Trump, Biden hit crucial states
With early voter turnout setting a record and US business districts boarding up for fear of Election Day unrest, President Donald Trump and his rival Joe Biden stumped on the campaign s last day on Monday in states expected to decide who wins.
Trump seeks to avoid becoming the first incumbent president to lose re-election since fellow Republican George HW Bush in 1992.
The race in swing states is seen as close enough that Trump could still piece together the 270 votes needed to prevail in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the winner.
In a year upended by the coronavirus pandemic, early voting has surged to levels never before seen in US elections. A record-setting 95 million early votes have been cast either inperson or by mail, according to the US Elections Project.
A day before Election Day, the record-breaking number is equal to 69% of the entire voter turnout for the 2016 election and represents about 40% of all Americans who are legally eligible to vote.
That unprecedented level of early voting includes 60 million mail-in ballots that could take days or weeks to be counted in some states, meaning a winner might not be declared after polls close on Tuesday night.
Twitter said on Monday it would attach a warning label to any tweets, including those from candidates, that claim an election win before either state election officials or national news outlets do so.
In a sign of how volatile the election could be, buildings in several cities were boarded up, including along several blocks around the White House and in New York City including the iconic Macy s flagship.
The famed shopping destination of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills will be closed down on Tuesday, police said.
Federal authorities planned to extend the perimeter fencing around the White House by several blocks, encompassing the same area fenced out during this summer s protests against racism and police brutality, according to US media.
Trump wrapped up his campaign in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the same place he concluded his 2016 presidential run with a post-midnight rally on Election Day.
Biden, running mate Kamala Harris and their spouses spent most of Monday in Pennsylvania, splitting up to hit all four corners of a state that has become vital to the former vicepresident s hopes.
Biden has wrapped up the campaign on the offensive, travelling almost exclusively to states that Trump won in 2016 and criticising the president s response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has dominated the race.
Biden accuses Trump of giving up on fighting the pandemic, which has killed more than 230,000 Americans and cost millions of jobs. Polls show Americans trust Biden more than Trump to fight the virus.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases expert, has said the first doses of an effective Covid-19 vaccine will likely become available in December/ January.—