Oldest democracy wants to be counted
As Republicans and Democrats gird for a legal showdown, protesters supporting either side march, wanting to be heard
Dozens of angry supporters of President Donald Trump converged on vote-counting centres in Detroit and Phoenix as the returns went against him on Wednesday in the two key states, while thousands of anti-Trump protesters demanding a complete tally of the ballots in the still-undecided election took to the streets in cities across the United States.
“Stop the count!” the Trump supporters chanted in Detroit. “Stop the steal!” they said in Phoenix. The protests came as the president insisted without evidence that there were major problems with the voting and the ballot counting, especially with mail-in votes, and as Republicans filed suit in various states over the election.
Wearing Trump gear, the Phoenix protesters filled much of the parking lot at the Maricopa county election centre. Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican and staunch Trump supporter, joined the crowd, declaring: “We’re not going to let this election be stolen. Period.”
However, observers from both major political parties were inside the election centre as ballots were processed and counted, and the procedure was live-streamed online at all times.
Several sheriff’s deputies blocked the entrance to the building. And the vote-counting went on into the night, Maricopa county elections department spokeswoman Megan Gilbertson said.
Meanwhile, from New York City to Seattle, thousands of protesters turned out to demand that every vote be tallied.
In Portland, Oregon, which has been a scene of regular protests for months, Governor Kate Brown called out the National Guard as demonstrators engaged in what authorities said was widespread violence downtown, including smashing windows. Protesters in Portland were demonstrating about a range of issues, including police brutality and the counting of the vote.
“It’s important to trust the process, and the system that has ensured free and fair elections in this country through the decades, even in times of great crisis,” Brown said in a statement. “We are all in this together.”
In New York, hundreds of people paraded past boarded-up luxury stores on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, and in Chicago, demonstrators marched through downtown and along a street across the river from Trump Tower.
Similar protests — sometimes about the election, sometimes about racial inequality — took place in at least a half-dozen cities, including Los Angeles, Houston, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and San Diego.
Democrats and Republicans on the other hand, girded Wednesday for a legal showdown to decide the winner of the tight presidential race. After Trump declared overnight he was ready to go to the US Supreme Court to dispute the counting of votes, his campaign announced a demand for a recount in Wisconsin and lawsuits in Michigan and Pennsylvania, three states which each side needs to win the presidency.
Trump’s behaviour raised the spectre of the election ultimately being decided by a high court ruling on how states can tally votes or conduct recounts. But experts say such lawsuits are only practical if focused on a real problem and the divide between the two sides is narrow.