Democracy on a knife edge - 6th November 2020

The fate of rivals Donald Trump and Joe Biden hung in the balance as the US presidency hinged on electoral college votes from a handful of states.

With Covid leading to early voting and absentee ballots being used in volumes hitherto unimaginable, there was record turnout at the polls although legal challenges have sought to suppress voting and invalidate mail-in ballots in battleground states.

Biden: "We knew because of the unprecedented early vote, and the mail-in vote, that it was going to take a while. We're going to have to be patient until we, the hard work of tallying the votes is finished. And it ain't over till every vote is counted, every ballot is counted."

Claiming victory prior to many swing states making declarations, President Trump levelled unsubstantiated accusations of electoral fraud in these states. Initiating legal proceedings, he's challenging their electoral laws in a bid to disqualify millions of postal ballots.

Trump: "We were winning everything and all of a sudden it was just called off. The results tonight have been phenomenal and we are getting ready, I mean literally, we were just all set to get outside and just celebrate something that was so beautiful, so good. Such a vote, such a success."

Characterising Trump's actions as authoritarian, Mr Biden spoke of the will of the people.

Biden: "As I've said all along, it's not my place or Donald Trump's place to declare who's won this election. That's the decision of the American people. But I'm optimistic about this outcome."

Selecting the president using the electoral college system means that it is not necessarily the candidate with the highest vote tally that wins. Republicans George W Bush and Donald Trump secured the presidency despite the Democrat candidate winning the popular vote. It left this election too close to call although Biden has more votes than any presidential candidate in history.