WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Polls in US battleground states began to close Tuesday, inching the contest between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden to its nail-biting conclusion, following a race fought in unprecedented conditions of a global pandemic and the most deeply divided electorate in decades.
At 7:00 pm (0000 GMT), voting ended in Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia, Vermont and also Georgia, a formerly rock-solid Republican state that Biden’s Democrats hope to flip.
Parts of Florida – an even bigger electoral prize that routinely sees knife-edge elections – were also closing at 7:00 pm. Polls in the rest of the state and also in Pennsylvania, another ground zero in US presidential contests, were closing at 8:00 pm (0100 GMT).
What was not expected immediately was a definitive verdict on whether Trump gets another four years or Biden pushes him out of the White House.
Barring upsets in key states, that may not happen until all the swing states have counted their ballots – something that in the case of Pennsylvania could easily drag on at least into Wednesday.
Counting this year has been slowed by the unprecedented use of mail-in ballots in response to fears of the coronavirus. More than 100 million Americans had already cast votes before Election Day.
Trump, 74, expressed confidence as the evening approached, tweeting in all his characteristic all-caps “WE ARE LOOKING REALLY GOOD ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. THANK YOU!”
He was watching the results come in at the White House, surrounded by staff. It was not clear whether he’d speak to the public at some point but he said earlier Tuesday that he wasn’t yet “thinking about a concession speech or acceptance speech.”
“Winning is easy,” he said. “Losing is never easy – not for me.”
Biden, hunkered down with family at home in Delaware, likewise said that voter patterns during the day seemed to favor his side.
“What I’m hearing is that there’s overwhelming turnout. And overwhelming turnout particularly of young people, of women, and an overwhelming turnout of African American voters, particularly in Georgia and Florida, over the age of 65,” he told reporters.
“The things that are happening bode well for the base that has been supporting me.”
Trump has repeatedly refused to confirm he will accept the results of the election – a first for a US president. He argues, without offering proof, that the vast number of mail-in ballots could be used to rig the polls against him.
In the final run-up to Election Day, Trump focused especially on Pennsylvania, which allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted, even if they arrive afterward. — NNN-AGENCIES
