Many cities and companies in the United States are preparing for the possibility of violence and chaos following the announcement of the 2020 presidential election results, which are fraught with great risks and fraught feelings.
Although around 100 million Americans have benefited from early mail voting, more than 50 million are expected to personally vote in the election, a significant increase compared to the 139 million cast in 2016.
But the looming threat of election-related violence and sabotage in American cities and streets, prompted many business owners to cover their windows as a precaution or close their stores.
In Florida, some famous stores, including “Macy’s”, “Target” and “CVS”, have intensified security measures to prevent any damage to their stores, amid fears of violence after the election.
On October 27, the Brookings Institution Research, in a report, said that “the stakes are high for these elections, and the national mood appears bleak.”
The report added that “violence can manifest itself in large and small ways.”
The prospect of postponing or contesting the election results raises concerns among Americans that commercial and residential property could be damaged in the event of riots.
Across 16 US states, more than 3,600 National Guard service personnel have been deployed, while the reserve components of the US Army and Air Force remain alert about potential disruptions.
Service members’ duties include assisting polling stations, providing cybersecurity support, and responding to election day and post protests.
About 200,000 dollars were spent to purchase protective equipment and train personnel on how to deal with protests, while 300 National Guard personnel were deployed in Alabama and Arizona, while the state of Massachusetts ordered a thousand personnel on alert if necessary.
In the same vein, Texas said it might send up to 1,000 troops if needed.
Democrats have pointed to US President Donald Trump’s statements that appear to welcome, encourage, and warn violence if he fails to win.
And in several statements, Trump indicated that he would not commit to the peaceful transfer of power unless the elections were far from “fraud.”
Elections on the impact of divisions
After a stormy election campaign that revealed the depth of political divisions in the United States, Americans flocked to the polls, Tuesday, to choose between the current President Donald Trump and his rival, Joe Biden, to lead a country suffering from the Corona virus pandemic, over the next four years.
Voters queued in front of polling stations across the country to cast their ballots without showing any signs of problems at the polling stations that some feared would happen after a heated campaign marked by provocative speech.
And prior to Election Day, just over 100 million Americans had already voted early either in person or by mail, according to the University of Florida US Election Project, due to fears of crowded polling stations during the Corona pandemic as well as to intense enthusiasm.
All voters broke records and prompted some experts to expect the highest voting rates since 1908.
Biden, the Democratic former vice president who spent half a century in public life, has made steady progress in polls across the United States over the Republican president.
But Trump is competing with him in a number of critical states to the extent that he may be able to repeat what he did in 2016 when he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton despite losing the national popular vote by about 3 million votes.
“I think we’re going to have a great night … but it’s politics and elections and you never know (how it will go),” Trump said during an appearance in Arlington, Virginia, across from Washington across the Potomac River, as he thanked campaign workers.
“Winning is easy. Losing is never easy – it’s not like that for me,” Trump added.
Trump seemed a little tired and admitted his voice was “a bit choppy” after giving speeches at several boisterous rallies in the final days of the campaign.
And if the election results are close, it will likely not appear days ago, especially given the massive increase in mail-order voting due to the pandemic. Trump said the result could be known on Tuesday evening. He added that he would not announce the victory prematurely.
Biden appeared, on Tuesday morning, in the important state of Pennsylvania. He said over a loudspeaker in his hometown of Scranton that he had promised them to unite the Americans and restore respect for the White House.
He stopped at his childhood home, where he signed one of the living room walls and wrote, “From this house to the White House, by the grace of God. Joe Biden 3-11-2020.”
Biden’s limited-scale stop in Scranton contrasted sharply with Trump’s appearance there on Monday, when he addressed more than 5,000 of his supporters at an outdoor meeting.
Supporters of the candidates seem to agree that the election is a referendum on Trump and his troubled first term. No American president has lost a bid to win a second term since George HW Bush in 1992.
Monique King, 54, went straight to her polling station in a college basketball hall in Santa Monica, California, at 7 a.m. after completing a 12-hour night shift at a hospital, where she works as a surgical staff.
“I think the approach to dealing with the Corona virus was bad … I think we have a lot of deaths. I can’t stand another four years of Trump’s rule … lie after lie after lie, lie after lie,” King said.
And in McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania, voters lined up in jackets and hats on a cold morning.
Martin Sellar, a 45-year-old welder who had just finished his shift, said of Trump, his favorite, “he doesn’t get everything he says, but I see he’s trying against everyone who fools us.”
Among the states with the fiercest competition, which is expected to determine the outcome, are Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia. Democrats hope Biden can even threaten Trump in states known to vote Republicans such as Ohio, Iowa and Texas.
The pandemic, which has claimed the lives of more than 231,000 Americans and lost millions of their jobs, has pushed Election Day off its usual course, as poll workers and voters put on masks and people turn away from each other.
Experts expect total votes to reach 160 million, surpassing 138 million ballot papers in 2016.
In anticipation of possible protests, the authorities closed some buildings and shops in cities including Washington, Los Angeles and New York. Federal authorities erected a new fence around the perimeter of the White House.
A US Postal Service judge ordered an inspection of some mail sorting and distribution facilities on Tuesday afternoon in order to promptly send back late ballots for delivery in important states such as Pennsylvania and Florida.
Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating a series of mysterious robotic calls urging people to stay home on Election Day.
Major stock indexes jumped on Wall Street, as investors bet that the election could end with a clear victory for Biden and a swift agreement on more fiscal stimulus linked to the pandemic.
Elections are subject to fraud
Trump, 74, is seeking to win another four years in office after a tumultuous presidential term dominated by the Corona virus crisis and an economy battered by closure due to the epidemic, accountability for his impeachment, investigations into Russian interference in elections, ethnic tensions and controversial immigration policies.
As for Biden (77 years), he is looking to win the presidency in his third attempt after a political career for five decades, including eight years during which he served as Vice President Barack Obama.
The Americans will also decide today which two major political parties will control Congress during the next two years, in light of Democrats’ pressure to restore the majority in the Senate and expectations that they will retain control of the House of Representatives.
Biden, who placed Trump’s handling of the pandemic at the center of his campaign, promised to make new efforts to combat the health crisis, reform the economy and heal the political rift in the country, which has also been rocked for months by protests due to racism and police brutality.
On Tuesday, Trump played down the pandemic again, saying that the crisis in the country was “nearing an end” even as many states recorded record numbers of new infections in the final days of the campaign.
Results will begin to appear after 7 pm EST (2400 GMT), when polls close in states such as Georgia.
Some crucial states, such as Florida, are starting to count the votes cast before Election Day and could announce results relatively quickly on Tuesday night. Other states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, were also banned from counting the vast majority of mail-order ballots until Election Day, increasing the likelihood that the count could span several days.
Trump asserted without evidence that mail ballots are vulnerable to fraud. He has also argued that votes should only be counted on election day evening. He indicated that he might try to use the courts to stop the count.
Trump is expected to spend most of the day in the White House, where an election night party has been planned for about 400 guests, all of whom will be tested for COVID-19.
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