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The first results in the US elections began to arrive on Wednesday morning after the polls closed in several states at midnight Irish time.
The predictable victories for each candidate were seen early on, with Trump taking Kentucky and West Virginia and Biden winning Virginia and Vermont.
Biden entered Election Day with multiple paths to victory, while Trump, catching up on various battle states, had a narrower but still doable path to garnering 270 electoral college votes.
Tennessee, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Alabama have been called up for Donald Trump, while Illinois, Delaware, Connecticut, Alabama, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island have been called up for Joe Biden, all of which were expected.
While Irish voters are used to days of waiting for election results due to the PR-STV (Proportional Representation via Single Transferable Vote) electoral system and know the dangers of over-interpreting early trends, here in the US It’s a different story.
Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to question the election results, arguing that the outcome could “change” after election night as more votes are counted. Due to the large number of early votes cast this year, a conclusive result may not be available for several days. . . or even weeks. Trump has already said: “as soon as the elections are over, we will go to our lawyers.”
Control of the Senate is also at stake. Democrats need to win three seats if Biden takes over the White House to take control of all of Washington for the first time in a decade. The House is expected to remain under Democratic control.
A new anti-scale fence has been erected around the White House, and in cities from New York to Denver to Minneapolis, workers plugged businesses in case the vote sparks riots.
Earlier Tuesday, Americans went to the polls to elect Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Joe Biden to lead a pandemic-ravaged nation for the next four years after a spiteful campaign that exposed the depth of political divisions in America. .
Trump faces a formidable challenge from Biden, a veteran politician who served as vice president for eight years under former President Barack Obama and who has successfully galvanized the Democratic Party behind him.
Tuesday’s elections are taking place in the unique context of a coronavirus pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 230,000 Americans and changed traditional ways of campaigning and voting. It was confirmed overnight that nearly 100 million Americans had already cast their vote, an unprecedented number that suggests this election could break turnout records.
In many ways, the election is a referendum on Trump, the political rookie who achieved a surprising victory against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton four years ago. Despite serving in office for nearly four years, the president has continued to present himself as a political outsider, working for ordinary Americans.
Supporters of US President Donald Trump speak with voters outside Chestnutwold Elementary School, a polling place in Admore, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Photo: Jennifer Huxta / Bloomberg
Closing argument
In his closing argument, Biden returned to his core electoral message that he can restore unity in a divided country. “Tomorrow we can end a presidency that has divided this nation. Tomorrow we can end a presidency that has failed to protect this nation. Tomorrow we can end a presidency that has fanned the flames of hatred across this nation, ”he said at a campaign event in Cleveland, Ohio, on Monday.
Although polls show that Biden is ahead nationally and in key states, Trump still has a path to victory. In a sign of the importance of Pennsylvania, a battleground state that Trump won by just 44,000 votes in 2016, both campaigns were deployed across the state on Monday, with the president holding a campaign event in his hometown. opponent, Scranton.
Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris held separate events in the state alongside music stars Lady Gaga and John Legend. With 20 electoral college votes, Pennsylvania is a must-win state for candidates seeking a path to the 270 electoral college votes needed to secure the presidency.
Trump has stepped up his attacks on the electoral system in recent days. Arriving in North Carolina on Sunday night, Trump declared that “as soon as the election is over, we will go with our attorneys.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed, without proof, that vote-by-mail ballots are subject to fraud. In recent days, he has also argued that only election night vote counts should be counted, although states have historically taken more time to finalize the counts. You have suggested that you could try to use the courts to stop the count.
A judge ordered the US Postal Service to sweep some mail processing facilities Tuesday afternoon for delayed ballots and send them immediately for delivery in key states like Pennsylvania and Florida, among other places. Meanwhile, the FBI was investigating a series of mysterious robocalls urging people to stay home on Election Day.
One voter, Monique King, a 54-year-old surgical technologist, headed straight to her polling place at a college basketball gym in Santa Monica, California, at 7 a.m. after finishing a 12-hour night shift at her hospital.
“I think the coronavirus was mishandled,” King said. “I think we have too many deaths. I can’t do another four years of Trump. . . Lie after lie after lie. “
In McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania, voters lined up, wrapped in jackets and hats on a cold morning.
“He’s a bit of an idiot, and I appreciate it,” Martin Seylar, a 45-year-old welder who had just finished his shift, said of Trump, his preferred candidate. “He doesn’t do everything he says, but the way I see it is that he’s trying, instead of everyone else fuming at us.”
Frenzied campaign
Trump, who seemed tired and hoarse after days of frenzied campaigning, predicted he would win during a phone interview on Fox News Tuesday morning.
“We have crowds that no one has ever had before,” said Trump, who has been criticized by Democrats for holding crowded demonstrations in defiance of social distancing recommendations. “I think that translates into a lot of votes.”
“I think we’re going to have a great night,” Trump said during a later appearance in Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington. He said that he was not yet thinking about making a concession speech or an acceptance speech.
Biden traveled to his Scranton birthplace on Tuesday morning. Speaking to a couple dozen volunteers using a megaphone, Biden returned to some of his familiar campaign themes, vowing to unite Americans and “restore basic decency and honor in the White House.”
Later he stopped at his childhood home, where he signed one of the walls of the living room, writing: “From this house to the White House with the grace of God. Joe Biden 3-11-2020 “.
Among the most controversial states expected to determine the outcome are Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona, and Georgia, and Democrats are hoping that Biden may even threaten Trump in states that once looked like Republican locks like Ohio, Iowa and Texas.
The pandemic, which has killed more than millions of people in the United States without work, ensured that Election Day felt far from normal, with poll workers and voters in masks and people several feet away. Experts predict that total votes could reach 160 million, surpassing the 138 million votes cast in 2016.
In anticipation of possible protests, some buildings and shops were also bricked up in Los Angeles and New York.
US stocks rose on Tuesday as investors bet Biden would prevail and usher in new stimulus spending.
Congress
Voters on Tuesday will also decide which political party will control the United States Congress for the next two years, with Democrats heavily favored to regain a majority in the Senate and retain control of the House of Representatives.
In addition to the pandemic, this year the country was also rocked by months of protests against racism and police brutality.
Trump has played down the pandemic, saying the country is “turning the corner” even as numerous states set records for new infections in a single day in the final days of the campaign.
The most followed results will begin to arrive after 7 pm EST, when the polls close in states like Georgia. But it may be days before the presidential result is known, especially given the massive increase in mail-in votes due to the pandemic.
Some crucial states, like Florida, start counting absentee votes before Election Day and could deliver results relatively quickly on Tuesday night. Others, including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, are prohibited from processing the vast majority of mail-in ballots until Election Day, increasing the possibility of a vote recount that could span multiple days. Additional reports: – Reuters
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