Daily Times

WASHINGTON: Americans write history today by most likely electing the first woman president in the history, after Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton got a clean-chit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over her alleged emails scandal.

However, the event would not be as euphoric as it was, in 2008, when the American voters elected first-ever black president – Barak Obama.

The chances of Republican candidate Donald Trump becoming first non-politician president remain on the board, yet he is lagging behind Mrs Clinton in all national survey polls.

More than 220 million registered voters are eligible to cast vote. More than 30 million have already cast vote in early the early voting process. In 2012, approximately 130 million voters had exercise that right.

The election campaign, run by the two candidate, left American society deeply divided and polarized. From scathing criticism to serious allegations, the two campaigns created a big void in the American society that would take sometime to fill.

According to Pew Research Centre, this election would be the country’s most racially and ethnically diverse ever. Nearly 31 percent voters would be Hispanic, black, Asian or another racial or ethnic minority. They were 29 percent, in 2012. The increase in the number of non-White voters would cost Mr Trump, as he is unpopular among them owing to his brash statements on Islam, immigration laws and racism.

In the final day of his campaign Mr Trump visited four states: Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. While Mrs Clinton rushed to Michigan to cheer her supporters. President Barak Obama also visited Michigan to garner support for the Democratic candidate.

Mrs Clinton expressed relief after the FBI Director James B Comey announced Sunday that the bureau had completed its examination of newly discovered emails and found nothing to alter its months-old decision of not seek charges against the former secretary of state.

Mrs Clinton was facing an inquiry of using a private email server. The investigators had apprehensions that sensitive data pertaining to the national security might have leaked because of her ‘careless’ action.

The investigators found that the emails were either duplicates of correspondence they had reviewed earlier or were personal emails that did not pertain to State Department business, Comey told the lawmakers in a letter.

The FBI director had created a firestorm in late October, after he told lawmakers that the bureau would reopen investigation against Mrs Clinton. The timing of that announcement was viewed as a trick to influence the presidential election. The Justice Department, Democrats and many other institutions and individuals criticised the FBI move just before the election.

While Mrs Clinton is leading in all national survey polls, but the lead is not something that guarantees a comfortable victory. “The last batch of national voter surveys, from Bloomberg and Fox News, show Mrs Clinton entering Election Day with a small but not insurmountable lead,” wrote the New York Times.

The Bloomberg poll has her up by three percentage points, buttressed by strong support from women, young voters, minorities and people with college degrees. The Fox poll shows Mrs Clinton leading Mr Trump by four points.

In another survey by Quinnipiac University, the close race might not be decided until late on Tuesday evening. In Florida and North Carolina, both candidates are essentially tied. Analysts say these two states would decide the election.

Early voting in Florida gave Mrs Clinton an edge over Mr Trump. According to data released by the Florida Department of State’s Division of Elections, 6.4 million Floridians voted early this year. In the end, the Democrats were able to come away from early voting with the advantage.

A total of 2,558,000 votes were cast by registered Democrats, and 2,471,000 votes were cast by registered Republicans, which meant 39.85 percent of the vote went to the Democrats and 38.49 percent of vote went to the Republicans.

The NYT predicts Mrs Clinton has 84 percent chance of winning the election today compared to 16 percent chance Mr Trump has.

“A victory by Mr Trump remains possible: Mrs Clinton’s chance of losing is about the same as the probability that an N.F.L. kicker misses a 38-yard field goal,” the paper keeps the phrase on its website for more than a month.

The Huffington Post, which is anti-Trump, gives Mrs Clinton 98 percent chance of becoming the president. It claims the Democratic candidate would easily win 270 electoral votes to become first woman president of the United States.