All eyes will be on U.S today as there is only hours left for the presidential election. Incumbent President and Republican nominee Donald Trump and former vice president and Democratic nominee Joe Biden are running for the President spot.
Although President Trump lags behind Biden in opinion polls, the two are at odds in crucial states.
Record voting is predicted in this presidential election. At the same time, the method and timing of elections in different states will vary. In states like New York and North Dakota, polling is from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The U.S. presidential election is traditionally held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. That is why this time the lot fell on November 3 this time.
Votes in 10 states will also be decisive in the election. The people here can slant towards any party. The states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida, Iowa and Ohio were crucial to Donald Trump’s 2016 victory.
Meanwhile, early polls and polls suggest that Biden could undermine Republican electoral power in Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina and Texas this year.
In addition to voting for the presidency, millions of American voters will elect members of the 117th Congress in the country. The people will vote in 435 seats and 35 Senate seats in the House of Representatives.
The presidential election process is actually quite complicated. The people do not vote directly for the president, but instead elect the 538 members of the Electoral College to elect the president.
Out of these 538 electoral votes, those who receive the magic number 270 will be elected to the White House. Electoral votes for each state are determined by the number of senators and the population.
230 million people are eligible to vote in this election. Indications are that this will probably record record polling. As of Friday, more than 84 million people had cast their ballots even in the wake of the Covid crisis.
At the same time, in 2016, a total of 138 million Americans voted in the presidential election.
Election expenses are also good in the United States. Each presidential candidate has so far spent $ 6.6 billion on election campaigns. A study by the Center for Responsive Politics shows that this is two billion euros more than in the last election. As of November 3, candidates had spent a total of more than $ 14 billion on their campaigns.
Even though no one knows when the results will be announced, people are eagerly waiting to see whether Biden will decorate the chair or is it Trump who will continue in the White House.
After the results are out in full, the winners will be sworn in to the House of Representatives and the Senate on January 3 next year.
The House of Representatives and the Senate will meet on January 6 at 1 pm to officially announce the winner after counting the electoral votes, and the new president will be sworn in on January 20.