The windows of a vote-counting room were covered, Republican observers were prevented from looking at ballots, a Democrat attorney general made strange statements in one state, and Trump votes were found in the trash. In one instance, a batch of tens of thousands of mail-in votes “just in” all turned out to be in favour of the Democratic nominee.
Two days after the presidential election, it is still uncertain who the next president of the United States will be. Currently, Democrat Joe Biden is leading the race and at this stage, he only needs six more electoral votes to reach the 270 needed to secure the presidency. Incumbent Donald Trump now stands at 214.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump was confident that Republicans were in the lead in several states, but ballot counting had unexpectedly been halted in several locations. The president had already alluded at that time that there could be fraud in the background. Suspicions grew further as postal vote counts in multiple locations registered as all cast in favour of Biden.
An image of the status of the polls in Michigan circulated on the internet, showing that all further votes went to Biden as counting progressed. Many found this rather suspicious.
Wisconsin, too, saw a similar mysterious spike in support for Biden. These cases raise suspicion, because in general, when votes cast for one candidate sharply increase due to large amounts of new data coming in, the number of ballots in favour of the other candidate also goes up. However, this was not the case in Wisconsin nor Michigan.
In Detroit, the windows overlooking the vote-counting room were covered. Donald Trump was comfortably in the lead in Detroit, Michigan, when the situation flipped with Joe Biden overtaking him. The president’s supporters marched to the room because they found the sudden change more than suspicious.
In Pennsylvania, the Democrat Attorney General Josh Shapiro reportedly attempted to influence the vote. He had previously said that Donald Trump had to be prevented from winning in the state. In an election day tweet, he recommended to anyone in need of voting help to call the Democrats.
Also in Pennsylvania, mail-in ballots from the military serving overseas were found in the trash earlier. Most of these discarded votes were for President Trump.
There have also been reports that the work of Republican poll observers has been hindered. Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer said their observers in Pennsylvania were not allowed to see the ballots, and added that Democrats thought they could do anything they wanted.
Donald Trump and the Republicans have already filed lawsuits in several places over the election results. In Wisconsin and Michigan, for example, they demanded a recount of the votes. The race seemed to be in Trump’s favour in those states on Wednesday morning, but then Biden took the lead. The Republicans have also turned to the court in Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Donald Trump’s campaign has been visibly hindered by Twitter. The site flagged certain tweets by the president, saying their content was disputed and might be misleading. The social media site refused to even display the tweets, users had to click on them in order to see their contents.
Now, however, all eyes are on Nevada, where six electoral votes are at stake, and Biden needs exactly that number to win. Fox News reports that the turnout currently stands at 75 percent, and Joe Biden is in the lead with just 8,000 votes. New data will only be released on Thursday morning.
However, what we know for sure is that the first transgender senator of the United States has been elected. Sarah McBride, running as a Democratic candidate in Delaware, mananged to win the seat and became the highest-ranking transgender legislator in the country.
Many took to the streets on Wednesday, with signs reading “Don’t steal the elections” and “Every vote counts.” The demonstration ended peacefully.
In Portland, however, tensions escalated, making it necessary to deploy the National Guard.
The race is still open for both candidates and it may remain so for a while due to possible legal reviews and ballot recounting. It may take a couple of days for us to learn whether Trump stays in office or Biden becomes the 46th president of the United States.