[ad_1]
Donald Trump admitted that losing the US presidency would not be “easy” as voters head to the polls in the closing hours of a historic election.
The Republican incumbent said he hadn’t yet thought of a concession or victory speech, while addressing party workers at its headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
Meanwhile, Democratic challenger Joe Biden returned to his home state of Pennsylvania in a last-ditch attempt to win over enough people to turn the state blue and garner his 20 electoral college votes.
He was optimistic about the prospect of success and wrote a note on the wall of the living room of the house in which he grew up in Scranton: “From this house to the White House with the grace of God.”
Speaking to reporters Tuesday in front of a Delaware community center, Biden also said that he is “superstitious” about offering predictions for election night, but that he remains “hopeful.”
“If there is something to talk about tonight, I will talk about it,” he said, “if not, I will wait until the votes are counted the next day.”
Americans now have only a few hours left to decide whether to re-elect Trump or make him the first president in a term since George HW Bush failed to win four more years in 1992.
Joe Biden returned to his childhood home
And in an attempt to defuse attempts to invalidate the result, a federal judge ordered the postal service to “sweep” the facilities to “ensure that ballots have not been delayed and that identified ballots are sent immediately for delivery.” .
But Trump continues to push hard not to extend the recount deadlines.
There are few hours until the polls begin to close
“You can’t delay these things for many days and maybe weeks, you can’t do that,” he said Tuesday.
“The whole world is waiting, this country is waiting but the whole world is waiting.
“A lot of mischief, a lot of bad things happen with the ballots when you say, ‘oh, let’s dedicate days and days.”
Looking at the result, he added: “I’m not thinking about the concession speech or the acceptance speech yet. Hopefully, we will only do one of those two.
“And you know, winning is easy, losing is never easy, not for me, it isn’t.”
Some stores in California, Washington DC and New York have been boarded up.
The first national exit poll appeared to favor Biden, showing that the proportion of white voters fell between 6% and 65% compared to 2016, while the number of college graduates of all races increased between 5% and 45%.
Thus, white voters with no college education were down 6% to 33% compared to the last election, which could be a problem for Trump given they were his main vote.
Earlier, First Lady Melania Trump cast her vote in Florida, another decisive state Republicans hope to keep but where former President Barack Obama held a final campaign rally last night to increase the pressure.
The first polls close at 7 p.m. (12 a.m. GMT), allowing the count to start quickly in battle states like Georgia, North Carolina and Ohio.
Shipping has already gone up to cover stores and offices in California, Washington DC and New York in the event of violence.
While all eyes will be on who gets the top job, other races will decide how freely the next president can act.
Democrats hope to increase their majority in the House of Representatives and change a minimum of three seats in the United States Senate to take control there.
