Daily Times

Voting in polling stations has officially commenced for US Presidential Elections 2020 across all 50 states whose outcome remains uncertain at the time of filing this report.

Both the Republicans and the Democrats are set to battle hard to clinch swing states that are vital for a substantial outcome. Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Texas and Georgia are amongst those states which are being closely watched by political pundits given their relevance in presidential elections, especially that of Florida which plays a key role nationally.

Approximately 100 million voters have already voted-in through early voting and it makes up around 73% of the total votes in 2016. This clearly indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on voting procedure with in-person turnout being lower than usual.

On another unusual note, numerous shops, hotels and restaurants have board up their windows with plywood in key cities across the United States over fears of civil unrest and violence previously witnessed in June 2020.

Being in District of Columbia region, I witnessed a sense of uncertainty amongst the general public with some businesses closing down early on election eve. The area has high support for Biden-Harris campaign yet there seems to be a genuine fear of post-election violence. The usually buzzing M Street in Georgetown had less commuters and almost every shop was being fortified. Heading to downtown DC region, major hotel chains such as Hyatt had taken similar precautionary measures.

One could say that this election has the potential to be the most polarising one in America’s history given how the country is drastically divided along liberal and conservative values with a touch of Neo-Nazism amongst certain rural Americans . Of course, one can’t entirely blame one side for such stark differences yet the onus remains on those leaders who chose to look the other way and let it simmer over the decades. The rise of President Trump four years ago cannot be considered some sort of an enigma given these factors.

The constant sabre-rattling between the two presidential candidates and controversies surrounding their families political and business dealings shows how imperfect they are. But do the Americans have alternative choices? Not by a long shot given how the Democrats missed a chance to rope in the widely revered Senator Bernie Sanders as their primary candidate (President Trump bluntly blamed them for his ouster as a viable candidate). Coming back to the elections, in the age of social media, disinformation campaign is perhaps at its peak and in some regions, the public and law enforcement agencies remain vigilant to counter situations where violence has the potential to take over American cities. This coincides with the fact that gun sales have surged over the months that could’ve been the result of June crisis. Whoever wins the presidential elections shall define the direction the country takes nationally and globally given its stature as a superpower.