Too close to call
THE United States presidential race remained too close to call last night as President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden remained locked in a tight race, as millions of mailed ballots in key states were still to be counted.
Drama erupted late in the night (US time) when Mr Trump falsely claimed victory and said the result would be taken to the US Supreme Court, without specifying grounds.
‘‘This is a fraud on the American public,’’ the Republican leader told supporters in Washington, referring to uncounted postal ballots and the election’s uncertain outcome.
Polls have closed and voting has stopped across the country, but election laws in US states require all votes to be counted, and many states routinely take days to finish counting legal ballots.
‘‘We were getting ready to win this election,’’ Mr Trump said.
‘‘Frankly, we did win this election, so our goal now is to ensure the integrity . . . For the good of the nation, we want the law to be used in a proper manner.
‘‘So we’ll be going to the Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop.
‘‘We don’t want them to find any ballots at 4am in the morning and add them to the list. It’s a very sad moment.’’
‘‘As far as I’m concerned, we already have won it,’’ Mr Trump said.
Earlier, Mr Biden, the Democrat challenger, claimed ‘‘we’re on track’’ to win.
As the world watched on, Americans voted in record numbers to decide who would lead a divided country through a surging Covid19 pandemic, an economic downturn, and social turmoil.
Mr Trump led in most battleground states last night, but could not claim victory because of the unprecedented numbers of voters who posted their ballots rather than queue at crowded polling stations during an uncontrolled Covid19 outbreak.
That meant the most powerful country in the world might not confirm its next leader for another day, or possibly longer.
It also raised the likelihood of a messy legal battle over mailed votes.
‘‘We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election,’’ Mr Trump tweeted earlier in the evening from the White House.
His tweet was quickly flagged as misleading by Twitter, and then deleted.
‘‘We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the
Poles [sic] are closed!’’
The mailed ballots were expected to favour Mr Biden.
Mr Biden was behind last night in the battleground states of Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Michigan but led in Arizona.
‘‘We feel good about where we are, we really do,’’ Mr Biden told supporters in his home state of Delaware last night.
‘‘We believe we are on track to win this election.
‘‘We knew because of the unprecedented mailin vote, it was going to take a while. We’re going to have to be patient.’’
Most of Mr Trump’s supporters were expected to have voted on election day, while more than half of Mr Biden’s supporters cast their vote in the mail.
That meant the most polarising election in a generation was extended into a second day — and likely longer — as states’ differing policies on votecounting delayed a conclusive result.
The presidency was likely to be won or lost in four states, according to CNN — Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
The United States’ inability to immediately choose its next leader was mostly down to states’ varied approaches to counting mailin ballots.
Florida and North Carolina were able to begin counting mailed votes weeks before election day.
Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, on the other hand, made a decision not to count mail ballots before election day.
All of these swing states have Republicanled legislatures.
They warned last night they would need at least a day to count the votes, and Michigan said it would need until Friday (US time).
Americans made their choices as the nation faced a confluence of historic crises with each candidate declaring the other fundamentally unfit to navigate the challenges.
Daily life has been upended by the coronavirus, which has killed more than 232,000 Americans and cost millions of jobs.
Voters put aside worries about the virus — and some long lines — to turn out in person, joining 102 million fellow Americans who voted days or weeks earlier, a record number that represented 73% of the total vote in the 2016 presidential election.
After the first polls closed, Mr Biden picked up expected wins in Democraticleaning states: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.
Mr Trump also claimed predictable victories in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wyoming, Indiana and South Carolina.
The most tense early battle was in Florida, where the vote seesawed between the two presidential candidates before Mr Trump pulled away, a lead credited to stronger than expected support among Hispanic voters.
The state was a crucial part of keeping Mr Trump’s reelection bid alive. Mr Biden had other pathways to victory even if he lost Florida.
Texas, which has been Republican since 1976, leaned towards Mr Biden in early counting but was eventually back in Mr Trump’s hands.
The two candidates earlier spent the day thanking supporters.
Mr Trump predicted a ‘‘tremendous’’ night while visiting his campaign headquarters.
Mr Biden visited his childhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and signed his name on the wall with the message: ‘‘From this house to the White House with the grace of God.’’
But for all the positivity of vast numbers of Americans carrying out their simple act of democracy, the country was braced last night for far more turbulent days ahead.
A 2.5m ‘‘unscalable’’ fence had been erected around the White House on Monday night, similar to the ones put in place during heated antiracism protests over the summer.
The scene was repeated in other cities across the United States. Some National Guard units were on standby.
In Washington, police said demonstrations were expected whatever the outcome. —