As the countdown to the US presidential election nears its end, Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign team has stated that if former President Donald Trump tries to prematurely declare victory, Democrats are prepared to swiftly counteract. Republican presidential candidate Trump hopes to see the results of his victory on election night. Will the election results be revealed on the night of November 5th? Mainstream media has already urged people to remain calm and patient while waiting for the vote count results.
In the history of US elections, on election night, mainstream media analyzes the real-time vote count results provided by election officials to determine which candidate from the two major parties won which states and tally how many electoral votes each candidate has secured. When a candidate reaches the threshold of 270 electoral votes first, the media typically declares that candidate as the winner.
When the majority of mainstream media declare the same candidate as the winner, the victor usually announces their victory in such an obvious scenario. In this case, the election result usually solidifies in the late night hours or early morning hours following the end of election day.
However, there was a significant change during the 2020 election. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many states allowed for a large number of mail-in ballots, some of which arrived after election day, significantly delaying the counting process.
Election experts have warned that this year’s election results may take several days to be known, especially if there are requests for recounts in key areas. Given the tight competition between Harris and Trump, a small number of votes could be crucial in determining the outcome.
As the 2024 election enters its final countdown, polls show that Trump holds a slight lead over Harris both nationally and in battleground states within the margin of error.
According to Reuters, in the week leading up to election day, Trump told the news agency that he hopes to declare victory on election night.
Harris’s campaign team and Democratic officials informed Reuters that if Trump tries to prematurely declare victory, they are prepared to respond swiftly.
Six Democratic and Harris campaign officials stated that initial action against Trump’s premature victory claim will take place in the court of public opinion. They plan to widely broadcast on social media and television, insisting that a winner should only be declared after all votes are counted.
A senior official of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) stated in an interview, “Once he (Trump) falsely declares victory, we are ready to stand up on TV and provide the truth, using a wide network of contacts and the influence of the internet to counteract.”
A senior official from Harris’s campaign team stated during a press call on November 1st (Friday) that they are “fully expecting” Trump to falsely claim victory on the following Tuesday night before all votes are counted.
The official said, “He did this before, he failed. If he does it again, he will fail.”
Harris mentioned in an interview with ABC on October 30th, “Unfortunately, if he does this, we are prepared. If we know he is actually manipulating the media and trying to manipulate the consensus of the American people, we are prepared to respond.”
Trump’s campaign team informed Reuters that President Trump will seek to secure all votes until the end of the voting process.
Bill Bean, a Trump supporter, told Reuters he hopes that whether it is Harris or Trump, whoever wins does so by a substantial margin, making the result more widely accepted.
Several political strategists have stated that Trump has consolidated his control over the Republican Party in recent years, which means that if he declares victory prematurely, many Republicans are likely to endorse his claims.
Chip Felkel, a long-time Republican strategist, told Reuters, “We have seen a lot of evidence that he (Trump) has complete control over the party… and we have not seen any evidence that party officials or elected officials within the party will push back against him.”
Reuters reported that Trump and his Republican allies claim that non-citizens would attempt to vote for Democrats, and they have prepared a team of lawyers to challenge the election results if such a scenario unfolds.
At Trump’s large campaign rallies, he often urges supporters to vote early and emphasizes the importance of each vote. Trump states they need to ensure their lead is “too big to manipulate.”
Officials from Michigan, one of the key battleground states in the US election, expressed concerns regarding potential delays in the vote count in the Democratic-leaning city of Warren, which could affect the initial vote count results on election night, potentially giving Trump an opportunity to prematurely declare victory.
Unlike most other cities in Detroit and Michigan, Warren chose not to adopt a state law passed in 2022 allowing for early processing of absentee ballots, which could delay the validation, tabulation, and statistics of over 20,000 mail-in ballots until election day on November 5th.
The potential delay in vote counting in Warren has raised concerns among some Democratic leaders, as it may disproportionately benefit Trump on election night in the overall tally for the state if he tries to declare victory before all votes are counted.
Mark Brewer, former Michigan Democratic Party chair and attorney, expressed his concerns to Reuters, stating, “If it’s a close race and we don’t have reports back from Warren, our third-largest city, that raises all kinds of concerns. It’s very, very worrisome.”
A week earlier, Warren City Clerk and non-partisan elected official Sonja Buffa requested the city council approve $140,000 for the purchase of a fifth high-speed tabulator to expedite the vote processing, indicating a desire to deliver timely vote count results. However, she later withdrew the request, proposing instead to rent a tabulator for $40,000 to address the issue.
According to the Michigan Secretary of State website, as of November 1st (Friday), Warren had received 27,480 absentee ballot applications, with 20,437 ballots returned. In the 2020 election, Biden received approximately 55% of the vote in Warren, defeating Trump.
Starting from October 28th (last Monday), Detroit began early processing of absentee ballots in a convention center downtown. Every day, hundreds of election workers can process around 11,000 mail-in ballots, leaving about 10,000 mail-in ballots to be processed by election day on November 5th.
Chris Thomas, former Michigan Election Director and Detroit Clerk advisor, expressed concerns to Reuters about how many days Warren would need to submit the vote count results.
Thomas said, “Processing a large number of absentee ballots in a major jurisdiction in a high-pressure, compressed timetable is not good… (Warren’s vote count data) could be one of the last to come and slow to come in.”