Democratic candidate Joe Biden have nearly confirmed the US election 2020 after surging a lead in two of the central swing states Pennsylvania and Georgia. Mr Biden has surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House once the results are certified.
Nonetheless, Donald Trump refuses to give in, asserting that Democrats are stealing the votes and he would approach the Supreme Court amid petitions for recount in several states. However, the apex court seems reluctant for an intervention in the counting, adding fear to the Republicans.
With the ongoing votes counting on one side, there have been many protests that have taken place. Pro-Trump protestors created a Facebook page which was later shut down because of false election claims.
In a short interview with The Stars, Karen Mahabir, fact check and misinformation editor for The Associated Press, when asked about the US election and misinformation landscape at the moment, she responded there are lot of information focusing on on the ballots and the voting process — ballot boxes being removed, states that changed names from one candidate or another, none of which is true. She said social media platforms are doing their best to guide people to accurate information, while putting their efforts to curb misinformation. Furthering adding she told lots of false claims would be surfaced focusing on the states that are still counting the votes and all of this is typical.
In Minneapolis, protesters blocked a freeway, prompting arrests. In Portland, lots gathered on the waterfront to protest against the president’s tried interventions and insisted all the votes be counted. A separate crew opposed the police and urging racial justice surged via downtown, smashing store domestic home windows and confronting enforcement officers and National Guard troops.
In Phoenix, a few hundreds of pro-trump protestors, most of them armed, gathered outside the country recorder’s administrative centre, a location closely watched, rely on the votes, which will aid to figure out the penalities of the election, as soon as it was conducted.
In a critical blow in the US Presidential Elections 2020, Mr Trump’s marketing campaign misplaced court docket rulings in the closely-contested states of Georgia and Michigan on Thursday, even as it vowed to convey a new lawsuit challenging what is referred to as vote casting irregularities in Nevada.
Swing states and results
Nevada: As of Friday, Mr Biden has 632,558 votes while Mr Trump has 609,901 votes; a slight lead of over 30,000 votes. According to Officials, there are tens of thousands of votes remaining. Many are from Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, and the majority of them are postal ballots.
Arizona: Democrats lead with over 36,000 votes, around 2 lakh votes are remaining, including the late mail votes to be counted as on Friday. However, there’s uncertainty as the late mail votes are yet to be counted. These ballots typically tilt towards Democratic; however this year they may not.
Pennsylvania: Mr Biden holds the lead. The votes to be counted are absentee ballots in Philadelphia, the state’s largest city, and Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh, counties won by Hillary Clinton in 2016, so then it is likely in favour of Democratic. Friday was the last day that Pennsylvania can accept mail-in ballots postmarked on or before Election Day. State officials have said it could take more days to complete the count.
Georgia: This may shock people. Mr Trump has a 2-point lead with more than 90 per cent of votes counted; however, there’s a lot of Democratic votes left in the Atlanta area. It may be sufficient for Mr Biden to be back on track. Mr Biden holds a slim lead of over 1,500 votes, which is why the state is going for a recount as per Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican. According to the law of Georgia, recounting is allowed if the margin of victory/loss is less than 0.5 per cent.
Mr Trump demands recounts in Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, all of which Mr Biden is winning by less than a 1 per cent margin.
The law for recount is different for each swing states; however, even if recount occurs chance for a massive difference is very narrow. This means Mr Biden can now relax and wait for the official announcement. Even if Mr Biden lose two or three states in the recount, the margin in Arizona and Nevada acts as a cushion and will be sufficient to put him in the top.
Though the announcement of results may delay considering that states are given up to 20 days for recounting and certify, Independent media houses have started hailing Mr Biden’s victory.
Mr Trump’s legal challenge questioning the validity of mail-in ballots, alleging malfeasance in their late arrival and counting, is the string of hope he is having right now.
Although most US states permit digital methods, paper ballots are the norm throughout the country. Ahead of counting comes processing, which entails checking signatures, verifying documentation, and possibly even scanning the ballots.
Counting votes is a separate, and later, process. Each country has its very own date for beginning in-person or mail-in voting, the cut-off date for receiving the mail-in ballots, processing the ballots, and tabulating votes.
US election 2020 has and is witnessing a true swap of politics and the power possed by the people. The coming days will confirm Mr Biden’s presidential victory in the world oldest democracy.
