11/03/2020 20:00
Clarín.com
World
Updated 11/03/2020 20:05
At 6 p.m. Eastern time in the United States (8 p.m. in Argentina) the voting tables closed in the first two states:
Indiana and Kentucky,
in a day that already has more than 100 million people who voted early by mail or in person.
It was an uneventful and uneventful day, with both candidates confident of winning.
In Philadelphia, before returning to his headquarters in Delawere, Joe Biden addressed a large group of people and said: "This year we are going to have more people voting than in the entire history of the United States," and
predicted more than 150 million votes,
a number that would be a record.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, was confident to continue four more years in the White House.
The New York tycoon, who said he felt "good" upon arrival at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee in Virginia, where he met with his campaign team, has expressed that he believes that
"it is going very well in Florida and Arizona"
, two of the considered 'hinge states', fundamental to decant the result of the presidential elections in favor of one of the candidates.
Millions more were supposed to vote, or are still voting, in person.
But the winner between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden
may not be known until late at night.
But the contest to achieve a majority of 270 electoral votes, obtained by winning the popular vote in each state, has been so close that knowing the winner
could require a wait until Wednesday
or even longer, and lead to legal battles over the count of votes.
The schedules
The figures begin to arrive after the closing of the voting centers at 20 in Argentina in Indiana and Kentucky, and they are increasing as the closing time is observed in more states.
Most of the centers close at 23 Argentines, from when an arduous work of counting votes begins during the following hours.
Some districts and states report faster than others.
Several, including
the largest California, don't close until one on Wednesday,
and Hawaii and Alaska vote until 2 and 3, respectively.
Since polls already clearly indicate in which direction 38 of the 50 states will go,
the focus is on 12 key states.
The first to be closely watched are the eastern states of Georgia, where the polls close at 9pm;
Florida, where, depending on the district, the polls close at 9 or 10;
North Carolina, where the polls close at 9:30 pm;
and the western state of Arizona, at 11pm, always on Argentine hours.
Based on projections on "decided" states, it
is possible that if Biden wins Florida and two of the states mentioned above
, he could be considered the overall winner of more than 270 electoral votes early in the evening.
But, based on projections, even if Trump succeeds in the previous four states,
the overall winner would still not be clear.
Officially, the winner of the White House is
not decided until all states have certified their vote count, which, due
to delays in mailed ballots, could be a week or more in some places.
But contest results are typically "anticipated" by the major news media on election night, based on their own tabulations of reported totals, district by district.
They announce who is the winner of each state, and finally of the entire election, when it
seems that there is no mathematical way
for one candidate to overcome his disadvantage and the other to have a guaranteed path to the magic number of 270 voters.
Ronald Reagan's
landslide victory
in 1980
was announced at 10:15 p.m. on Election Tuesday.
But in 2016, Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton only became apparent around
3:30 on Wednesday, when tallies showed that Pennsylvania had won.
Still, Clinton only acknowledged defeat an hour after Wisconsin fell to Trump.
And in 2000, the election came down to who won Florida, where the candidates were divided by a few hundred votes.
The two parties
legally fought for weeks until the Supreme Court intervened
and halted the recount, granting the election to George W. Bush.
And the winner?
It could be around one
o'clock in
Argentina or earlier
if Biden sweeps the first reports of key states.
Otherwise, the time will depend on who gets the subsequent key states.
And that could drag on.
Unforeseen problems could cause delays.
North Carolina electoral authorities announced Tuesday that they extended voting in four districts due to technical problems, which will delay the delivery of state results by at least 45 minutes.
In Pennsylvania and Michigan
, two highly prized states, slow scrutiny of large numbers of mail-in ballots could delay the result until Wednesday or even later.
Any possible counting of votes and judgments on the recounts could further delay the nomination of the winner, for days or even weeks.
Both parties have prepared to hold legal fights in various states where a favorable court ruling could tilt the results one way or the other.
In Pennsylvania
, Republicans are preparing to appeal a state decision to accept mail-in ballots that arrive up to three days after Tuesday.
Since Democrats are more likely to vote by mail than Republicans, they want those ballots voided.
In Texas, Republicans are seeking to invalidate 127,000 votes in a Democratic stronghold because they were cast in tents that are allegedly not allowed by state regulations.
And in a strongly Democratic district of Nevada, Republicans tried to stop the mail-in vote counting so they could take a closer look, with a view to ruling out some.
Source: AFP and Clarín
PB
Look also
Elections in the United States 2020: what happens if Joe Biden wins?
Elections in the United States: what happens if Donald Trump wins