Trump claims ‘fraud’ in electoral process as Biden inches ahead, to move SC; results of neck-&-neck fight to take time as counting of record number of mail-in-ballots going on
The race for the White House appears to be headed towards an uncharted territory with the Trump and Biden campaigns gearing up for a protracted legal battle in the US Supreme Court as the election results in some of the key battleground States like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan still being counted.
All eyes are now on States like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia. Counting of mail-in-ballots, which was voted in record numbers this time, might take time.
Officials in Pennsylvania said on Wednesday that they expect all votes to be counted by Friday. The Biden campaign believes that they have a definitive edge on this, while the Trump campaign fears that there could be electoral malpractice during the counting of votes. “We want the law to be used in a proper manner so we’ll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We don’t want them to find any ballots at 4:00 in the morning,” President Donald Trump said to his supporters at the White House in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Earlier, Trump claimed victory in the election and called it “a fraud on the American public” and said, “Frankly, we did win this election.”
He also said he planned to take the battle to the Supreme Court to stop the counting of votes. “All of a sudden everything just stopped. This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election,” Trump said, without citing any evidence of a fraud in the electoral process.
According to latest projections, Trump is set to win 213 electoral college votes while his Democratic rival Joe Biden is projected to have taken a lead with 238 electoral college votes. Either of them needs at least 270 electoral college votes to be declared as the winner. Counting of votes have resumed in the battleground States.
In his brief remarks in Delaware, Biden said, “We knew because of the unprecedented early vote and the mail in vote that it’s gonna take a while. We’re gonna have to be patient until we —the hard work of tallying votes is finished. And it ain’t over till every vote is counted. Every ballot is counted.” Biden said.
Both the sides firmly believe that they are the winner.
“I’m here to tell you tonight, we believe we’re on track to win this election,” Biden said.
Mainstream American media reported that it might take days before the winner is known. “A sense of uncertainty-and fear-crept into the minds of voters on either side of the political divide,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
“The morning after a chaotic, suspenseful Election Day, Americans awoke on Wednesday to the spectre of hours or even days of uncertainty ahead, as several states counted millions of ballots in razor-thin contests that could tip the balance to President Trump or former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr,” The New York Times reported.
“The nation awoke to uncertainty Wednesday, with no winner in the bitter presidential contest. Democratic nominee Joe Biden urged patience even as President Trump prematurely declared victory before millions of votes were counted in key states,” The Washington Post reported.
Democrats, the newspaper said, failed to reap the decisive national repudiation of Trump that Biden had sought, arguing that the president has mismanaged the deadly coronavirus pandemic and cleaved the country with racially divisive rhetoric. “Democrats also sustained unexpected losses to their majority in the House and faced diminished prospects to take control of the Senate, despite expectations,” it said.
The Washington Post alleged that Trump broke democratic norms by asserting that he had already won, despite the paths to victory that remain for Biden.
“He claimed he will ask the Supreme Court to intervene in the election process, saying that voting must stop and falsely claiming that by continuing to count votes already cast, the Democrats would be stealing the election. Polls have closed, and no more votes are being cast, only tallied,” the daily said.
Disappointed Democrats drove toward extending their control of the House of Representatives for two more years but with a potentially shrunken majority as they lost at least seven incumbents and failed to oust any Republican lawmakers in initial returns.
By midmorning on Wednesday, Democrats’ only gains were two North Carolina seats vacated by GOP incumbents after a court-ordered remapping made the districts more Democratic. Though they seemed likely to retain control of the House of Representatives, their performance was an unexpected disappointment for the party, which hoped for modest gains of perhaps 15 seats.
Thursday, 05 November 2020 | PTI | Washington
