Trump ahead with 95 electoral votes, Harris at 35

Washington, Nov 6 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Former US President Donald Trump has secured 95 electoral college votes and Vice-President Kamala Harris 35, according to projections by the Associated Press. The projections are basically in predictably partisan states that have historically voted either Democratic or Republican. They did not include any of the seven battleground states. Trump was projected to win Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee and Missouri. Harris was projected to take Vermont, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The winner needs to cross 270 of the 538 electoral college votes. These projections were announced shortly after the close of polling in some states, including Georgia, one of the seven battleground states that will determine the outcome of the 2024 race for President. These early projections are based on the history of polling in the state and are based on early trends that are not expected to change much through the night or later, on the completion of the full count of the polled votes. Early trends from Georgia will give the first real indication of how the contest will shape up. If Harris is ahead or looks set to win either Georgia or North Carolina — President Joe Biden won Georgia in 2020 — she will open up multiple pathways to the White House. If Trump wins both states, the race will come down to the three Blue Wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, which have been must-win states for Democrats since Trump breached the wall and won all three states to beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. More than 82 million American voters had already cast their ballot before Tuesday, called Election Day, either through in-person voting at early voting stations or through postal ballot. This was more than 51 per cent of the total of 158 million votes that were cast in 2020, at the height of a raging Covid-19 pandemic. Harris and Trump ended their campaign with rallies in Pennsylvania and Michigan respectively, also both battleground states. There are in all seven battleground states that will determine the 2024 White House race. Unlike others, they are neither solidly Democratic or Republican and they can swing between the two and are, therefore, also called the Swing States. They are Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. Biden had all of them but North Carolina in 2020 to beat Trump. —