The Latest on Britain's Brexit general election (all times local):
9:15 p.m.
Polls close in less than an hour in Britain’s general election, where voters are deciding which party will form a government and try to break the country’s political deadlock over Brexit.
A sign hangs from a tree as rain falls outside a polling station at Merry Bells Village Hall in Wheatley, near Oxford, England, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. Voting was underway across the U.K. Thursday as voters were deciding who they want to resolve the stalemate over Brexit in a parliamentary election seen as one of the most important since the end of World War II. (AP PhotoMatt Dunham)
Some 46 million people are eligible to vote in the country’s first December election since 1923. Thursday's vote came amid rounds of blustery weather.
Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson is hoping to win a majority of the 650 seats in the House of Commons so he can lead the U.K. out of the European Union on Jan. 31 as promised.
The main opposition Labour Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, is promising a new referendum on Brexit.
A polling station signpost lies on the pavement as voters approach a polling station in Twickenham, England, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. British voters are deciding who they want to resolve the Brexit conundrum in an election seen as one of the most important since the end of World War II. (AP PhotoFrank Augstein)
An exit poll will be released when polls close at 10 p.m. (2200 GMT). Ballots will be counted throughout the night, with most results declared by Friday morning.
3 p.m.
Britain's general election is going to the dogs.
A woman leaves a polling station after voting in Twickenham, England, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. British voters are deciding who they want to resolve the Brexit conundrum in an election seen as one of the most important since the end of World War II. (AP PhotoFrank Augstein)
Voters on Thursday took their pooches to polling stations up and down the country.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the Conservative Party set the tone early when he took his Jack Russell cross Dilyn with him as he voted in London.
The city's mayor, Sadiq Khan of the Labour Party, followed Johnson's lead, posting a video of himself and his dog Luna at a polling station and urging people to vote.
By early afternoon, the hashtag #dogsatpollingstations was trending on Twitter.
11 a.m.
People in Oxford could have brought their dirty laundry with them as they cast their vote in Britain's general election.
That's because the Ace Launderette in the English university city was pressed into service as a polling station. Thursday's early election was called by Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a bid to break the country's Brexit stalemate.
There were plenty of odd polling locations throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In the town of Hampshire, voters could also check out the automobiles for sale at the Petersfield Used Car Centre. And in the West Midlands town of Dudley, a converted shipping container was turned into a voting booth.
In addition to traditional polling stations at churches and schools, many picturesque pubs also served as voting centers.
7 a.m.
Britons who have endured more than three years of wrangling over their country’s messy divorce from the European Union are cast ballots in an election billed as a way out of the Brexit stalemate in this deeply divided nation.
Braving blustery rain, voters went to polling stations Thursday in schools, community centers, pubs and town halls after a five-week campaign rife with mudslinging and misinformation.
The contest pits Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who says he will take Britain out of the European Union by Jan. 31, against the opposition Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn, who has promised another referendum on Brexit.
All 650 seats in the House of Commons are up for grabs in the election. Opinion polls suggest the Conservatives have a lead over Labour. But all the parties are nervous about a volatile electorate fed up after years of Brexit wrangling.
Follow AP’s full coverage of Brexit and British politics at https://www.apnews.com/Brexit