Donald Trump (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
Americans vote Tuesday in an election amounting to a
referendum on Donald Trump and his uniquely brash, bruising
presidency that Democratic opponent and frontrunner Joe Biden urged
supporters to end, restoring “our democracy.”
The United States is more divided and angry than at any time
since the Vietnam War era of the 1970s — and fears that Trump could
dispute the result of the election are only fueling those
tensions.
Despite an often startlingly laid-back campaign, Biden, 77,
leads in almost every opinion poll, buoyed by his consistent
message that America needs to restore its “soul” and get new
leadership in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic that has killed
more than 231,000 people.
“I have a feeling we’re coming together for a big win tomorrow,”
Biden said in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a vital electoral
battleground where he was joined by pop superstar Lady Gaga. “It’s
time to stand up and take back our democracy.”
But Trump was characteristically defiant to the end, campaigning
at a frenetic pace with crowded rallies in four states on Monday,
and repeating his dark, unprecedented claims for a US president
that the polls risk being rigged against him.
After almost non-stop speeches in a final three-day sprint, he
ended up in the early hours of Tuesday in Grand Rapids, Michigan —
the same place where he concluded his epic against-the-odds
campaign in 2016 where he defeated apparent frontrunner Hillary
Clinton.
Despite the bad poll numbers, the 74-year-old Republican real
estate tycoon counted on pulling off another upset.
“We’re going to have another beautiful victory tomorrow,” he
told the Michigan crowd, which chanted back: “We love you, we love
you!”
“We’re going to make history once again,” he said.
Packing Trump’s Bags
While Tuesday is formally Election Day, in reality Americans
have been voting for weeks.
With a huge expansion in mail-in voting to safeguard against the
Covid-19 pandemic, nearly 100 million people have already made
their choice.
Biden has the wind in his sails after indications that
Democratic enthusiasm in the early voting may be matching the more
visible energy at Trump’s impressive rallies.
In one of US history’s great political gambles, Biden stuck to
socially distanced gatherings with small crowds right up to the
last moment, in stunning contrast to Trump’s constant, large
rallies where few supporters so much as bothered with masks.
But the Democrat, making his third attempt at the presidency,
clearly senses that his calmer approach and strict attention to
pandemic protocols is what Americans want after four tempestuous
years.
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“It’s time for Donald Trump to pack his bags and go home,” Biden
told supporters in Cleveland.
“We’re done with the chaos! We’re done with the tweets, the
anger, the hate, the failure, the irresponsibility.”
In chilly downtown Pittsburgh, Justine Wolff said she had cast
her ballot for Biden already and was cautiously hopeful he would
carry Pennsylvania, which along with Florida may be the tightest of
all the swing states that decide close national elections.
“I hope that people have seen the writing on the wall,” said the
35-year-old nurse. “We need some kind of change because this isn’t
working for anybody.”
But where many early votes are believed to have been cast by
Democrats, Trump’s side is hoping for a massive wave of Republican
supporters voting in person on Tuesday.
“Whether he wins or loses, this is history,” said Kolleen Wall,
who turned out to cheer Trump in Grand Rapids. But “when you come
to one of these rallies, all you think is, how could he not
win?”
The first polling stations opening were in two New Hampshire
villages, Dixville Notch and Millsfield, starting at midnight. Most
polling stations on the East Coast were to open at 6:00 am or 7:00
am (1100 or 1200 GMT).
A tiny hamlet of 12 residents in the middle of the forest, near
the Canadian border, Dixville Notch has traditionally voted “first
in the nation” since 1960.
The vote took minutes, as did the count: five votes for Biden,
and none for Trump.
Warning of Violence
Trump himself is planning to visit his campaign headquarters in
Virginia on Tuesday, while Biden will travel to his birthplace of
Scranton, the scrappy Pennsylvania town where Trump also visited on
Monday.
There are worries that if the election is close, extended legal
chaos and perhaps violent unrest could ensue — not least because
Trump has spent months trying to sap public trust in the voting
process in a nation already bitterly divided along political fault
lines.
He ramped up these warnings in the final days, focusing
especially on Pennsylvania’s rule allowing absentee ballots
received within three days after Tuesday to be counted.
In a tweet flagged with a warning label by Twitter on Monday, he
said this would “allow rampant and unchecked cheating.”
“It will also induce violence in the streets. Something must be
done!” Trump tweeted.
Read more https://swordpress.com.ng/2020/11/03/us-votes-on-trumps-fate-under-threat-of-election-turmoil/