The US presidential election results are to be announced soon. The voters all around USA have been urged by various leaders and influencers to vote this time. This election as a result, apart from its uniqueness of the Biden vs Trump fight is seeing historic turnout. Considering the current pandemic situation, the number of mail-in ballots received this year is higher than any of the previous elections. This has also complicated the process of counting votes for the authorities and they suspect this might even affect the voting criteria in the upcoming elections in the future.
As per the statistics, mail-in balloting has doubled this year as compared to 2016. The concept of mail-in balloting is quite different from absentee balloting where the vote is cast outside of the polling booth in case the voting candidate is unable to reach the booth or is out of the area. Absentee polling is allowed in rare cases which is why mail-in balloting has been more common this year. It is specifically suitable for people who work at ‘9 to 5’ jobs and cannot afford to leave work to cast their votes. One such example is Frank Casaceli from Atlanta who submitted his absentee ballot. He explained why he had always skipped voting for more than 2 decades as it was not possible for him to skip his office hours to come and vote. He also mentioned that he had voted for Donal Trump whose campaign was focused upon admonishing such people who prefer mail-in balloting.
In his rally in North Carolina on Monday, Trump had said, “Get your ballots in and have them in long before the 3rd and have them counted before the 3rd. “Do you know what can happen during that long period of time?”, Trump queried expressing his views on mail-in balloting. However, since a large number of Trump supporters are using the mail-in balloting method, the President has decided not to focus too much on this point any further.
Joe Biden, the Democratic Party leader expressed his views on this issue that no matter how hard Trump tries, he cannot stop the Americans from voting this time. He urged everyone to vote no matter what, as he believes Trump’s agenda is to allow only the rich and elite class to cast their votes and not the rest of the American population. He said, “Trump doesn’t want y’all voting. He doesn’t want Americans voting. He thinks only wealthy folks should vote. And when America votes, though, America will be heard.”
Even though Trump is against absentee and mail-in balloting, he has previously used the same methods to cast his votes, along with his family and supporters. This stands contradictory to what the President claims and what he follows himself.
The current polls reflect Biden is leading with 238 electoral votes with 49.95 votes, majorly from Arizona and New Hampshire. Trump on the other hand is not that far away with 213 electoral votes and 48.5% votes from Florida, Ohio, and Texas among other major states.
The author is a student member of Amity Centre of Happiness.
