The US election saw more than 150 million Americans cast their ballots, some by mail, some waiting in long lines, and then endure a tense wait. There were bound to be quirky moments, some inspiring, some cringeworthy, some simply absurd. Here we pick the good, the bad and the ridiculous.
Good
Lady Gaga may have campaigned with Joe Biden on election day on Tuesday, but Lizzo reached for the stars – and stripes. The music phenom made a powerful post to Instagram, standing majestically in the altogether, only partially draped in Old Glory.
She implored her fans to vote and expressed her optimism that a country rife with inequality and injustice can nevertheless be better. “When I think of this country I don’t think of its laws I think of its people. I think about how we were raised to be patriotic of violence, propaganda & war,” she wrote.
“I think about how this country is owned by the oppressor and how the oppressed are locked in a valley of capitalism. But I also think of the young people who refuse to be spoon fed mistruths. I think of the elders who bucked against hateful prejudices even when it felt impossible. Because of you, I’m still hopeful.”
She added: “I believe in restoration of this beautiful land and respecting the communities of people who owned America before colonizers renamed it. I believe in fairness, equality…I believe in so much…we the people, all the people deserve it.”
Bad
The White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, apparently lived up to her internet-anointed nickname, KayLIE, on Wednesday after posting a tweet that prematurely said Donald Trump had won Pennsylvania, while the swing state had not been declared and was still counting votes into Thursday night.
McEnany’s tweet, which read “VICTORY for President @realDonaldTrump in PENNSYLVANIA”, was subsequently flagged by Twitter with a disclaimer warning that “official sources may not have called the race”.
And during a Fox News interview on Wednesday night, McEnany made a false claim about Pennsylvania votes when asked about Trump’s opposition to counting ballots that arrive within three days of election day. (In Pennsylvania, mail-in ballots that are cast by election day, and received by Friday, get counted.)
“They want to count ballots that come in three days after. We have election days in this country for a reason, because votes are counted on Election Day,” the Washington Post reported her saying.
“But Kayleigh, we always have had provisional ballots and military ballots – things that get counted later,” one of the Fox News hosts, Martha MacCallum, responded.
Ridiculous
In Arizona, a false conspiracy theory emerged that ballots filled out with Sharpie felt-tip marker pens handed out at polling places were disqualified, mysteriously harming only Trump.
The controversy was quickly nicknamed Sharpiegate and its basis is not true, the Arizona Republic explained.
The incorrect idea behind it was that the ink would bleed through the paper and prevent a machine from reading it.
But election officials said that scanning machines could read blue or black ink, as well as marker pens, which in fact were used to prevent ink-related issues, Maricopa county explained.
“Did you know we use Sharpies in the Vote Centers so the ink doesn’t smudge as ballots are counted onsite? New offset columns on the ballots means bleed through won’t impact your vote!” they tweeted, with a video explainer.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
