Observer Report
Washington
With Joe Biden currently ahead in the polls, America will choose who will lead theire nation through one of the most turbulent times in US history.
The scourge of a global pandemic produced an election like no other in the US, persuading record numbers of Americans to cast their ballots early, forcing states to make changes to long-established election procedures, and leading to hundreds of lawsuits over how votes would be cast and which ballots will be counted.
A record turnout was expected by the end of Election Day, with as officials warn that millions of absentee ballots could slow the count later, perhaps for days, in some key battleground states and as President Donald Trump threatened legal action to prevent ballots from being counted after Election Day.
Problems occur every election, and today is no different. There have been long lines early in the day and sporadic reports of polling places opening late and equipment issues reported in counties in Georgia and Ohio.
At least 98.8 million people voted before Election Day, about 71 per cent of the nearly 139 million ballots cast during the entire 2016 presidential election, according to data collected by The Associated Press.
Given that a few states, including Texas, had already exceeded their total 2016 vote count, experts were predicting record turnout this year.
