'Worried about crazies' Voters on edge in the bellwether county of Saginaw

They lined up in the dark and rain before the polling stations even opened across Saginaw, the bellwether county in the crucial battleground state of Michigan.

- Chris McGreal

Some just wanted to be able to vote and get to work on time. But there was also a determination among many people that, whatever issues they cared about, this election mattered more than most.

And Saginaw voters matter more than most too. The US's complex electoral system has created a battleground suite of seven states that will decide the election - with Michigan among them. Saginaw is one of the closest-fought patches of turf in Michigan.

From polling stations inside the Bethel AME church on the solidly Democratic east side of Saginaw city, one of the poorest areas of the county, to the wealthy Trump-supporting city of Frankenmuth, many voters saw themselves as turning out to protect their way of life at a time of deep national division in the US.

Among those who said they voted for Kamala Harris, the issue of women's rights after the supreme court overturned the constitutional right to abortion two years ago came up most often. Cheyanne Laux, who cast her ballot at the church, said it decided her vote.

"Trump obviously has proven in the past that he clearly doesn't have the rights of women in his mind. The abortion issue, that's the main thing for me, so voting Democratic lines up with keeping that right," she said.

Others who voted for Harris spoke about fear of the damage Donald Trump would do to democracy if he is returned to the White House.

For their part, supporters of Trump saw an existential threat to the US in what they regard as uncontrolled immigration and spoke about the former president as the man to bring back jobs to an area badly hit by the closure of car factories in recent years.

Tom Harris voted for Hillary Clinton and then Joe Biden at the last two elections. This year he cast his ballot for Trump.

Harris works at one of the few remaining car factories in Saginaw and is a long-term member of the United Auto Workers union.