A tense vote count in the US presidential election got under way on Tuesday night as Donald Trump and Joe Biden started to notch expected state wins.
The president won Kentucky, which carried eight votes in the electoral college, and several other southern states, while Biden captured the safely Democratic state of Vermont and several others on the east coast. Results in the crucial battleground states were not expected for several hours at least.
From New York to Phoenix, from Detroit to Los Angeles, even as coronavirus cases surged in swing states, citizens waited patiently to determine whether Trump will serve a second term in the White House or make way for his Democratic challenger.
A record of more than 100 million people had voted early, with Democrats thought to have the edge, so Trump, a Republican, was relying on what he called a “red wave” on election day itself. Experts predicted the final total could be around 160 million, a turnout rate of more than two-thirds of the eligible voting population – the highest in more than a century.
Both candidates signaled confidence before polls closed on Tuesday night. Trump, the first impeached president to run for re-election, expressed faith that the size of his campaign rallies will prove a more reliable measure of support than conventional national polling, which has consistently shown Biden leading.
“We’re feeling very good,” Trump told the conservative Fox News channel, his voice sounding scratchy after holding 14 rallies in three days in a last-ditch campaign blitz. “We have crowds like nobody has ever had before. I think that translates into a lot of votes, and we’re going to see very soon.”
But the president sounded more downbeat during a visit to his campaign headquarters in Virginia. “I’m not thinking about concession speech or acceptance speech yet. Hopefully we’ll be doing only one of those two. And you know, winning is easy. Losing is never easy. Not for me, it’s not.”
Biden, who at 77 would be the oldest US president ever elected if he wins, visited his childhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He wrote in ink on the living room wall: “From this house to the White House with the Grace of God. Joe Biden 11.3.2020.”
He then made a last-ditch appeal to voters in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, grabbing a microphone and addressing an impromptu street gathering in Philadelphia.
“Trump’s got a lot of things backwards,” he said through a face mask. “If you elect me, I’m going to be an American president. There’s going to be no red states or blue states, just the United States of America.”
Later, back home in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden was asked about the destabilizing potential of Trump claiming victory prematurely.
Source: Elections - theguardian.com
