Americans go to polls in most consequential election in US history

Americans go to the polls on Tuesday in arguably the most consequential election in the country's history, as voters decide whether to grant Donald Trump another four years in the White House.

Mr Trump is facing a formidable challenge from Joe Biden, a veteran politician who served as vice-president for eight years under former president Barack Obama and has successfully galvanised the Democratic party behind him.

Tuesday’s election is taking place against the unique background of a coronavirus pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 230,000 Americans and has upended traditional modes of campaigning and voting. Almost 100 million Americans have cast their vote, it was confirmed overnight – an unprecedented number which suggests that this election could break turnout records.

Stores and restaurants were boarded on Monday night in Washington DC amid fears that violence could break out on election night. New fencing was also erected near the White House around Lafayette Square.

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In many ways, the election is a referendum on Mr Trump – the firebrand political novice who secured a stunning victory against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton four years ago. Despite holding office for almost four years, the president has continued to cast himself as a political outsider, working for ordinary Americans.

“If I don’t sound like a typical Washington politician it’s because I’m not a typical politician,” he said to cheers at a campaign rally in North Carolina on Monday, one of five he held around the country.

In his closing argument, Mr Biden returned to his core election message that he can restore unity to a divided country. “Tomorrow we can put an end to a presidency that has divided this nation. Tomorrow we can put an end to a presidency that has failed to protect this nation. Tomorrow we can put an end to a presidency that has fanned the flames of hate across this nation,” he said at a campaign event in Cleveland, Ohio on Monday.

Polls

Though polls are showing Mr Biden ahead nationally and in key swing states, Mr Trump still has a path to victory. In a sign of the importance of Pennsylvania – a battleground state that Mr Trump won by just 44,000 votes in 2016 – both campaigns fanned out across the state on Monday with the president holding a campaign event in his opponent’s home town of Scranton.

Mr Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris held separate events in the state along with music stars Lady Gaga and John Legend. With 20 electoral college votes, Pennsylvania is a must-win state for candidates seeking a path to the 270 electoral college votes needed.

“We win Pennsylvania, we win the whole deal . . . Tomorrow we are going to win the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and we are going to win four more years in the White House,” Mr Trump declared as he began his rally in Scranton, warning that Democrats would “confiscate your guns and indoctrinate your children with anti-American lies”.

Mr Trump has ramped up his attacks on the election system in recent days. Arriving in North Carolina on Sunday night, Mr Trump declared that “as soon as the election is over – we’re going in with our lawyers”.

On Monday, he again attacked Pennsylvania’s voting system, which will see election officials continue to count absentee ballots that arrive after election day, claiming it “opens up Pennsylvania for cheating”. He said that the supreme court decision to allow ballots that were sent by election day to be counted will allow “cheating to go on after the fact, before the votes are tabulated”.

“I hope it’s going to be readjusted . . . we’re going to be asking for that,” he said of the court’s decision.

Representatives in key swing states hit back at Mr Trump’s suggestion that he could question the outcome of the election.

“The election ends when all the votes are counted. Not when the polls close,” Michigan’s attorney general Dana Nessel said. “The voters get to determine the winner – not the candidates.”

Similarly, addressing Mr Trump on Twitter, Pennsylvania’s attorney general wrote: “Our elections are over when all the votes are counted. But if your lawyers want to try us, we’d be happy to defeat you in court one more time.”

In Texas, Democrats secured a court victory for the second consecutive day after a federal court ruled that a Republican-led request to dismiss more than 127,000 ballots that were cast via “curb-side” voting was invalid. It follows a similar ruling by the state’s supreme court on Sunday.

Twitter

Twitter has also said that it will remove or attach a warning label to any premature claims of victory. Overnight, the social media company flagged a tweet by the president that the supreme court’s decision on Pennsylvania “will induce violence in the streets”, adding a disclaimer to the tweet that its content was “disputed” and “might be misleading”.

Both campaigns focused heavily on increasing voter turnout on Monday as they made a last-minute appeal to voters to cast their ballot.

Ahead of her appearance with John Legend, Ms Harris urged Pennsylvanians to use their vote. Tuesday’s election will “decide the future of this country for generations”, she said. “We’re so much better than this.”

Speaking in Pittsburgh on Monday night where he campaigned with Lady Gaga, Mr Biden declared: "I'm proud of the coalition this campaign has built to welcome Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. I'm running as a proud Democrat, but I will govern as an American president. There will be no red states or blue states. There will be the United States. "