DEMOCRACY FROM AFAR

Americans march to the polls on 3 November in what is seen as the most divisive of the presidential elections in recent history.

On that day, they will not be choosing just between extending Donald Trump’s reign as king of the world, and correcting the anomaly of 2016 that made Trump a king in his mind. There will be a lot of issues, most of them unanswered, that will weigh on Trump’s shoulders when he is judged for the first four years as the leader of the world’s most powerful country.

But this is an extraordinary event borne out of extraordinary circumstances in these extraordinary times.

The long queues to the booths have started since last week when more Americans finally wanted themselves to be counted.

This is not what Trump had wanted. He had even pushed the postponement of the polls. The date of the elections is not written in the US Constitution. But the US presidential choice is always held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

It is viewed as an indirect admission that he no longer holds the advantage — which he also gained quite late but still timely — against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate he beat through the quirks of the US electoral college system that sometimes gives the presidency to the candidate even if he was not able to get the popular vote. Trump was the fifth US president in US history who did so. There are currently 538 electors in total, corresponding to the 435 members of the US Congress and 100 senators, plus the three additional electors from the District of Columbia. No federal official, elected or appointed, can be an elector. The candidate with the most electors wins all the state’s electoral college votes and the first candidate to win enough states to get to 270 electoral votes is elected to that office.

The quirks of this system seem to have turned the tide against Trump. Unlike in 2016, more American voters have shown up at the booths to make their voices heard.

And they were mostly young, determined, idealistic, full of purpose and black.

Students, fraternities and sororities have linked arms to make themselves felt at the polling precincts. They had failed Hillary Clinton before; they will not fail Joe Biden now.

“The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.” These words from the late local congressman John Lewis have reverberated in recent days in campuses, organizational meetings, and in cafes and bars, which are partially open amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which Trump does not seem to have a clear answer to but just denial.

Weeks ago, Trump was a victim of his own foolishness. He caught the virus, which he had brushed off like a mere nuisance before.

In the end, Trump is no longer battling just Biden, the Democratic candidate who is a former US Vice President.

He is also up against the virus, the growing dissent from the colored community, the immigrants, the Black Lives Matter movement, a limping economy, etc. Now, that nonviolent tool of their vote is being used by the American people to change their course. And once again, those words from Lewis, who was beaten while marching for equal rights in Alabama in the 1960s until he became among Georgia’s most respected politicians — he died on 17 July 2020 — is heard by the American people, especially blacks, with a purpose.

“Souls to polls,” they tweeted and retweeted as they lined for what they now call as an “honor” of voting.

Since 12 October when the precincts opened, it is estimated that more than 50 million have cast their ballots already.

Estimates from the US Elections Project point to a record 150 million ballots, representing 65 percent of eligible voters, for this election. That’s a big jump from the 55.5 percent turnout in 2016. The last time 65 percent of Americans voted was in 1904.

Elsewhere, the Americans were humored for the long lines that made some voters wait for 11 hours before they were able to cast their ballots. Only that they are no longer laughing. Some ballots were literally sealed by their tears as they regained the honor they felt they’ve lost in the past by rejoining the process.

That’s how democracy works. It’s lost when one does not value it.

The world has a lot to learn from the American people. Humor aside.

“Some ballots were literally sealed by their tears as they regained the honor they felt they’ve lost in the past by rejoining the process.

“This is not what Trump had wanted. He had even pushed the postponement of the polls.