2020 U.S. election: Trump supporters with guns in front of the election authority in Arizona

Status: 1:32 pm | Reading time: 3 minutes

WSupporters of the president of the United States, Donald Trumps, have taken to the streets against a higher vote count after the elections. In the highly competitive states of Michigan and Arizona, they protested Wednesday in front of buildings where votes were counted.

Regardless of this, dozens of protesters in Detroit yelled “Stop the count!” And “Stop the voting!”, In Phoenix they chanted: “Stop the robbery!”

A large group of Trump supporters gathered Thursday night in front of a government building in Arizona, where votes are counted for the US presidential election.

Several of them had weapons such as automatic rifles, a correspondent for the CNN news channel reported in a live broadcast. Television footage showed several dozen people in the parking lot in front of the building in Maricopa County, which includes the city of Phoenix.

While Arizona’s count is in progress, the state’s eleven elected voters have already been beaten up against Democratic candidate Joe Biden by the AP news agency and Fox News. Other stations were still lagging behind. Biden leads by votes counted so far, but on Wednesday the lead narrowed temporarily. As it stands, Biden is also ahead in Michigan.

The Maricopa County Elections Office emphasized that vote counting would continue. Meanwhile, the building has been cordoned off and the journalists have had to leave. In Arizona it is legal to carry guns openly.

With the electorate in Arizona, Biden would only need one more state to win the presidential election. He also leads narrowly in Nevada and is catching up in Pennsylvania and Georgia. The count in the states could still take some time.

It’s true that, weeks and months before the election, Trump claimed without evidence that mail-in ballots are prone to fraud. But on election night he went one step further when he declared himself the winner beforehand without a proper basis and again said without explanation that there had been major problems with the casting and counting of votes, especially with the postal votes. His Republicans filed lawsuits in various states.

In Arizona, protesters were joined by Republican Congressman and Trump supporter Paul Gosar. “We will not allow this election to be stolen from us. Point. Meanwhile, protesters also yelled ‘Fox News sucks’, obviously angry that Trump’s favorite media outlet Joe Biden had declared the winner in Arizona. As protesters gathered outside the voting center in the Maricopa district, the tally It continued inside the building, even at night, which is not unusual. Several police officers blocked the entrance. Election watchers from Democrats and Republicans were inside, and the count was broadcast online at all times.

Compared to 2016, Biden was able to take back Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan from Trump and the Republicans. Now he only needs one more state to move into the White House.

also read

In other places there were protests from the opposite political side. In some cases, a full vote recount was called for, but other demonstrations also dealt with police violence and racism – the issue dominated in the US.

In Portland, Oregon, there was violence downtown, according to authorities, among other things, windows were smashed. Gov. Kate Brown asked the National Guard for help. It is important to trust the electoral process, he said. Even in times of major crisis, the system ensured that elections were free and fair.

Thousands of people took to the streets in New York City and Seattle to demand that all votes cast be counted. Addressing them, Biden made a promise: The count will continue everywhere, he emphasized Wednesday. “No one will take away our democracy, not now, ever.”