After months of intense non-stop campaigning, the people of the United States voted to determine the fate of Kamala Harris and Trump. Voting started yesterday evening Bangladesh time. No major incidents or violence were reported during the polls. But if Trump loses the vote, his supporters may turn to violence. After Trump lost the 2020 election, his supporters rioted in the capital Washington. They rioted on Capitol Hill, the country's congressional building.
Polling for the fiercely contested election in decades has ended, but there is deep uncertainty over whether the results will be tallied this Wednesday morning as per the tradition. Results may take a few days. Analysts say whoever wins the four-year election in a divided United States could have an impact on generations.
Kamala promised to reduce food and housing costs for working families. Trump, on the other hand, has taken an anti-immigration stance and promised to close the border and cut citizens trillions of dollars in tax cuts.
Donald Trump and his wife Melania voted in Palm Beach, Florida. "I feel very confident and it seems like the Republicans have shown strength," Trump told reporters afterward. I hear we are doing very well.'
Trump said, "If there is a fair election, I am ready to accept defeat." So far I think the voting has been fair. Kamala Harris said she voted by mail last week.
No matter who wins the election, either the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris or the Republican Donald Trump, it will make history in the country.
If Kamala wins, she will be the first woman, black and Asian-American president in the 250-year history of the United States. And if former President Trump wins, he will be the first president in the nation's history to be convicted of a criminal offense.
Trump will also be a twice impeached president. In addition, Trump will be the second president in history to return to the White House after losing his first attempt at re-election.
On this day, American citizens not only chose the president, they also voted to determine the members of both parties of the US Congress. Of these, 34 of the 100-member Senate and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives were voted in. Votes were also taken in the gubernatorial elections of 11 states and local elections in many places. More than 82 million people voted before election day. There are a total of 244 million eligible voters in the United States this time. How many of them vote remains to be seen. The winning candidate will take oath on January 20 next year.
Latest polling data of seven battleground states
In the last poll hours before the vote, Trump is leading by a narrow margin in Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona. Oranges are conveniently located in Wisconsin and Michigan. They are evenly matched in Pennsylvania, the largest battlefield.
For this, Kamala and Trump went to Pennsylvania and Michigan respectively and ended the campaign. The BBC noted that these two of the seven swing states will determine the outcome of this year's election.
Pennsylvania has a whopping 19 electoral votes. Biden won the state in 2020. Michigan has 15 electoral votes. For decades Michigan was part of the so-called 'blue wall' state. That means it has been a reliable bastion for Democrats in presidential elections. However, when Trump won here in 2016, that trend was interrupted. Of course, Biden won here in the last election.
There are a total of 538 Electoral College votes across the United States. A candidate must get 270 or more votes to win. There are 93 Electoral College votes in seven battleground states.
Speeches of the two candidates at the last rally
Kamala Harris told a rally in Pennsylvania that she wants to end her campaign with 'energy, optimism, joy'. He was introduced on stage by Oprah Winfrey and Lady Gaga.
Kamala said, 'The tide is in our favor.' He focused on optimism about the future and never mentioned Trump by name. He emphasized the economy, unemployment and inflation, saying, 'We will build an economy where we bring down the cost of living.'
He raised corporate taxes and cut taxes on workers, middle-class families, and small businesses; He pledged to reduce health care costs, including the cost of home care for the elderly. Crowds flocked to the rally.
Trump asked the crowd in his speech whether they are better off than they were four years ago. To his question, the crowd at the rally responded with a loud no.
Trump then said, "I have a very simple message to you and all Americans tonight - we don't have to live like this."
Trump did not stop attacking Kamala Harris. He described Kamala as 'a radical leftist lunatic'.
Election workers threaten to throw bombs
Nicholas Wimbish, an activist in the state of Georgia, was arrested after making a bomb threat. He is accused of sending bomb threats to local election officials and lying to the FBI.
At least five polling stations in Fulton County, Georgia, were rumored to have bombs. However, no bomb was found later. Two venues were evacuated for about half an hour in this swing state due to threats.
Atlanta County city officials have now petitioned the court to extend voting hours until 9:30 p.m.
Earlier, voting in Cambria, Pennsylvania was temporarily closed due to a technicality. There too, the officials applied for a court order to extend the voting period for some time.
It's hard to say when you'll know who won. Voting starts and ends at different times in different states. However, except for Hawaii and Alaska, voting will be completed in all states by 10 am Bangladesh time today. Some observers think that it is not just a few hours to know the name of the winner; It may take a few days.
Initial delay in publishing results may lead to confusion. A candidate may fall behind after counting postal and other advance votes even if he leads early in the physical vote. It happened in Michigan in 2020. Trump was initially ahead in the voter turnout, but Biden later overtook him. Basically it's a bit of a waiting game, the BBC commented.
In such a case, Trump can declare himself the winner this morning. But it will not affect the counting of votes. Final results will be declared after all votes are counted. However, US TV stations can announce the winning candidate at any time by looking at the voting trends in different states. The winner of the last presidential election was announced four days later.
US intelligence accuses Russia of trying to interfere
US intelligence has alleged that 'adversary' countries, including Russia, are trying to interfere in the election. On Tuesday, they said, those countries want to destroy people's confidence in elections.
According to US intelligence, adversary countries are conducting various activities to question the election of the United States. Through this, the opposing countries want to create division among the Americans. The FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, ODNI and the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency made this claim in a joint statement.
Prayers for Kamala, the 'girl of the house' in Tamil Nadu, India Democratic candidate Kamala Harris's native place is 14,000 km from the US in Tamil Nadu, South India.
There is Puja-Archana-Prayer going on in Thulasendra Puram, the village of Kamala's patriarch. Villagers worshiping in the temple; Prasad is being distributed. One prayer – the 'girl of the house' wins.
PV Gopalan, the maternal grandfather of Kamala Harris, was born more than 100 years ago in the shadowy village of Thulasendrapuram in Tamil Nadu. This little-known village about 100 km from Chennai is now in the headlines.
Kamla's mother Shyamala Gopalan does not have close links with this village. And the Gopalan family did not return home that way. But the residents of Thulasendrapuram think that Kamala Harris is their daughter.
A special prayer for Kamala was organized at the temple on Tuesday morning. A special festival celebration is also arranged if he wins. Villagers celebrated after Kamala Joe Biden was elected Vice President in 2020.
Banner-posters of Kamala Harris covered the streets of the village. Kamala Harris once revealed that she loves South Indian food. So the villagers are also feeding him his favorite cooking.
If Kamala Harris wins, she will be the first female president in US history. And then the name of this infamous village of India will go down in history. The residents of Thulasendrapuram are hoping for that.
