US elections: hours after polls close, definition of new president is...

• Mariana Sanches – @mariana_sanches
• BBC News Brasil in Washington

The text was updated at 4:05 am on November 4, 2020.

After more than five hours since the beginning of the counting of votes, the result of the American presidential elections remains undefined. The scenario points to a tight dispute between Democratic candidate Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump, to be defined by Midwestern states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, precisely those in which there is a large volume of postal votes to be counted. and in which the count may extend over the next few days.

In a brief speech, Biden said that the counting of votes may take time, but “it is not my job, nor that of Donald Trump to say who won the election.” During the speech of the opponent, Trump, who presses for a quick definition of the election, tweeted: “We are doing VERY WELL, but they (Democrats) will try to STEAL the elections”.

In the first hours after the polls closed on Tuesday (11/03) it was clear that the election would not be a washout for either side. Trump, who is running for re-election, took the lead in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas, four states in which he won in 2016 against Hillary Clinton.

The Republican’s triumph in these areas is considered crucial for him to remain in competitive conditions in the dispute. Biden leads the way in Arizona, who voted for Trump in 2016.

In the USA, the vote is indirect and the candidate wins the Presidency who adds at least 270 of the 538 delegates in dispute at the American electoral college.

According to the projection made by BBC News Brasil from the polls in the States, until 4:05 am on November 4 (Brasília time), Biden had 220 delegates against 213 for Biden.

The 2020 election is unprecedented in the country for a number of reasons. The covid-19 pandemic prompted 101 million Americans to vote in advance, more than 60 million by mail, a record.

In addition, the projection of electoral participation is the highest in over 100 years. About 67% of voters – or 160 million people – came to the polls this year. In the USA, voting is not mandatory.

The electoral process is not centralized and each state has its own – and different – rules for conducting the process, which explains why the pace of disseminating the results is so diverse.

In Florida, with 96% of the ballots counted, Trump not only seemed on track to repeat his 2016 victory, he could considerably broaden the margin on the Democratic opponent, from 1.2% to 3.5% of the vote.

Known for being a pendular state, Florida has received heavy attention from both candidates. Trump held several rallies there, Biden too, and took former President Barack Obama with him.

Trump’s greater margin victory in the state would be explained especially by his performance among Latin voters. Trump managed to improve his vote in these groups by more than 10 percentage points compared to four years ago.

The large Cuban community and the Venezuelan diaspora, who see the Republican as a barrier to the advancement of the left in Latin America and a force capable of bringing Nicolás Maduro’s regime in Venezuela into a transition of power, contributed especially to the result.

Last month, Trump made a special nod to these voters by sending his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to visit Venezuelan refugees in the Brazilian state of Roraima.

Florida Republican Party President Joe Gruters made his enthusiasm clear to CBS News in a statement, even before the end of the count: “We crushed the Democrats, our voters showed up to vote in force. This was a team victory and is a great day for Florida. “

Trump also appears to have been successful in blocking a Democratic victory in Texas. The state has not voted largely for Democrats since 1976, but it has experienced a significant change in its demographics: the electorate is increasingly less rural and white and increasingly urban and racially diverse, a profile that tends to favor Democrats.

Trump also took the 38 delegates up for grabs in Texas, and there Biden only managed to reduce the Republican’s lead over 2016. The seizure in the state was such that on the eve of the election the Republican campaign tried, unsuccessfully, to invalidate 127,000 votes cast. in a specially Democratic polling station in Houston.

But Biden’s biggest win must be Arizona. With 80% of the count completed, the Democrat led by a difference of almost six points. And although the state guarantees only 11 delegates, it would be the first to change sides in relation to 2016.

Although President Trump said throughout election day that “Americans have the right to have the result in a few hours”, until the early hours of the morning of the 4th, nothing pointed to this outcome.

In decisive states, such as Michigan (16 delegates) and Pennsylvania (20 delegates), until 4 am (Brasília time), the count had not exceeded 70% of the ballot boxes. In Wisconsin (10 delegates), just over 80% had been raised. The authorities in these states reported that no definitive results should be expected in the next few hours.

And despite the positive trend towards Trump in Georgia (16 delegates), problems in counting about 20% of the state’s votes in the largely Democratic capital Atlanta, can still lead to a Democrat turn.

“Get some sleep, folks. We had a peaceful election day. Votes were cast. And your local election officials are working to count the ballots. As we said months ago: this election will end when all votes are counted. Stay calm,” recommended Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania attorney general, on Twitter, around midnight and a half in Washington DC

Early Wednesday morning (11/04), Democrat Biden made a brief statement at the convention center in Wilmington, Delaware. “We feel very good about where we are. We believe we are on the way to win this election. We know that from the unprecedented amount of early votes, votes in the mail, it would take some time, and we will be patient,” said Biden and added: “We can have the results as early as tomorrow morning, but it may take a little longer and it is not my job or that of Donald Trump to say who won the election – that is the job of the American people.”

The move by the Democratic campaign was an attempt to prevent the Republican from declaring himself a winner before the vote count was over. A report on the American website Axios said on Monday that the White House was debating this possibility.

While Biden was speaking, Trump went on Twitter and said, “We are doing VERY WELL, but they (Democrats) are going to try to STEAL the elections. We are not going to let them do that. It is not possible to vote after the polls have closed.”

Trump has spent the past few months saying that the electoral system by mail is fraudulent – although there is no evidence of relevant fraud related to this type of voting in the country. And he has said that he will go to court to prevent votes by mail arriving after the 3rd day from being considered, even in those states where by law letters with votes may arrive late.

This is the case of the highly disputed Pennsylvania, where votes by mail will be expected for up to 3 days after this Tuesday. The social networking platform Twitter marked Trump’s message with the following warning: “Some or all of the content shared in this tweet is controversial and can be misleading about the election or other civil process.”

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