The US presidential campaign entered its final day yesterday with a last-minute scramble for votes by Donald Trump and Joe Biden, drawing to a close an extraordinary race that has put a pandemic-stricken country on edge.
But while campaigning will halt and voters will have their say today, many questions remain over how soon a result will be known due to a flood of mail-in ballots and possible legal challenges.
Those factors, along with an unprecedented convergence of social justice protests, coronavirus precautions and President Trump’s fear-mongering campaign, have led to apprehension over whether unrest could erupt.
Taking no chances, businesses in some cities have boarded up windows, while across the country the harsh political climate has led to fierce debate, in some cases even dividing families.
The Republican Trump trails Biden in national opinion polls ahead of today’s Election Day. But 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.
Trump, aiming to avoid becoming the first incumbent president to lose re-election since fellow Republican George HW Bush in 1992, were to hold five rallies yesterday in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.
He won those states in 2016 against Democrat Hillary Clinton, but polls show Biden is threatening to recapture all four for Democrats.
In a year that has seen much of American life upended by the coronavirus pandemic, early voting has surged to levels never before seen in US elections. A record-setting 94 million early votes have been cast either in-person or by mail, according to the US Elections Project, representing about 40% of all Americans who are legally eligible to vote.❐
