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US elections: President Donald Trump and Joe Biden attacked on a large scale
New Delhi:
Election day is November 3 in the United States of America and millions of people have already voted to choose a new president in Joe Biden or stay with Donald Trump for his second term.
President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden have attacked each other on a large scale as D-Day approaches.
The vote will also be different this time around as the coronavirus pandemic grabs the world – the worst affected country being the United States with more than 9 million infections.
Here’s everything you need to know about the U.S. election:
- Most states will begin voting at 6:00 a.m. EST (4:30 p.m. IST Nov. 3). But the first state to open the vote is Vermont at 5 a.m. EST (3:30 p.m. IST Nov. 3). Voting ends no later than 9 p.m. EST (7:30 a.m. IST Nov. 4) in New York and North Dakota. The first polling stations to close will do so at 7 p.m. EST (5:30 a.m. IST Tuesday). The last polling stations will close at 1 a.m. ET (11:30 a.m. IST) in Alaska.
- Americans voted in large numbers, already casting a record 93 million votes, or about two-thirds of the total number of votes in 2016, or 138.8 million. Some 239 million people are eligible to vote this year.
- Mail-in ballots could take days or weeks to be counted in some states – meaning a winner might not be declared within hours of the polls close on Tuesday. The 93 million figure includes 33 million in-person votes and 58 million postal ballots.
- Donald Trump, 74, has toured five battlefield states of Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, while his rival Joe Biden, 77, has spoken at a campaign event in Pennsylvania, where the race also seems close.
- Donald Trump, a Republican, is planning an eventful campaign trip through Wisconsin and Pennsylvania on Monday, in a bid to save key states he won four years ago. He spent his entire Saturday in Pennsylvania, a key battlefield state, addressing up to four rallies.
- Joe Biden is heading into the last day of the campaign with a big lead in national polls and ahead of enough swing states to allow multiple routes to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.
- U.S. elections are not determined by the national popular vote, but rather by the 538-member constituency, with each candidate needing a majority of 270 to win the presidency.
- In every state in the country but two, President Trump or Mr. Biden will win all voters in every state by winning the popular vote there, with the most populous states holding the most voters.
(With contributions from agencies)
