U.S Elections kicks off: Trump and Biden races

Big swings are expected as the sun waves goodbye and the night says 'hi', as incumbent President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden are on a race to reach 270 electoral college votes in the election today in United States of America (USA).

Executive dean at the Hofstra University Public Policy and Public Service Programs, Meena Bose, said that the election night will last depending on the time the polls close and which states will be able to return results.

The ballot counting is even expected to take a little longer than the usual and the lack of announcement of the winner is grounded possible.

“I think by about 11 o’ clock I would say on election night, we will know whether there is a decision or whether we need to wait to see the vote counts in states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan [and] if there are issues with vote counting in Florida,” Bose said in a press briefing organized by the US Department of State’s Foreign Press Centers.

Indiana and Kentucky are expected to be the first two states that will be able to report results as polls close at 6 p.m. eastern time (7 a.m. of November 4 in Manila).

On 8:30 a.m. Philippine time tomorrow, with polls in North Carolina and Ohio closing, there would be a significant results involving the battleground states – states that lean heavily towards one party or the other.

Meanwhile, on 9:00 a.m. Philippine time, Florida which has started vote counting two weeks ago, could provide a projection of the number of votes.

An hour later after this, Arizona, part of Michigan, Minnesota, part of Texas, and Wisconsin will also be expected to provide results.

Each state is given a certain number of electoral college votes partly based on the population, for this year there are a total of 538, so the winner will be the candidate that wins 270 or more.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

The US political system is dominated by two parties: the Republicans—the conservative political party and the Democrats— the liberal party. Incumbent President Trump, 74, is representing the Republicans and in the hopes of securing another four years in power.

While, Joe Biden, 77, an experienced politician who served as Barack Obama’s vice president for eight years, is the banner raiser of the Democrats.

AFTER THE ELECTIONS

The new president will officially sworn into office on January 20, 2020 in an inauguration, which will be held on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington DC.

After the ceremony, the newly elected president will then make his way to the White House to begin his four-year term in office.

If Joe Biden wins the election, he wouldn’t immediately replace President Trump as there is a set transition period to give the new leader time to appoint cabinet ministers and make plans.

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