Wild swings are expected in the early hours because of the split between mail in voting and final day numbers…reports Nikhila Natarajan
Combo photo shows U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump attend their respective events on different occasions. (Xinhua/IANS)
In the first results of the US presidential 2020 election, President Donald Trump has won West Virginia and Kentucky, while Vermont has gone into his Democratic rival Joe Biden’s column.
Kentucky has 8 electoral votes, Vermont 3 and West Virginia 5. Florida and Georgia maps have begun lighting up as results pour in.
Wild swings are expected in the early hours because of the split between mail in voting and final day numbers.
Early votes are projected to generally favour Biden, final day numbers are likely to be strong for Republicans.
The Associated Press (AP) and television networks have both called Vermont.
The AP has declared Trump the winner of Kentucky and West Virginia as soon as polls closed in the states.
Biden’s victory in Vermont is on expected lines as Democrats have kept the state in their column since 1992.
Hillary Clinton got a huge win here in 2016.
Trump won West Virginia by 42 points in 2016 and Kentucky by nearly 30 points.
All results so far are aligned with 2016 patterns.
E-commerce giant Amazon could start a new delivery business to serve rural communities in the US, thereby reducing dependence on the US Postal Service, The Information reported.
While Amazon has not confirmed the news yet, The Information report on Monday detailed the requirement of some job postings that have since been deleted.
These now deleted job postings described “a new delivery business … that will support Amazon’s rural communities.”
The report comes at a time when Amazon is investing heavily in warehouses and logistics network.
On the company’s third quarter earnings call last week, Amazon’s chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky said that the company expects to grow its fulfillment and logistics network square footage by approximately 50 per cent this year, which includes significant additions to its fulfillment centers, as well as its transportation facilities.
The potential start of a new service by Amazon for rural communities in the US could affect the revenue of the US Postal Service.
The Washington Post reported in September that the postal service delivered 1.54 billion Amazon packages in fiscal year 2019 — nearly 30 per cent of the e-commerce giant’s total volume last year.
Without confirming or denying The Information report, an Amazon spokesperson told The Verge that the company’s “incredible employees and partners come together to deliver for our customers — every day and throughout the holiday season. This includes offering fast, free and convenient delivery options for customers provided by our transportation partners, and our internal delivery teams.”
Trump, Biden trade early jabs in first presidential debate.
Until 1937, US Presidents were inaugurated in March rather than in January after the election, mainly because vote counting took that long…reports Nikhila Natarajan
Sure, it could happen. We may not know the Donald Trump versus Joe Biden result on the night of November 3. Here’s the thing. It’s not bizarre, it’s happened before and 2000 is not the only time.
But let’s begin there. America got to know the winner of the 2000 election only on December 12, a full month after the election. The US Supreme Court ruled that Florida must stop counting votes and called the election for George W Bush versus Al Gore.
Until 1937, US Presidents were inaugurated in March rather than in January after the election, mainly because vote counting took that long.
During the 1918 Spanish flu, elections were held but those were the midterms, not the presidential election.
The 1800 election pitting John Adams against Thomas Jefferson happened over the course of nine long months, according to historians’ retelling of American history.
In terms of clock time alone, nine months is exactly how long it has been since the Donald Trump White House first got to know about the coronavirus pandemic. More than 231,000 Americans have perished since then.
The real firsts of the 2020 election? We can count at least four that are beyond the realm of political rhetoric and whataboutery.
Kamala Devi Harris
This is the first time a Black and Indian American woman – Kamala Harris – is on a major party’s presidential ticket.
It’s the first time both presidential nominees have been in their 70s. Trump is 74, Biden is 77.
Third, it is the first time a US election is playing out bang in the middle of a global pandemic which has killed Americans in every single US state and broken a world record for 100,000 cases in a single day.
Fourth, nearly a 100 million early votes were locked in before election day, accounting for 70 per cent of total votes in 2016, a record.
And yes, one more thing that’s off the charts (other than the US coronavirus death toll). In case you missed it, the US President has reportedly planned to declare victory if he thinks he’s “ahead”.
Combo photo shows U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump attend their respective events on different occasions. (Xinhua/IANS)
All the while I had been hearing about the “American dream” The magic, the sound these two words exude wholly captured my imagination….writes Alon Ben-Meir
New York, Nov. 03 (Xinhua) — A pedestrian walks past an advertisement encouraging people to vote in the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election on Times Square in New York, the United States, Nov. 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying/IANS)
As a little Jewish boy in the streets of Baghdad I was looked upon by Arab boys my age as inferior. I became accustomed to it as if it were a natural phenomenon which I could do little to change.
When my family and I landed in Israel following the historic exodus of the Iraqi Jews I did not understand why we were uprooted to go to a foreign land. But even at that tender age of nine or ten I felt that being among other Jewish boys I would no longer be looked down upon; but that was not the case. I wondered why, why? ‘We are Sephardic Jews,’ my brother told me ‘the Ashkenazi Jews do not think of us as equal’ and so, living among my fellow Jews did not change my plight.
I left Israel to study in Europe and could not help but look back but in anger. To my chagrin, though not as much to my surprise here too, in the cradle of Western democracies, racism and discrimination were just under their skin. And I could feel it deep in my veins. In France I was seen as an undesirable intruder. In England, a foreigner, a stranger. Though I loved the European culture and their way of life Europe was not a welcoming home To meet my yearning desire.
All the while I had been hearing about the “American dream” The magic, the sound these two words exude wholly captured my imagination. Going back to the lands that rejected me was no longer the path I’ll travel as my longing to reach the American shores was the only thing that was anchored in my mind.
Combo photo shows U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump attend their respective events on different occasions. (Xinhua/IANS)
I imagined America as the land of the free that gave voice to the forgotten. Where race, color, and creed do not matter and human rights are guarded with zeal. Where the ingathering of all cultures and people made it richer and human resources and talent knew no limits or constraints. Where opportunity awaits the able and generosity is extended to the needy. Where everyone is equal before the law and political differences are valued to make America better.
Where sacrifices are willingly made to right the wrong and morals and fortitude guide its leaders. Where caring about friends and allies is the hallmark of the nation and opposing oppression near and far is the emblem that distinguished America. This is the character of America, This is the soul of America. This is what made America great The America that gave me a home The America that fulfilled my dreams.
These were the ideals that held Americans together and with all that America stands for and believes in. America was never and is not a perfect union and every president—from Lincoln to Nixon has transgressed in one form or another. But then America’s strive to live up to its ideals has and will always be as if it were a new endeavor and no country in human history has risen to govern with such a vision and resolve placing the right of the individual at the core of its constitution. With all of its faults and failings Two hundred and forty years of the American experience have made America the beacon for all nations. Young and old, large and small countries looked at America with awe and admiration.
Never has it occurred though to the multitude of Americans that one man, in four short years would nearly shatter everything that America stood for. He sullied the country’s character and fouled its soul. He gravely injured its revered institutions and battered its unity as one nation. He alienated Americans from one another and basked in the polarization and division he gleefully fostered. He betrayed America’s friends and allies and cozied up to its adversaries and foes He tarnished America’s exceptionalism and grace and sacrificed its greatness on the altar of his illusions and shame.
Trump is cunning, cruel, and corrupt,deranged, delinquent, and deceptive He is a narcissist, white supremacist, and racist a bigot, brutal, and beastly. Not a single maligning word in the English dictionary does not fit Trump’s personality and demeanor.
US President Donald Trump formallt accepts Republican nomination.
Four more years of Trump will irreparably impair America, tear the country asunder, weaken its exemplary institutions, sow chaos, trepidation, and fear threaten liberty and the freedom of the press and gravely poison the socio-political order. Four more years of Trump in power will permanently squander America’s leadership role, bankrupt America’s moral standing, embolden America’s enemies, compromise the security of our allies, and leave America’s foes to cheer its decline.
No man should be allowed to destroy America’s noble experience. His enablers—the Republican leadership their deafening silence is nothing short of treason. History will condemn them for having sold their country by putting their personal and party interest before the nation’s. They are so intoxicated with power caring less where America will be after four more years of Trump. No, America will never be the same if they are allowed to crush the once-cherished American dream.
And as long I can discern right from wrong I will fight alongside millions of my fellow Americans to restore America’s greatness and grace Because I want my American dream back.
Pelosi’s remarks came a day after the Axios news outlet published a report on Sunday saying that the President has privately discussed plans to declare victory on Tuesday night …reports Asian Lite News
Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi has said that Congress was prepared to decide the outcome of the presidential election, which will take place on Tuesday, if the results were disputed.
According to the US political system, if there isn’t a clear winner by electoral vote, the House then chooses the next President, The Hill news website reported.
“We understand what the law is and the pre-eminence of the role of Congress and specifically the House of Representatives when it comes to counting the votes.
“We’re ready. We’re prepared. We’ve been ready for a while because we see this irresponsibility of the President, his disrespect for the Constitution, for our democracy and for the integrity of our elections. So we’re ready for him,” the veteran Democrat was quoted as saying in an NPR public radio station interview on Monday.
Pelosi’s remarks came a day after the Axios news outlet published a report on Sunday saying that the President has privately discussed plans to declare victory on Tuesday night even though it might take a few days for all mail-in ballots to be counted in some states, reports Xinhua news agency.
Washington, Aug. 21, 2020 (Xinhua) — U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in Washington D.C., the United States, on Feb. 28, 2020. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua/IANS)
As some states do not allow processing mail-in ballots until Election Day, such as key swing state Pennsylvania, analysts have warned that the winner of the presidential election may still be unknown when polling is over, and the final results could be delayed for days.
But while speaking to reporters after arriving in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sunday, Trump claimed the Axios report as was “false”, while noting that he thinks “it’s a terrible thing when ballots can be collected after an election”.
On October 29, the Supreme Court ruled that Pennsylvania election officials can accept absentee ballots arriving three days after election day, handing Democrats a victory in a legal fight, and prompting criticism from Trump.
The President added he thought it was “terrible when we can’t know the results of an election the night of the election in a modern-day age of computers”.
Combo photo shows U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump attend their respective events on different occasions. (Xinhua/IANS)
According to the latest tally from the US Elections Project, voters have already cast more than 98 million ballots in early voting ahead of Election Day.
That figure, including more than 35 million in-person votes and nearly 63 million returned mail-in ballots, represents more than 71 per cent of the total votes counted in the 2016 general elections, the data showed.
Besides the Trump-Biden race, all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate will also be in the fray on Tuesday.
More than a dozen state and territorial governorships, among many other state and local posts, will also be contested.
Biden’s remarks came after Trump suggested at a rally in Florida late Sunday that he might try to dismiss Fauci from his post at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases following the election….reports Asian Lite News
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has defended Anthony Fauci after US President Donald Trump suggested he might fire America’s top infectious disease expert after Election Day.
“Last night, Trump said he was going to fire Fauci. Isn’t that wonderful?” Xinhua news agency quoted Biden as saying during a drive-in rally in Cleveland, Ohio, on Monday.
“I’ve got a better idea. Elect me, and I’m going to hire Dr. Fauci and we’re going to fire Donald Trump,” said Biden.
Biden’s remarks came after Trump suggested at a rally in Florida late Sunday that he might try to dismiss Fauci from his post at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases following the election.
“Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election,” Trump said when the crowd broke out into chants of “fire Fauci”.
“I appreciate the advice… He’s a nice man though. He’s been wrong on a lot,” Trump said.
Former President Barack Obama also slammed Trump’s suggestion on Monday while addressing a rally in Atlanta.
“One of the few people in this administration who’s been taking this seriously all along and what’d he say? His second-term plan is to fire that guy,” Obama said.
“They’ve already said they’re not going to contain the pandemic. Now they want to fire the one person who can actually help them contain the pandemic,” he said.
The Trump administration’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic remains a major issue of this year’s election.
The country’s overall caseload has reached 9,284,261, while the death toll stood at 231,507 , both tallies the highest in the world, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
Combo photo shows U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump attend their respective events on different occasions. (Xinhua/IANS)
Voters are choosing their preferred candidates for President and New Hampshire Governor, as well as federal and state legislative seats in the midnight voting, a tradition that began in Dixville Notch in 1960…reports Asian Lite News
Hanover, Nov. 03 (Xinhua) — A voter (C) casts his ballot in the U.S. presidential election in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, the United States, on Nov. 3, 2020. (Photo by Karen Harrigan/The NEWS and SENTINEL/Handout via Xinhua/IANS)
Voting for the US presidential election kicked off on Tuesday with first ballots cast in Dixville Notch and Millsfield, two small towns in the state of New Hampshire.
Voters are choosing their preferred candidates for President and New Hampshire Governor, as well as federal and state legislative seats in the midnight voting, a tradition that began in Dixville Notch in 1960, reports Xinhua news agency.
In the makeshift “Ballot Room” at Dixville Notch’s Balsams Resort, Les Otten, one of the only five local registered voters, cast the first ballot.
Otten, identifying himself as “a lifelong Republican”, said that voted for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden instead of President Donald Trump.
“I don’t agree with him on a lot of issues,” Otten said of Biden in a video posted on Twitter before the voting.
“But I believe it’s time to find what unites us as opposed to what divides us,” he added.
In Dixville Notch, the other four votes also went to Biden, while residents in Millsfield voted 16 to 5 in favour of Trump.
According to the RealClearPolitics polling average, Biden leads Trump by 6.7 percentage points nationally, but only by 2.8 percentage points in top battleground states, including Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona.
Trump made campaign stops in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin on Monday, while Biden travelled to Ohio in the day and Pennsylvania on Election Eve.
New York, Nov. 03 (Xinhua) — A pedestrian walks past an advertisement encouraging people to vote in the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election on Times Square in New York, the United States, Nov. 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying/IANS)
Polling stations in some major cities on the East Coast will open as early as 6 a.m. Tuesday (local time), after which voting will begin across the nation.
The final polls will close in Alaska.
Voters have already cast more than 98 million ballots in early voting ahead of Election Day, according to the latest tally from the US Elections Project.
That figure, including more than 35 million in-person votes and nearly 63 million returned mail-in ballots, represents more than 71 per cent of the total votes counted in the 2016 general elections, the data showed.
States have different rules on when they are allowed to start counting mail-in ballots, which record high volumes this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic and require more time to process than those cast in person.
Election officials and experts have said that the country should be prepared for no results on Tuesday.
Combo photo shows U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump attend their respective events on different occasions. (Xinhua/IANS)
Besides the Trump-Biden race, all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate will also be in the fray on Tuesday.
More than a dozen state and territorial governorships, among many other state and local posts, will also be contested.
The 2020 US elections, including presidential and congressional races, come as the country is still reeling from the pandemic with 9,284,261 cases and 231,507 deaths, both tallies are currently the highest in the world.
Moreover, many voters are worried by the reality of an increasingly divided nation suffering from bitter partisan fights, violent racial conflicts and worsening social injustice.
New York, Nov. 03 (Xinhua) -- A pedestrian walks past an advertisement encouraging people to vote in the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election on Times Square in New York, the United States, Nov. 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying/IANS)
Speaking to reporters on Sunday evening, Trump had said: “I think it’s terrible that we can’t know the results of an election the night of the election…reports Asian Lite News
New York, Nov. 03 (Xinhua) — A pedestrian walks past an advertisement encouraging people to vote in the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election on Times Square in New York, the United States, Nov. 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying/IANS)
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has slammed US President Donald Trump for doubting the validity of the presidential election slated to be held on Tuesday.
“We’re all very troubled seeing the President of the US question, in advance, the validity of the election. We’ve never seen that before from a President. We’ve never seen a President encourage voter suppression and harassment in this kind of fashion,” Xinhua news agency quoted the Mayor as saying in a video posted to Twitter on Monday.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday evening, Trump had said: “I think it’s terrible that we can’t know the results of an election the night of the election.
“We’re going to go in the night of, as soon as that election’s over, we’re going in with our lawyers.”
In the video, Mayor insisted that it is the Americans that decide who will run the country.
“The American people are going to have the final say here. And, like New Yorkers — over a million New Yorkers have voted early — over 95 million Americans have voted early, which is amazing and inspiring,” he added.
The nine-day early voting concluded in New York on Sunday.
The voter number surged this year in the largest city of the US, just like most other states of the country — almost two-thirds of the estimated turnout of 150 million voters have cast their ballots in early voting nationwide.
Combo photo shows U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump attend their respective events on different occasions. (Xinhua/IANS)
The uncertainty over the final election results which will likely not be known for several days has created scenarios where either side could start reacting to incomplete results…reports Arul Louis
Fears of riots and violent clashes loom over the US as the nation votes in the presidential election on Tuesday after a campaign that deepened the polarisation following months of agitation.
In sign of election eve anxiety, in trendy shopping areas in New York city and elsewhere, rows of high-end businesses were clad in plywood as a precaution against possible rioting and looting that shook the country earlier this year.
The uncertainty over the final election results which will likely not be known for several days has created scenarios where either side could start reacting to incomplete results.
A USAToday poll showed that three out of four Americans were concerned about election day violence and only one in four were confident that the transfer of power would be peaceful if the Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump.
Military.com reported that ten states were actively planning to deploy the National Guard for election-related missions and 15 have indicated they might.
Jeh Johnson, who was the Homeland Security Secretary under former President Barack Obama has warned about the possibility of election unrest.
He told a CBS network programme that he could “not rule out the possibility of tensions, some unrest on election day and in the immediate aftermath”, adding that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was “very, very focused on this issue”.
Several recent incidents — beyond the violence during the anti-racism protests — have raised concern,
Combo photo shows U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump attend their respective events on different occasions. (Xinhua/IANS)
Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden’s campaign bus was trailed by a convoy of President Donald Trump’s supporters flying their flags which sometimes surrounded the bus on the highways.
The FBI was looking into the incident in which Biden said they tried to run the bus off the road and it may have caused him to cancel some campaign stops.
Trump brushed it off in a tweet, asserting “these patriots did nothing wrong”.
Several Trump supporters on Sunday disrupted traffic on a bridge near the city as well as a highway in New Jersey
On October 25, a peaceful convoy of Jewish supporters of Trump was pelted with stones by Biden’s supporters as they drove through New York City.
Any of these incidents could spark clashes between supporters of either candidates.
Anti-government protesters known as Antifa (short for anti-fascist), who have taken advantage to the anti-police protests to take over parts of some cities in Washington and Oregon states, have faced off with extreme right-wing groups like the Proud Boys.
Biden has disputed the very existence of Antifa, which though not a direct support of his is on the same side on some issues, while group members, including one who shot and killed a Trump supporter, assert the group’s existence.
A major concern for the US is the widespread gun ownership, legal and illegal.
There has been a surge in gun purchases even before the election campaign started off in earnest, perhaps due to the fear and uncertainties spawned by the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to National Public Radio, FBI background checks for legally buying guns shot up 69 per cent in the first half of the year compared to 2019.
While attention has been focused on Trump supporters who oppose any control of gun ownership and form a staunch base and flaunt their guns, in 2017 a group of Republican members of Congress were attacked by a person who had worked for the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders, who had run for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Five persons, including Republican Whip Scalise and two police officers were injured before the police killed the assailant.
Combo photo shows U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump attend their respective events on different occasions. (Xinhua/IANS)
Currently, Biden was ahead of Trump in a 52 per cent to 44 per cent vote nationally…reports Asia Lite News
Joe Biden.
Ahead of Americans heading to the polls to cast their ballots on Tuesday in one of the most-anticipated presidential elections, Democratic nominee Joe Biden was leading against President Donald Trump in most of the national and state-level polls.
On the eve of Election Day, Biden was in the lead in the battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, Ohio and Georgia, which all voted for Trump in the 2016 election, The Hill news website reported.
The FiveThirtyEight forecasting model has given Biden a 90 per cent chance of winning the election.
Currently, Biden was ahead of Trump in a 52 per cent to 44 per cent vote nationally.
In Pennsylvania, where the two candidates spent the weekend campaigning in a last-ditch efforts to garner votes, an NBC News-Marist poll released on Monday place Biden ahead with a 5-point lead, 51 percent to 46 percent.
Meanwhile, the RealClearPolitics polling average gave the former President a 4.3 percentage point lead over the President.
But the state’s results won’t be immediately due to the large number of early and mail-in votes that have already been cast.
Combo photo shows U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump attend their respective events on different occasions. (Xinhua/IANS)
In Michigan, where Trump campaigned on Monday and Biden made a joint appearance with former President Barack Obama on October 31, the latter was ahead in most of the polls, with a 7 percentage point lead.
Meanwhile in Wisconsin, a traditionally Democratic state which flipped in Trump’s favour four years ago, Biden had a commanding lead in most of the surveys conducted last month.
The Real Clear Politics average gave him a 6.6 percentage point lead over Trump, while according to FiveThirtyEight, the former President has a a 94 per cent chance of winning the state.
In Florida, a make or break state, Biden and Trump were neck and neck despite the former President leading in several polls.
A Quinnipiac University poll released on Monday showed Biden up 5 points in Florida, 47 per cent to 43 per cent.
The RealClearPolitics average shows the former Vice President leading Trump by just 1.4 percentage points.
In Minnesota Ohio, and Nevada, the former President was leading by 4.3, 4 and 3.6 percentage points, respectively.
Meanwhile in Arizona, both candidates were tied at 48 per cent among likely voters, according to an NBC News-Marist poll released on Monday.
In North Carolina, Trump was leading Biden by half a percentage point, the RealClearPolitics Polling average revealed, while an Emerson College poll released last week shows the candidates tied.
