Usa 2020: final sprint, from debates to Election day

With the TV confrontation in Ohio between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the final sprint towards election day begins.

Here are the main stages of the last phase of the long American electoral season.

THE TV DUELS

- The Cleveland appointment opens the series of three presidential debates scheduled before November 3, the day of the vote: 90 minutes without commercials at Case Western Reserve University.

Moderating the Superbowl of American politics is Fox host Chris Wallace.

The next appointment is for October 15 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami: it will be moderated by Steve Scully of C-Span and it will be town-hall style, with questions from the audience.

The third and final confrontation is scheduled for October 22 at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and will be conducted by Kristen Welker of NBC.

The first and only face-to-face between the two vice presidential candidates, Mike Pence and Kamala Harris, will take place on October 7 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and will be moderated by Susan Page of USA Today.

THE ELECTION DAY ON NOVEMBER 3

- Always falls on the first Tuesday of November, every four years.

It is voting day when American voters will have to decide whether to re-elect Donald Trump for another four years or hand the White House back to a Democrat.

But on November 3 there is also a vote to renew a substantial part of Congress: the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate.

Probably the winner will not be known in the night, if there are delays related to the vote by mail, strongly increased due to the coronavirus.

The two presidential candidates and their respective parties have assembled crowds of lawyers for the announced legal disputes.

THE TRANSITION

- It is the process for the formal transfer of powers from the outgoing president to the elected president, should it change.

It takes place between the election day and the inauguration day.

The 'transition teams' of the two candidates take care of it.

INAUGURATION DAY ON JANUARY 20

- The winner will begin his presidential term on January 20, 2021, with the swearing in ceremony on Capitol Hill.

It remains an unknown whether there will be crowds along the National Mall due to the pandemic.

For now, however, the traditional parade along Pennsylvania Avenue, the main artery connecting Capitol Hill, seat of Congress, and the White House is confirmed.