Donald Trump asks early voters to go and change their vote, 'changing it to me'

WASHINGTON, Oct 28: With polling just a few days away, the Republican-Democratic fight is getting close and 'hand-to-hand'. Observers now see a nip and tuck contest at the hustings despite a swing to Democratic hopeful Joe Biden all along.

Getting animated over an apparent change of heart among the electorate, Donald Trump in his last ditch effort has appealed to early voters who have already cast their vote (if it is for Biden) to go and get it changed in his favour. This comes in the background of the belief that early voters by and large leaned towards the Democrats, especially in the context of the pandemic this time. While the Democrats comply with the corona restrictions, the Republicans see it as violation of their freedom. They don't even wear the mask.

As "can I change my vote after mail in" searches surged on Google, President Donald Trump tweeted, "Strongly Trending (Google) since immediately after the second debate is CAN I CHANGE MY VOTE? This refers changing it to me. The answer in most states is YES. Go do it. Most important Election of your life!" — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2020.

This is not the first time. He had done it earlier also, making similar comments in the 2016 election, asking people to "change your vote to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" if they thought voting for the then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was a "big mistake."

According to US electoral rules that differs from State to State, in some States voters are allowed a change of heart and submit a new, revised ballot in the case of early voting. Although the final voting day is November 3, voting starts even a month early in some States, both mail-in and in-person voting. It is called early voting. New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Mississippi are among States which will allow voters to change early votes. The voter cannot change his choice in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Arizona.

Over sixty million Americans are estimated to have exercised their franchise till Monday by opting for the early voting system (about half of the turnout last time). Last time, in 2016, the voter population was 25,00,56,000 out of which 13,88,47,000 cast their vote. The turnout was, as usual for several years, just around 55%.

According to political observers, this time most voters who opt for early voting must be those who wanted to keep away from polling day (November 3) crowd in view of coronavirus. And those who follow coronavirus guidelines are Democrats while Republicans have been opposed to restrictions as they claimed it restricts their individual freedom as well as economic activities. There have been widespread violence in many States against restrictions and those health workers who tried to enforce the rules. There were instances of health officials quitting their jobs en masse reacting to attacks on them. This violence by Republican supporters were quite rampant in California, Florida, Texas, Ohio and Washington. Reactionary thinking and abhorrence of science and reason is rampant among the ranks of Republican party which follows conservative religious and political philosophy harbouring elements like White Supremacists as opposed to the rational convictions of liberal Democrats. It flows from this divergence, and it is widely stated by independent observers, that most of those who opted for early voting are Democrats.

Early voting is done by mail-in ballot and in-person voting. The system of voting varies from State to State in the US and the Federal Government has no role in conducting the polls or counting the votes. The result too is not decided by majority votes at the national level. Else, Hillary Clinton had secured more than 50 per cent of Americam votes in 2016 but Donald Trump became the President. Votes for the Presidential candidate is given by the States in a system called electoral college.

The only federal authority that can exercise powers in the conduct of election and results is the Supreme Court. It is to the advantage of the President that filling of the apex court posts is done by the President with the approval of the Senate, if at all vacancies arise. And so was it done in a hurry last week in the case of Amy Coney Barrett, taking the conservative composition of the Supreme Court to 6 to 3 majority.

Meanwhile, the court by a 5 to 3 conservative majority on Monday night barred Wisconsin from counting postal ballots coming after November 3. The Democrats' request was rejected. Thereby, invalidating quite a number of ballots, thought to be of Democrats, and indirectly helping the Republicans. The Democrats alleged it is "judicial activism."