. it is out the door. these are all people waiting to conditionally register to vote tonight. on this election day. >> we should make a large presence. >> reporter: a record number of

voters in santa clara county. >> i'm a freshman, so i just turned 18, and then i just -- i feel like it's the right feeling to do. >> reporter: at the registrar's office in san jose, long lines of people waiting to take advantage of conditional voter registration, which by law in california lets you register to vote and cast your ballot even on the day of the election. if you miss the october 22nd deadline to register. >> it is exciting and great to see this many people are coming out today to use the new law. >> reporter: according to the registrar of voters, 432 people conditionally registered to vote in the june primaries. before today, 600 registered to vote conditionally in the midterm. and today, that number was expected to double. >> it was very important for me to get my friend to come out and vote today because he didn't do ke s ae that we all have for my country, and i want to >> i take it as a responsibility represent others who are not able to vote.

>> reporter: if you have not registered to vote, there is still time in santa clara county, but you can only do the conditional voter registration here at the registrar's office. now, remember, polls close at 8:00 tonight. but anyone in line by 8:00 will be allowed to cast their ballot. reporting live in san jose, anoushah rasta, nbc bay area news. >> anoushah, thank you. tens of millions of people are in the move and in their polling stations. we are seeing the usual amount of voting problems. we received about two dozen complaints so far. everything from broken voting machines in el cerrito. another opened late. we have been fielding complaints since 7:00 a.m. this is a live look at our call center in nbc bay area studios. if you have any problems at the polls, we want to hear about it. we still have three hours before the polls close here. we are teaming up with pro

publica. if you spot a problem, call 1-8833-nbc-kntv or a message at nbcbayarea.com/decision 2018. there were changes this year to make it easier and more convenient for all of us to vote. that includes the east bay. let's bring in nbc bay area jody hernandez in oakland. jody, as you know, 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. is traditionally the busy time. how is it looking and what are the changes? >> reporter: raj, it is looking mighty busy here in oakland as you can see. we are stopping at a drop stop location. people can drive up and drop off their ballots. the county has added new drop box locations throughout the county, all in an effort to make voting easier. >> for a midterm election, this is really busy for us. this is almost equal to what a presidential election would look like. >> reporter: this is what it looks like at the alameda county

registrar voters's office as people attempt to have a say in the election. >> this is game day for we plan for it all year long and we're seeing the turnout. >> reporter: election officials a worked to make it easier for people to cast their ballots. ballot drop boxes have been hugely popular. alameda county has added a dozen boxes in the east bay including u.c. berkeley campus. >> we have a vote by mail drop box for alameda county and that is new. >> reporter: the get out the vote at cal has never been stronger. students have helped register 2000 new voters. >> if they have the privilege to be able to vote, we want them to exercise their right to go and vote and raise their voices. >> reporter: though it's election day, people are still out stumping, doing their best to help folks who haven't quite made up their minds. and if you haven't registered, don't sweat it. there's even still time for that.

>> wealidate that you can be a registered voter. we get you registered and that vote will be counted. >> reporter: and we are back here live. again, we're at the drop stop location. people are just getting off of work so they're coming here and dropping off their ballots. now, there is still plenty of time to get out and vote. again, we've been saying it all evening, but as long as you're in line by 8:00 tonight, you'll be able to cast your ballot. reporting live in oakland, i'm jody hernandez, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, jodi. we have all the information you need to vote. as we mention, if you haven't registered or reregistered because of a name change or change of address, you can visit your county elections office where anoushah was to conditionally register and vote with a provisional ballot. that is also the case if you have registered, but your name isn't on the list at your polling place. so you can still vote. if you're still in line when the polls close like jodi mentioned, no problem. that polling station has to wait until you cast your ballot. and if you have a vote by mail

ballot, you can drop it off at any polling location until 8:00 tonight. >> the most high i going to be r both candidates cast their ballots today. newsome in marin county, cox in san diego county. they are now headed to their respective watch parties, both in southern california. >> we are live at cox and newsome headquarters. we're going to begin with nbc bay area sam brock. he's live in downtown l.a. where newsome will soon be arriving. sam. >> reporter: janelle, behind me you see the stage is prepped on these risers. there are california reporters from all over the state covering this race. gavin newsom will tell you he is about big and bold action. this venue is kind of big and bold. this used to be the former los angeles stock exchange building, converted to a night club that is now four levels high and can accommodate 1500 people. so they are expecting a big crowd on hand for a race that has to start to feel pretty good for gavin newsom.

if you look at the composite of the latest polls which is an average from real clear politics, you'll see right now newsome has an average spread of 16 1/2 points over john cox. the low in that range is 13 points, the high is 20. but that is a massive discrepancy. 16 1/2 points, that might explain why he has been campaigning for josh harder in the san joaquin county, a congressional race yesterday because he's feeling pretty confident. you might be wondering why is he not in san francisco. obviously newsome has roots in that city. he was a leader, a mayor in that city. he was there last night in san francisco. but i believe he is here in los angeles today, his team certainly suggests because of a sense of unity that he's trying to bring all people of the state together should he be elected the next governor. raj and janelle? >> very good, john. we'll check in with you through the night. john cox, successful bumannd outsider to politics. >> at cox headquarters in san diego, mark, what's happening

where you are? >> janelle, we want to give you a behind the scenes look at john cox's election night headquarters. you can see all of the cameras lined up, the lights and the reporters out in front. earlier today, we caught up with john cox at the dmv office in clairmont. that's a little neighborhood to the north and east of downtown where we are right now. he was telling voters there that they should vote for him and he was telling reporters that he feels confident in how the election will turnout tonight. he believes he's going to win in spite of, as sam put it, him being behind by double digits in the polls. this is the headquarters where he will take the stage, win or lose tonight. interestingly enough, here at the gop headquarters in san diego, they have cnn up on the big screens. reporting from san diego, mark mathews, nbc bay area news. >> thanks, mark. in the u.s. senate race, californians are deciding whether to send a long-time incumbent back to washington, d.c. or change direction. kevin de leon is a senator who

wants dianne feinstein's seat. he cast his vote at a los angeles elementary school today. john dee leon won the endorsement of the democratic party. it briefly gave him momentum, but no big financial help. senator feinstein is running for a fifth term. she delivered her mail-in ballot at san francisco city hall yesterday. she said there is lots of work she still wants to do, starting with immigration reform. >> it's not just the people, it's the propositions. it is daunting for most voters to try and understand each prop, but there's a lot on the line. among the key propositions we're tracking, prop 6, that's repealing the gas tax that would end the 12 cent gas tax and vehicle registration increase approved just last year to fund road repairs. prop 10 is timely. it's all about rent control. a yes on 10 vote means state law would not limit rent control in cities and counties. instead, it would be up to local communities to determine their own rent control. we have a lot coming your way tonight. we'll be tracking the results

and trends for the next seven hours. from this moment on we are your place for national, state and local races. in about 20 minutes from now, lester holt will join us along with savannah guthrie and chuck todd. we will be back with you at 6:00. we'll have national and local results as we said through the night. we'll also be posting them at n nbcbayarea.com and of course throughout this newscast. >> still to come, people close their windows and stay inside. why this fire is proving tricky to fight. >> also a historic sign people were hoping to save goes missing in the south bay. where did it go? we're looking into that. >> i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. still heading out in the next couple hours to cast your vote? i'll have that forecast plus a brand-new red flag fire warning. details on that in about 7 minutes. our election coverage

continues. this is a peak time around the back to our election day coverage, this is peak time around the bay area. voters still going to the polls before the 8:00 p.m. closing time. >> while we wait for the results here in california to shake down, we're starting to get an idea of what's happening nationally. the balance of power in congress will be shaped in these next few hours. let's bring in chris chmura once again who is tracking some of these key races. florida, missouri, virginia, all part of the big three. >> fresh batch of numbers coming in from nbc news about the state of virginia. here are the projections we have

as of, what is it now, 8:05 doug kammerer 8:13 out there on the east coast. here's what nbc news is projecting about virginia. the democrats will keep the senate seat held by tim kaine, hillary clinton's running mate in the election 2016. democrats will win five house seats, an nbc news projection, house gop will win 4. not exactly a blue wave there. two other house seats too close to call in the state of virginia. remember, we have so much on the line here, the razor thin margins. the democrats, if they pick up 23 seats in the house, perhaps then that is the blue wave. but if they are short of that, then the gop will keep control of the u.s. house tonight. we will see. lots of votes still left to count. back to you guys. >> we'll see you back in a few minutes, chris. a fire in brisbane, it started more than 15 hours ago sending smoke billowing onto 101 and into neighboring cities. classes were actually canceled

at a nearby school. this is the recology plant. let's bring in nbc bay area's marianne fachl marianne favro with the latest. >> reporter: even though the fire started at 1:00 this morning, you can see smoke is still pouring out of this building. inside, a 25-foot-high pile of construction debris is burning. the firefighters are making progress. the fire is now 70% contained. stay indoors and stay away. that was the order as clouds of acrid smoke poured into southern san francisco and across highway 101 in brisbane today. the smoke was so bad, visitacion valley middle school released 400 students early. an employee at a nearby market said the smoke was so thick, he thought it was fog. >> my eyes were burning this morning when i opened up the store, and i could see the smoke inside the store. >> reporter: tonight that fire is still burning. a recology spokesperson said the fire doesn't involve paint or

aerosol cans. >> this is pretty clean material. it's 2 by 4s, 4 by 4s, sheetrock, and of course a lot of cardboard. >> reporter: the bay area air quality management district did issue an air quality advisory, saying the smoke may cau localized air quality issues. but the district does not believe that the air quality would exceed federal health standards today. and i checked with san francisco general hospital, and they told me that nobody came in to the emergency department today complaining of any health problems related to this smoke. also, i just got off the phone with firefighters and they tell me that they hope to contain this fire by 8:00 tonight. reporting live in brisbane, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. >> thanks, marianne, for the update. we have new video of a massive construction fire in oakland. oakland fire posted this body cam video to twitter. you can see flames shooting into the air.

embers falling right in front of fire crews. the fire happened last month at the residential complex. it was under construction near west grand avenue and fill bert street in oakland. atf investigators are calling this fire suspicious. san jose is losing its orchard supply stores, now it lost something else. the neon sign pointing to the oldest store in the city. that sign disappeared. preservationists say orchard supply sign is a big piece of san jose history, and they want it back. such knee on signs are highly collectable and they can bring money. getting the word out they hope will boost getting it back. >> like the old libby sign. >> i remember that. >> we have to get that back. >> every night with that time change, that 5:00 hour. >> beautiful night tonight if you're heading to cast your vote in the next couple hours, we

have you covered in our microclimate forecast. we'll start off with that tonight. and a beautiful shot of the american flag as we get a look. i don't really see any problems the next couple of hours. mostly clear skies by the bay. a cool 64 this hour, chilly 57 at 8:00 p.m. inland average of 74, but dropping down to 60 at 8:00. you need a jacket if you're heading out to vote the next couple of hours to be comfortable. keep it handy tomorrow morning. chilly weather across the bay. 40s across the tri-valley. not much fog. also need sunglasses on the morning commute. 49 in san francisco and the east bay at 48. i don't see a big change in temperatures through tomorrow. it will stay warm, feeling more like august to september across the bay area instead of november. low 80s in morgan hill and gilroy. get closer to the bay. we'll see a slight bay breeze 75 in cupertino. it is warm, low humidity, elevated fire danger throughout the east bay, inland valleys

with low 80s. look at this humidity down 15%, some very dry air in place. near the coast you still have a cool 66 in half moon bay. over to palo alto 78. san fr down to the ingles side. and it's warm as well in the north bay. 80 in ukiah, 79 in napa, and 75 in mill valley. now, through the day tomorrow we don't see a whole lot of wind, but once we hit thursday, here we go again. high pressure brings the warm air, then this little area of low pressure developing near nevada will help pull the air across california, another event of dry northerly and offshore winds as we head through thursday, even lingering into friday. so there's a newly issued red flag fire warning. it's the same thing we've had in all the recent events. it's for the northeast and parts of the south bay hills where we could get isolated wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour. so, again, 10:00 p.m. wednesday until 7:00 a.m. on friday, that will be in effect. my extended h saturday.

we're back to 60s this weekend in san francisco. also less wind for the inland valleys by saturday. we'll hav sunday, and still no rainfall in my seven-day forecast. we desperately need it. we're now running at least 1 inch behind for the rain. we are not in any kind of severe drought, but this is something that is going to be on our minds the next several weeks if we don't get a storm. >> we'll cross our fingers. thank you, jeff. up next at 5:00, facebook is taking more steps to make sure tonight's elections are not being influenced. we'll explain. tuesday. -- stay with us. here in the

a lot of energy around the unctn night, and we are in full swing here in

the bay area. take a look at this. this is a live look at a polling station in san jose. this is the registrar's office. you can see how long that line is, how important it is for so many people to get their votes in. a big thanks, by the way, to all the volunteers and staffers. polls close here in the bay area and california at 8:00. as for the national numbers, we'll have those latest results in just a few minutes. >> well, facebook took some extra steps ahead of this midterm election. the company announced last night it blocked more than 100 accounts. facebook says u.s. law enforcement found the accounts linked to foreign entities and they may be engaged in coordinated meddling in the election. facebook says it is also investigating. >> we have more national results in just a moment. stay with us. i am a family man. i believe the best technology should feel effortless.

like magic. at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome.

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okay, people can still vote here for 2 1/2 hours in california, but the polls have already closed on the east coast and other parts of the country. >> we're starting now to get a little indication of what's to come as things trickle west here. we're talking florida, georgia, missouri, all these bellwether states. let's bring in chris chmura now talking about the earlier results we're seeing. >> we have numbers fresh from the state of florida. specifically with the governor's race. several governors races around the country have the attention of pollsters and political analysts and florida is desantis who is the

with 49.8% of the vote, and andrew gillum who is the republican with 49% of the vote. there we are, razor thin 91% of the vote, in there still too close to call. another one to talk about is in the state of georgia. there we have the republican brian kemp and democrat stacey adams. 64% for the republican, 35% for the democrat, just 12% of the vote counted in that state. another one to watch throughout the night. back to you guys. >> okay, chris, we will see you tonight. we're keeping a close eye on the key races across the country and provide instant political analysis from dr. larry ger aniston, o -- gersten. all that and more on our 6:00 newscast. >> it may be only early november, but the state capital crews are already decking the halls. this huge white fir tree arrived in sacramento.

from redding, they escorted the tree on the journey to the capital. they will spend two days decorating the tree with thousands of lights. the tree will also feature ornaments made by developmentally disabled people. >> that is beautiful. i think i recall doing the same story last year, and it was cold, windy and rainy. >> oh, man. >> things have changed. >> not the case. this is good news for anyone that wanted to get out the last vote here. mostly clear skies tonight. temperatures in the 50s to 60s. you'll need a jacket if you are headed out to the polls. my extended forecast has some low 80s for the inland valleys wednesday and thursday. that is going to bring a fire danger on thursday with the new red flag fire warning for the hills a thousand feet and above and northeast in south bay. i think we'll have less in the way of wind this weekend. good news there. we'll drop down to some 70s. >> okay. we will finish up what we're doing here, send it out to new york, lester holt, savannah guthrie, chuck todd anchoring our national coverage.

>> we'll be back with local news and local races at 6:00. 8:30 in the east. this is election night. nothing short of control of congress at stake tonight. we'll see how they do. we have some calls to make. >> polls closed in arkansas. the governor's race there. nbc news projects that asa hutchinson will go on to victory. in ohio, too close to call. richard cordray and mike dewine. too close to call. georgice