A night of anticipation began with some of the first results trickling in from the state of Florida. And when it was clear the Sunshine State was tilting toward President Donald Trump, the race was on for the White House with a path for the president opening and the table set for a close race not to be decided by night’s end.
Democratic challenger Joe Biden also had wins and as night turned to early morning on the East Coast, the contentious 2020 presidential election remained centered the rust belt states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and Georgia, which appeared headed toward Trump’s win column but remained in play.
American elections are not won by polls or prognostications, as was evident in 2016, but by voters with the power to choose their leader. And in 2020, a record number of voters mailed in their ballots or went to the polls with a sense of urgency attending a presidential election conducted under the extraordinary shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.
The pandemic changed the way many people physically voted and became a key differentiator among the two candidates; Biden campaigned on Trump’s “failures” with the pandemic while Trump repeatedly championed his administration’s handling of COVID-19 the push for a vaccine and the desire to keep the economy running.
Shortly before 1 a.m. EST Biden took the stage to speak to his supporters in Delaware and a television audience seeking results that may not be finalized for days, if not weeks.
“Your patience is commendable,” he said, telling a crowd of supporters listening from their vehicles that he was optimistic and confident of victory. “We feel good about where we are. We really do. I’m here to tell you tonight we’re on track to win this election. We knew because of the unprecedented early vote that it was going to take a while. ... It ain’t over until every vote, every ballot is counted,” he said.
That immediately prompted a tweet from the president, promising to soon speak but issuing this: “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Poles (sic) are closed!” he said.
Trump won such Republican bastions as Arkansas, the Dakotas, Kentucky, South Carolina and West Virginia. Biden won California, the nation’s biggest electoral haul, and other predictable victories including Colorado and Virginia, two former battlegrounds that have become Democratic strongholds. Biden also won the Democratic-leaning states of Vermont, Virginia, his home state of Delaware and New Mexico.
Utahns, as expected, gave Donald Trump the victory with 58% of the vote with Biden claiming 39%. Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen claimed 2% of the vote.
As the political map began filling in, it came to resemble a red-blue checkerboard with the West Coast solidly blue, as was the Northeast. It showed the political divisions in a country that has dealt with racial unrest and an economy shaken by the coronavirus.
Most of those responding in exit polls said the efforts to contain the pandemic, which has killed more than 232,000 Americans, were going badly. The partisan division was stark: More than 4 in 5 Biden voters said efforts to fight the pandemic were going badly, while only 1 in 10 Trump supporters felt that way.
Asked about the trade-off between containing the pandemic and rebuilding the economy, over half believed controlling the pandemic was the more important of the two — which is largely the position Biden has taken.
Trump voters were more likely to cite the economy and crime and safety as their top priorities. Crime and violence on the streets resulting from a summer of protests became another key differentiator between the candidates.
Despite widespread fears of election-related violence, the voting Tuesday was mostly peaceful. Scattered reports showed some incidents of targeted misinformation and other mischief aimed at keeping voters from the polls, but those did nothing to dampen enthusiasm on a day many had circled in red ink.
Total voter turnout is expected to surpass records in many states and perhaps nationwide. Even before the polls opened Tuesday, more than 100 million Americans had cast their ballots in person or by mail, a measure of the enthusiasm on both sides and precautions some took to avoid the risk of COVID-19.
To ensure every one of those votes is counted, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Postal Service to sweep its facilities for outstanding ballots and rush the delivery of any that were found. Postal Service officials said they lacked the personnel to fully comply.
Voters were waiting outside polling places nationwide even before the sun rose; the lines they formed could be measured in terms of football fields, or city blocks.
Sisters Rubria Toscano, 74, and Martha Melcher, 67, waited three hours at a community center in Henderson, Nevada, just outside Las Vegas, to cast their ballots for Trump.
“We voted, we used our voices,” said Melcher, who wore a bright red fedora, on which she proudly placed an “I Voted” sticker.
Kamaria Brooks, 40, waited months until she felt it was safe to fly home from Houston, where she has sheltered during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Biden voter went straight from John Wayne Airport to her polling place in Irvine, California.
“I refused to miss today. I need my voice to be heard,” said Brooks, who was clad head to toe in Black Lives Matter regalia. “There’s a lot of stuff that impacts me and my community.”
Biden, making his third try for president at 77, was the front-runner in polls. But memories of four years ago, when surveys showed Trump behind Hillary Clinton, prevented any premature celebration by Democrats.
Trump spent election night in the family quarters of the White House. For all the fears of armed intimidation, marauding militias and other threats of Election Day violence, law enforcement officers and vote monitors reported nothing out of the ordinary.
Misdirection and misinformation occur in every election. But there was heightened concern this time, owing to Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and efforts by Trump to undermine confidence in the balloting by, among others things, making false claims about voter fraud and the illegitimacy of mail-in ballots.
In North Carolina and several other states, there were reports of anonymous callers telling people to “stay home and stay safe.” State election officials alerted the FBI and the Federal Election Commission.
In Michigan, voters in Republican-leaning Grand Rapids and Democratic-leaning Flint received phone calls wrongly stating they could be arrested for casting a ballot if they had an outstanding warrant. In Flint and Dearborn, which also leans Democratic, residents received text messages falsely warning of a printing error that required Biden supporters to fill in the Trump bubble on their ballots and suggesting long lines required waiting until after Tuesday to vote.
The Michigan attorney general’s office urged people to not be duped. “Do not fall for it, it’s a trick!” one tweet read.
Note: Deseret News reporters and The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.