The voting for the presidency began this morning in what has been a dead heat race between President Barack Obama and the former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney. When Tuesday morning broke, polling stations throughout the eastern United States and parts of the Midwest opened up, as the race to the White House nears its finish. 

While Americans began their trek to the voting booths, both of the candidates' campaign teams worked relentlessly in order to maximize their rate of approval.  A minimum of 120 million Americans are slated to be voting on Tuesday. The collective decision of those voters will ultimately set the pace for the county on important topics such as healthcare, taxes and foreign policy.

As per the tradition, the first results of the polls were added up in Dixville Notch and Hart's Location, N.H., just after midnight. Both Obama and Romney each racked up five votes in Dixville Notch. However, in Hart's Location, the President received 23 while the Republican got nine and Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson garnered two.

Polls will start to close in Indiana and Kentucky at 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday, while voting across the country will end over the next six hours.

Romney, the former head of a multi-million dollar private equity fund, would become the first Mormon president and one of the wealthiest individuals to be sworn into office if he were to prevail. However, if Obama were to garner a re-election into the White House, he'd be the first Democratic president to do so since Bill Clinton in 1996.

The tight race between Obama and Romney is strikingly similar to the 2000 election, which ended up being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Nonetheless, both of the campaigns have compiled legal teams to deal with any potential voting discrepancies, recounts or issues that may occur.

Tags: Presidential election 2012