US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris will assume office after the inauguration ceremony on January 20. Biden’s journey to White House has not been easy. Joe Biden became the first US presidential candidate to win more than 80 million votes.

Pre-polling

Before November 3, over 50 million Americans had voted using mail-in ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic. President Donald Trump, in his speeches, claimed that mail-in ballots would lead to fraud and should not be encouraged. In September, Trump said, “Mail ballots, they cheat. They are dangerous for this country because of cheaters.” He even proposed to delay the elections. There were also media reports suggesting that the President had opposed funding of the United States Postal Service to cause a delay in mail-in ballots.

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Polling and counting

The elections were conducted on November 3 amid the coronavirus pandemic in the US, the worst-affected nation by the pandemic. Days after the polls were closed, the counting of votes took over three days to complete and the delay fuelled tension across the nation.

US President Donald Trump accused Democrats of “engineering fraud and stealing the elections”.

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There was delay in counting of votes and it was widely expected, often for reasons specific to individual states. Over 90 million American voted by mail-in ballots and every state had different deadlines of receiving mail-in and absentee ballots, especially those coming from the military or other citizens living overseas.

Many states had different guidelines due to COVID-19 pandemic, and it meant more numbers of people counting votes.

Some places had unique factors delaying vote-counting such as Chatham County in tightly fought Georgia, where an election division and a registration board separately looked at ballots.

The Trump campaign used the delay to demand a halt to counting in states where it was behind. His campaign challenged the result in courts in six states, including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin. All states rejected Trump’s claim of fraud.

Post Counting

On December 14, the Electoral College confirmed Joe Biden as 46th president of the US. Biden won a majority of 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232.

Even after the Electoral College’s confirmation, Trump refused to concede. The drama continued till January 6, when the US Congress held a joint session to certify Biden’s win. Washington witnessed violence and pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building, forcing senators to halt the certification process. World leaders condemned the violence and global media accused Trump of instigating rioters. Social media giants, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, suspended his accounts. After the police force secured the Capitol Hill, Trump issued a statement assuring a peaceful transition.