COMMENT | The fascinating US presidential election
COMMENT | At the time of writing, the 2020 presidential election in the United States of America is too close to call. Most media organisations in the US have put candidate Joe Biden, the former vice-president, at 253 electoral college votes against incumbent President Donald Trump who has 213.
To become president, a presidential candidate must reach 270 electoral college votes in the unique system that is practised in the United States.
Also at the time of writing, six states have yet to be declared...
COMMENT | At the time of writing, the 2020 presidential election in the United States of America is too close to call. Most media organisations in the US have put candidate Joe Biden, the former vice-president, at 253 electoral college votes against incumbent President Donald Trump who has 213.
To become president, a presidential candidate must reach 270 electoral college votes in the unique system that is practised in the United States.
Also at the time of writing, six states have yet to be declared; Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina and Alaska. By and large, Alaska is deemed to go Trump, but for the other five American states, the numbers are too close to call.
And again at the time of writing, Biden is leading in two of the five battleground states, while Trump is leading in three. However, Trump’s lead in Pennsylvania and Georgia are razor-thin; less than 1,500 votes in Georgia and only +0.3 percent in Pennsylvania. There is every possibility that Biden may overtake Trump and win these two States.
The converse is true for Arizona. Biden had led in that southern State ever since polls closed there, but his lead appears to be shrinking by the hour.
Be that as it may, at this time Biden seems to have a clearer path to the White House as opposed to his Republican rival.
The 2020 election saw record voter turnout. Based on popular vote, Biden has already received the highest number of votes in any presidential election in the history of the United States. Trump, despite trailing Biden in the popular vote, received the second-highest number of votes for any candidate in any presidential election.
This year, the biggest issue on the minds of the American voters is the Covid-19 pandemic. America is split between those who agree with Trump’s handling of the coronavirus and those who feel that he handled it poorly. The pandemic has hit the United States particularly hard, with daily numbers hitting six digits just recently.
This is also the reason why this year, the number of early voters and mail-in ballots are higher than usual. In the US, voters can cast their ballots by mail and this right is not reserved only for security personnel or overseas Americans.
It generally takes longer to count mail-in ballots compared to those cast on election day and is the reason why vote-counting in some states is taking a long time.
The US political system is a complex one, and apart from the Presidential election every four years there are other elections at every level, including the House of Representatives every two years and about a third of the senate every even year.
People around the world have keenly watched the presidential election. Whoever sits in the White House determines American policy. As Trump has demonstrated, American foreign policy has wide-ranging implications.
During his term, Trump has launched a trade war with China, pulled America out of the Paris climate change agreement and significantly altered American policy in the Middle East.
In a Biden victory, America would likely take a more diplomatic and softer approach, even if the fundamental policy on certain issues such as the conflict in Palestine might not change substantially. If Trump somehow snatches victory, we would likely see a continuation of the tumultuous relationship that America had with the rest of the world.
For us in Malaysia, while it would be unwise to find parallels between the situation in America and Malaysia without proper context, there are lessons which we can learn from the North American country. Debates between candidates, a recurring feature of American politics, have yet to be normalised here.
We can also take lessons from the polling system there, especially when it comes to postal ballots, especially if Covid-19 continues to be a threat in our country. Making it easier for people to exercise their democratic right without exposing themselves to the virus should be one of the issues we look into as priority.
If people feel that there is an option to cast their votes safely, without compromising the integrity of their vote, they will come out to vote and perhaps in greater numbers, as can be seen in the US elections.
SYAHREDZAN JOHAN is a civil liberties lawyer and political secretary to Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
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