America on edge as nation decides between Trump and Biden

WASHINGTON: A bitterly divided America was going to the polls on Tuesday amid the worst pandemic in a century and an economic crisis to decide whether to give President Donald Trump four more years or send Democrat Joe Biden to the White House.

A record-breaking number of early votes -- more than 100 million -- have already been cast in an election that has the nation on edge and is being closely watched in capitals around the world.

The 77-year-old Biden, who served for eight years as vice president to Barack Obama, leads Republican incumbent Trump in national polls and in many of the battleground states that will decide the high-stakes race.

The first polls close in several eastern states at 7:00 pm (0000 GMT) but the winner may not be known on election night -- or possibly even for days because of the huge number of mail-in ballots that need to be counted.

Biden, the former senator from Delaware who is making his third bid for the presidency, began Election Day with a visit to the church where his son, Beau Biden, and first wife and daughter are buried, and to his childhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

"I want to restore basic decency and honor to the White House," a mask-wearing Biden told supporters through a bullhorn.

Trump, 74, dismissed the polls and said America will become a "socialist country" if Biden wins.

"I think we have a very solid chance of winning," Trump said on "Fox and Friends," his voice hoarse after addressing five rallies in three states on Monday on a hectic final day of campaigning.

"We think we're doing very well everywhere," he said. "The crowds have been incredible."

At the same time, Trump has cast doubt on the integrity of mail-in ballots and threatened legal challenges, claiming the only way he can lose is if the results are "rigged."

He dismissed reports, however, he may declare victory prematurely. "Only when there is victory," he said. "There is no reason to play games."

'Scary'

According to the US Elections Project, more than 100.2 million early votes have been cast in an election seen as a referendum on Trump's tumultuous first term.

More than 64.5 million are mail-in ballots and several key states -- including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- do not begin counting mail-in ballots until Election Day itself, fueling fears a final result could take days.

Many early votes are believed to have been cast by Democrats, and Trump is hoping for a massive wave of Republican supporters voting in person on Tuesday.

In Miami, Juan Carlos Bertran, a 60-year-old Cuban-American mechanic, said Trump "seems better to me for the country's economy."

"Now I have two jobs," he said. "Before I only had one."

Casting her vote in New York, Megan Byrnes-Borderan, 35, said Trump's threats to challenge the results were "part of why it is so scary."

"I believe that Trump will go through all odds to try to win the election," she said.

In Easton, Pennsylvania, Veronica Castro, 37, said she is voting "because we have to get Trump out."

"There's no way we can have four more years with him," she said.

The deep divisions sparked by the bruising election campaign are sure to leave one side disappointed and have sparked fears of unrest.

In Washington, New York and other cities, store owners have been boarding up their shops and law enforcement is on high alert.

Despite Covid-19 cases surging in more than half of the 50 US states, Trump, who suffered his own bout with the virus in early October, has sought to play down the health crisis and promised an economic comeback. "We're turning the corner," he said.

Trump also sought to focus attention on the financial dealings of Biden's son Hunter while his father was vice president but the issue failed to gain much traction beyond right-wing news outlets.

While no evidence has emerged of any wrongdoing by Biden, Trump himself is reportedly the target of investigations by prosecutors in New York.

He was impeached by the Democratic-majority House for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in January for seeking to dig up political dirt on Biden from Ukraine but acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate.

Biden focused his attacks on Trump's handling of the pandemic which has left more than 231,000 people dead in the United States.

"We're done with the chaos! We're done with the tweets, the anger, the hate, the failure, the irresponsibility," Biden said at an election eve rally in Cleveland, Ohio.

Republican Senate majority in play

Besides the White House, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are at stake, and Democrats are expected to hold and possibly expand their majority in the chamber.

Roughly one-third of the Senate is up for grabs and Republicans risk losing their 53-47 majority.

Biden, like Hillary Clinton in 2016, is expected to win the popular vote but it is the 538-member Electoral College that ultimately determines the winner of the White House race.

A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win and it may come down to voters in the tossup states of Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Trump is to host an election night party at the White House while Biden watches the returns at his home in Delaware with his vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, the California senator who is the first Black woman to appear on a major party ticket.

As voters went to the polls across the United States, the eyes of the world were on the fate of a norm-breaking president with the campaign slogan "America First."

Trump's first term featured strained relations with NATO allies, withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and World Health Organization and renunciation of the Iran nuclear deal.

Relations with China have also become increasingly tense with Trump blaming Beijing for the Covid-19 pandemic.