America’s future in the balance
Trump still cagey about accepting election defeat
AMERICA’S future hung in the balance last night as millions of eager voters cast their ballots to either elect Democrat Hillary Clinton as their first woman president, or hand power to the billionaire populist Donald Trump.
As the world held its collective breath, Americans were called to make a historic choice between two radically different visions for the most powerful nation on Earth.
While Clinton had a slim lead in polls, no one was ruling out a victory by her Republican rival Trump.
Katie Kope, 19, a first-time voter in Staten Island, New York, was jubilant after casting her ballot for Trump and his promise to reclaim power from a corrupt Washington elite.
“I was kind of torn between the two, but I don’t trust Hillary, so that’s what it came down to,” Kope said.
An hour’s drive north, a crowd of admirers chanted “Madam President” as Clinton and husband Bill voted near their home in Chappaqua.
“I’m so happy, I’m just incredibly happy,” a beaming Clinton said as she emerged, shaking hands, mingling and chatting with the crowd.
“I know how much responsibility goes with this,” the 69-year-old former secretary of state said.
“So many people are counting on the outcome of this election, what it means for our country, and I’ll do the very best I can if I’m fortunate enough to win.”
A few hours later it was Trump who rolled up to his voting station in Manhattan, casting his ballot alongside wife Melania in a school gymnasium.
“Right now it’s looking very good,” he told reporters -- paying no heed to the crowd of protesters who welcomed him with chants of “New York hates you!”
A polling average by tracker site RealClearPolitics gave Clinton a 3.3-percentage point national lead, but Trump is closer or even has the advantage in several of the swing states that he must conquer to pull off an upset.
In must-win Florida, Clinton was already assured of the vote of Leonor Perez, 74, who cast her ballot in the Cuban enclave of Hialeah near Miami.
“I voted for Hillary because it’s time for a woman to wear the pants in this country,” Perez said.
Clinton urged the country on Monday to unite and vote for “a hopeful, inclusive, big-hearted America”.
Trump pressed his message with voters who feel left behind by globalisation and social change, wrapping up with a flourish on his protectionist “America first” platform.
“Just imagine what our country could accomplish if we started working together as one people, under one God, saluting one American flag,” he told cheering supporters in Michigan.
In a kick-off midnight vote, the residents of tiny Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, cast their traditional first-innation ballots with a total of eight votes – Clinton getting four, Trump two, and two votes going to others.
Trump has repeatedly claimed the Democrats and the media are seeking to rig the race and said last month he may not concede defeat if he thought voting was unfair.
Asked at his voting location whether he would concede if networks call the election for Clinton, Trump said: “We’ll see what happens.”
Clinton has pushed a more optimistic vision, despite a wobble in recent weeks when the FBI reopened an investigation into whether she had put US secrets at risk by using a private e-mail server – only to close the probe again on Sunday.
In a radio interview on the last night of the campaign, she said the matter was behind her, and she courted voters at her final rallies in Philadelphia with President Barack Obama and rocker Bruce Springsteen, and in North Carolina with pop diva Lady Gaga.
Trump concluded a last-gasp tour of swing states by painting his rival as a corrupt creature of a discredited elite.
Voters are also electing the entire 435-member House of Representatives, and candidates for 34 seats in the 100-member Senate, where Democrats are seeking to snatch control back from Republicans. – AFP