There are no adjectives to describe what happened on Tuesday night, at least none that seem appropriate for an election result as unfathomable as what transpired.

American voters were presented with a choice: Hillary Clinton, a candidate with a lengthy record of governance and a history-making story arc, but who also was distrusted and disliked, predominantly for her handling of email; and Donald Trump, who defied every norm in politics, was openly misogynistic and contemptuous of minority groups, played to the worst of our social instincts, and spoke cavalierly of nuclear war.

The FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies are examining faked documents aimed at discrediting the Hillary Clinton campaign as part of a broader investigation into what U.S. officials believe has been an attempt by Russia to disrupt the presidential election, people with knowledge of the matter said.

U.S. Senator Tom Carper, a Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, has referred one of the documents to the FBI for investigation on the grounds that his name and stationery were forged to appear authentic, some of the sources who had knowledge of that discussion said.

A senior adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign says the GOP nominee's operation has three "voter suppression" drives intended to lower the vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton and provide a path to victory for Trump.

The three efforts are mentioned by the senior adviser in an interview with BloombergBusinessweek.

“We have three major voter suppression operations under way,” the unidentified senior official told Bloomberg.

Perhaps some of those who believed America was headed toward a “libertarian moment” are surprised by the steady decline of Gary Johnson’s support, or blame his gaffes and general demeanor of a distracted stoner for ruining a huge opportunity. But minor-party candidacies usually lose ground the closer one gets to an election, especially a relatively competitive two-party election where a “protest vote” seems unwise.

The fade itself is hard to doubt. In the RealClearPolitics polling averages, the Johnson-Weld ticket peaked at 9.2 percent on September 13. Now they are at 5.6 percent. Given the current trajectory, and the intensification of major-party campaigning, it appears likely Johnson will wind up with less than half of his peak support. It is also possible, though not likely, that Clinton will blow out to so large a lead in the last week or so that “wasted vote” fears will abate and the libertarians will stabilize or even re-grow their vote.