2020 US Elections: Why Counting Votes Takes So Long – 2020 US Elections – International



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Three days after the polls close, the United States and the world still don’t have the final results of the presidential election, even though Democrat Joe Biden is on the verge of defeating Donald Trump.

(It might interest you: Trump says Biden “shouldn’t” declare himself a winner)

The wait has fueled tension in an already highly polarized nation, with Trump claiming with no evidence that the Democrats are harboring fraud. But counting delays are often due to state-specific reasons.

Competitive states take longer

California, the nation’s most populous state with some 40 million residents and an entrenched progressive tradition, was quickly blamed on Biden by the media after polling closed on Tuesday.

But these types of estimates are not equivalent to the official results as well it takes much longer to obtain accurate data in states where the distances between the first two candidates are particularly close.

“The fiercer the competition, the longer it takes” to hear the results, Kathy Boockvar, Pennsylvania Secretary of Vital State, told reporters.

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Each state also sets different deadlines for receiving votes by mail, especially those who come from members of the army or other citizens residing abroad.

North Carolina, another key state, has yet to count at least 171,000 ballots, as by law it accepts votes that arrive in the mail through November 12, as long as they are postmarked for election day. A sufficient quantity to define the final result.

But nevertheless, some local authorities prefer to wait for all cards to reach the circuits before starting the count.

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Nevada, where the distance between Biden and Trump is just as close, will count ballot papers postmarked on Tuesday 3 provided they arrive before November 10.

Also causing delays are the so-called “provisional” ballots, which require you to confirm, for example, the identification of the voter or whether the person voted to whom he belonged.

A deluge of postal votes

Due to the covid-19 pandemic, States accustomed to a limited number of postal votes have been inundated with ballots sent by citizens who do not want to risk voting in person.

About 65.2 million of the 160 million voters who voted this year – a record – did so by correspondence, according to an estimate by American elections project.

(Also: Nancy Pelosi refers to Joe Biden as ‘president-elect’)

In Pennsylvania, Republicans, the majority in the local parliament, have rejected a proposal to start counting votes received in the mail before election day, unlike other states that allow it.

In some places particular factors play a role that further delays the count, such as in Chatham County, Georgia, another hotly contested state, where a separate electoral division and registration council scrutinize ballots.

Judicial remedies

Donald Trump’s campaign is railing against these delays and has called for a suspension of the counting of votes in the states where Biden leads, especially in Pennsylvania, where the Republican Party has appealed to the Supreme Court.

For months they have been protesting against a resolution that allows the counting of the ballots until this Friday.

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In Wisconsin, where Biden was declared the winner on Wednesday, the local Supreme Court ruled that only votes received on election day will count.

Most states allow rival parties to observe scrutiny, but some claims have also delayed the process.

In Philadelphia, the main city of Pennsylvania, a Democratic stronghold, supporters of Donald Trump have protested against a law that requires observers to stay at least 4.5 meters away from each other due to the risk of contagion from the covid – 19.

AFP

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