Americans are still not clear about who will their president for the next four years as delays in counting mailed in ballots continued more than 24 hours after the 2020 election voting ended on Tuesday.
Democratic challenger Joe Biden inched to 253 electoral votes by Wednesday evening even while President Donald Trump had secured 214 votes as their paths to the 270-vote milestone to win the White House faced delays. Court challenges mounted by President Trump to stop counting the votes in Pennsylvania – a swing state with a haul of 20 electoral votes – and recount in Wisconsin meant more delays if the two candidates do not gain clear victory.
Speaking from his home state of Delaware, Biden sounded confident in scoring the victory. He had secured 52 percent of the popular vote by Wednesday evening.
“Now every vote must be counted,” Biden said. “No one is going to take our democracy away from us. Not now, not ever. America’s come too far. America’s fought too many battles. America’s endured too much to ever let that happen.”
“We the people will not be silenced. We the people will not be bullied. We the people will not surrender,” the former vice president added.
Trump claimed he had won the election and hours later his advisors and legal counsels prepared to challenge voting tallies in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
As contentious views over vote tally made it to the court, Americans began protests in several cities even as coronavirus cases topped 100,000 the day after the polls.
The pandemic has been a big factor in shaping the elections.
In New York City, thousands of people took to the streets as a rare sight of boarded-up luxury stores on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.
Political analysts were shy of making any predictions as the race for the White House remained too close to call and ballots were still being tallied in key battleground states.
The “Protect the Results” rally remained largely peaceful, though police made at least 20 arrests when some protesters began protesting against police misconduct.
Demonstrations reverberated through the streets of Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and San Diego. Demonstrators gathered outside Dallas City Hall in Texas
