North Korean troops in Russian uniforms are heading toward Ukraine, US says
North Korean troops in Russian uniforms are heading toward Ukraine, US says/node/2577477/world
North Korean troops in Russian uniforms are heading toward Ukraine, US says
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US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun participate in a press briefing at The Pentagon on Oct. 30, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia. (Getty Images via AFP)
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US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun participate in a press briefing at The Pentagon on October 30, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia. (Getty Images via AFP)
North Korean troops in Russian uniforms are heading toward Ukraine, US says
“They’re doing this because (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has lost a lot of troops,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said
S.Korean defense chief said the deployment “can result in the escalation of the security threats on the Korean peninsula”
Updated 54 sec ago
AP
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that North Korean troops wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian equipment are moving toward Ukraine, in what he called a dangerous and destabilizing development.
Austin was speaking at a press conference in Washington with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, as concerns grow about Pyongyang’s deployment of as many as 12,000 troops to Russia.
The US and South Korea say some of the North Korean troops are heading to Russia’s Kursk region on the border with Ukraine, where the Kremlin’s forces have struggled to push back a Ukrainian incursion.
Some North Korean advance units have already arrived in the Kursk region, and Austin said “the likelihood is pretty high” that Russia will use the troops in combat.
North Korea’s move to tighten its relationship with Russia has triggered alarms across the globe, as leaders worry about how it may expand the war in Ukraine and what Russian military aid will be delivered to Pyongyang in exchange.
Ukraine’s UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya, speaking at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday, said they expect as many as 4,500 North Korean troops to be at the border this week and to begin directly participating in combat operations against Ukrainian forces in November.
Austin said officials are discussing what to do about the deployment, which he said has the potential to broaden or lengthen the conflict in Ukraine. Asked if it could prompt other nations to get more directly involved in the conflict, he acknowledged that it could “encourage others to take action” but provided no details.
“This is something that we’re going to continue to watch, and we’re going to continue to work with our allies and partners to discourage Russia from employing these troops in combat,” Austin said.
Kim said he doesn’t necessarily believe the deployment will trigger war on the Korean Peninsula but could increase security threats.
There is a “high possibility” that Pyongyang would ask for higher technologies in exchange for its troops, such as receiving tactical nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, he said through an interpreter.
Both Kim and Austin called on North Korea to withdraw its troops.
Russia has had to shift some resources to the Kursk border region to respond to Ukraine’s offensive. US leaders have suggested that the use of North Korean forces to augment Russia’s defenses indicates that Moscow’s losses during the more than two-year war have significantly degraded its military strength.
“They’re doing this because (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has lost a lot of troops,” Austin said, adding that Moscow has a choice between mobilizing more of its own forces or turning to others for help.
Already, he noted, Russia has sought military weapons from other nations. Those include North Korea and Iran.
The US has estimated there are about 10,000 North Korean troops now in Russia. But others have put the number higher. And Kyslytsya provided an array of more specific numbers and details to the UN Security Council.
The Ukrainian ambassador said up to 12,000 North Koreans were being trained at five bases in eastern Russia, including at least 500 officers and three generals from the General Staff.
In addition to wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian small arms, Kyslytsya said they will be provided with Russian identity documents, “notably to conceal their presence.” He said they are expected to be integrated into units manned by Russia’s ethnic Asian minorities, including Buryats.
North Korea’s UN Ambassador Kim Song defended his country’s growing military cooperation with Russia and said Pyongyang stood ready to respond if Russia’s “sovereignty and security interests” were threatened.
Earlier, a senior South Korean presidential official, who spoke on condition of anonymity during a background briefing, said that more than 3,000 of the North Korean forces are believed to have moved toward combat zones in western Russia.
A Ukrainian official told The Associated Press that North Korean troops are stationed 50 kilometers (30 miles) away from the Ukrainian border with Russia. The official, was not authorized to disclose the information publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, did not provide any additional detail.
North Korea also has provided munitions to Russia, and earlier this month, the White House released images it said were of North Korea shipping 1,000 containers of military equipment there by rail.
A key worrisome question is what North Korea will get in return for providing the troops. But officials have yet to say specifically what Pyongyang may have requested or Moscow has offered.
In their meeting at the Pentagon, Kim and Austin agreed to continue large-scale military exercises, increase cooperation on nuclear deterrence and upgrade their abilities to deter and respond to North Korean missile launches by improving early launch warning systems, according to a fact sheet released by the Pentagon on Wednesday.
Austin and Kim are scheduled to meet Thursday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul at the State Department.
Kamala Harris promises to ‘represent all Americans’ after Biden’s remark on Trump supporters and ‘garbage’
Biden's off script remark causing a distraction for Harris in campaign’s home stretch
Republicans seized on Biden’s comments, saying they were an echo Hillary Clinton's remarks in 2016 that half of Trump’s supporters belonged in a “basket of deplorables”
Updated 12 min 4 sec ago
AP
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania: Kamala Harris called Wednesday for Americans to “stop pointing fingers at each other” as she tried to push past comments made by President Joe Biden about Donald Trump’s supporters and “garbage ” and keep the focus on her Republican opponent in the closing days of the race.
“We know we have an opportunity in this election to turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump, who has been trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other,” the Democratic nominee said.
Harris was holding rallies in a trio of battleground states as part of a blitz in the closing week of the election, with stops Wednesday in Raleigh, North Carolina; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Madison, Wisconsin.
She stressed unity and common ground, expanding on her capstone speech Tuesday in Washington, where she laid out what her team called the “closing argument” of her campaign.
“I am not looking to score political points,” the vice president said. “I am looking to make progress.”
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at a campaign event at the PA Farm Show Complex and Expo Center on Oct. 30, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (AP)
As she waited for Harris to take the stage in Raleigh, 35-year-old Liz Kazal said she was “cautiously optimistic” about the election. She’s tried to volunteer for the campaign every week, including making phone calls, knocking on doors with her toddler daughter and raising money for Harris’ candidacy.
“You hope for the best and plan for the worst,” Kazal said.
Meanwhile, the White House rushed to explain that the president’s comment about “garbage” was a reference to rhetoric from Trump allies, not Trump’s supporters themselves. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden “does not view Trump supporters or anybody who supports Trump as garbage.”
The controversy began Tuesday — at the same time Harris was speaking near the White House — when Biden participated in a campaign call organized by the Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino. Biden used the opportunity to criticize Sunday’s Madison Square Garden rally, where a comedian described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” Biden said. “It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
Harris told reporters before boarding Air Force Two for her flight to Raleigh that she disagrees “with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”
“I will represent all Americans, including those who don’t vote for me,” she said.
Her words were an attempt to blunt the controversy over Biden’s comments and put some distance between herself and the president, something she has struggled with in the past.
Biden’s remarks prompted Harris on Tuesday to say that she strongly disagreed “with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”
Her aides were already frustrated by another Biden gaffe last week, when, speaking about Trump, he told Democratic campaign workers in New Hampshire that “We got to lock him up.”
He quickly caught himself to add: “Politically lock him up. Lock him out. That’s what we have to do.”
Harris supporters often chant “lock him up” at her rallies, a reference to Trump’s many ongoing criminal cases but also a nod to his own 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton, when his supporters chanted “lock her up.”
Harris always quiets the chant, telling the crowd: “The courts will take care of that. We’ll take care of November.”
Biden goes off script
It’s not the first time Biden has created problems by going off script. But the latest incident served as a particular distraction just as Harris was trying to deliver a high-profile “closing argument’ for her campaign emphasizing the need to unify the country after Trump’s divisiveness.
Shortly before Harris was about to speak Tuesday night to a massive rally crowd on a stretch of grass not far from the White House, Biden got on a call with a Hispanic advocacy group and commented on a comic’s recent insults at a Trump rally where he referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
US President Joe Biden playfully bites a baby during a trick-or-treaters celebration for a Halloween at the White House in Washington on Oct. 30, 2024. (REUTERS)
Biden said: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
The president quickly sent out a social media post seeking to clarify his remarks about Trump. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable,” Biden said. “That’s all I meant to say.”
But his sharp words were quickly seized on by Republicans who said he was denigrating Trump supporters.
Biden, who withdrew from the presidential race in July following a disastrous debate performance and near mutiny within his own party, has been largely absent from the campaign trail since then. But he’s intent on maintaining his relevance and cementing his legacy, and he has stepped up his political activity in recent days even as many in his party appear to be keeping their distance from him.
He has also stepped on her events at times. He made a surprise address to reporters in the White House briefing room just as Harris was about to go onstage in Michigan, and spoke from the Oval Office on Hurricane Helene, just Harris scrapped campaign events in Las Vegas to hurry back to Washington for a briefing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Harris, for her part, has been trying to differentiate herself from her unpopular boss. And she has been actively courting Republican voters.
“They’ve treated you like garbage”
Republicans claimed Biden’s comments were an echo of the time when Hillary Clinton, as the Democratic nominee in 2016, said half of Trump’s supporters belonged in a “basket of deplorables.”
“We know what they believe. Because look how they’ve treated you,” Trump said at his rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on Wednesday. “They’ve treated you like garbage. The truth is, they’ve treated our whole country like garbage.”
He also said, “Without question, my supporters are far higher-quality than Crooked Joe’s,” using his nickname for the president.
After landing in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for another rally later in the day, Trump posed for photos while wearing a neon orange and yellow vest and sitting in the passenger seat of a garbage truck festooned with American flags and campaign signs.
“How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump said as he took questions from reporters.
“Joe Biden should be ashamed of himself, if he knows what he’s even doing,” Trump said.
Travis Waters, 54, who attended Harris’ second rally of the day in Harrisburg, shrugged off the commotion over Biden’s comments.
“Donald Trump has said so much about so many other groups and I don’t hear the media having the same outrage,” Waters said.
Trump's demonizing rhetoric glossed over
In attacking Biden — and by extension, Harris — Republicans have glossed over Trump’s own history of insulting and demonizing rhetoric, such as calling the United States a “garbage can for the world” or describing political opponents as “the enemy within.” Trump has also described Harris as a “stupid person” and “lazy as hell,” and he’s questioned whether she was on drugs.
Trump has also refused demands to apologize for the comment about Puerto Rico at his rally, acknowledging that “somebody said some bad things” but adding that he “can’t imagine it’s a big deal.”
Political attack lines have a history of occasionally boomeranging back on people who use them. For example, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, now Trump’s running mate, once described Democrats as beholden to “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.”
Vance’s 3-year-old comments resurfaced once he became the vice presidential nominee, energizing Harris supporters who repurposed the label as a point of pride on shirts and bumper stickers — much like Trump’s supporters once cheerfully branded themselves as “deplorables.”
On Wednesday morning, Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, downplayed Biden’s comments in television interviews.
“Let’s be very clear, the vice president and I have made it absolutely clear that we want everyone as a part of this,” he told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric is what needs to end.”
In Harrisburg, Harris parried repeated interruptions from pro-Palestinian protesters objecting to her support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
“Ours is about a fight for democracy and your right to be heard,” Harris said as one protester shouted. “That is what is on the line in this election.”
She added: “Look everybody has a right to be heard, but right now I am speaking.”
Russian bomb hits residential building in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, 17 injured, major damage
Updated 48 min 59 sec ago
Reuters
A Russian guided bomb struck a high-rise apartment block on Wednesday evening in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, injuring at least 17 people, including three trapped under rubble, and badly damaging the building, officials said.
Kharkiv region governor Oleh Syniehubov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the impact triggered a fire and destroyed most of one entrance to the building.
He said 17 people were injured, included three trapped under rubble. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov put the injury toll at 18.
Pictures posted online showed firefighters tackling a blaze outside the building, with entire sections of the nine-story structure collapsed into rubble.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack underscored the need for more military aid from Ukraine’s Western allies.
“Our partners can see what is happening every day,” he wrote on Telegram. “And in these conditions, every decision that is put off means, at the very least, dozens of lives and hundreds of Russian bombs used against Ukraine.”
Kharkiv remained in Ukrainian hands through the initial failed advance of Russian forces on the capital Kyiv in the early days of the February 2022 invasion. It has since become a frequent target of Russian air attacks.
SEDAVI, Spain: Spain braced for a heavier human toll on Wednesday after 95 people died in flash floods that launched muddy waters through towns, tossed cars and wreaked transport havoc.
Rescuers were expected to find more bodies in the European country’s deadliest flood in more than 50 years and three days of official mourning were due to start on Thursday.
Heavy downpours and fierce winds have lashed Spain since the beginning of the week after a storm formed over the Mediterranean Sea, with up to a year’s worth of rain falling in just hours in some areas.
The body coordinating emergency services in the eastern Valencia region announced a provisional death toll of 92, adding that bodies were still being recovered and identified.
Two people died in neighboring Castilla-La Mancha and another victim was reported in Andalusia in the south, both regions’ leaders told journalists.
The toll is likely to rise because “there are many missing people,” government minister Angel Victor Torres told public broadcaster TVE.
The head of the Valencia region, Carlos Mazon, told reporters there were no longer people to save from roofs or terraces through aerial means.
Emergency services carried out 200 rescues on the ground and 70 aerial evacuations throughout the day, he said.
A sea of piled-up cars and mud swamped streets in Sedavi, a suburb of the Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia, AFP journalists saw.
Stunned residents attempted to clean the sludge and grabbed buckets to bail out water from their homes ahead of a long night without water or electricity.
In Ribarroja del Turia on the outskirts of Valencia city, town councillor Esther Gomez said workers were stuck overnight in an industrial estate “without a chance of rescuing them” as streams overflowed.
“It had been a long time since this happened and we’re scared,” she told AFP.
According to Spain’s weather service AEMET, the town of Chiva, west of Valencia, recorded 491 mm of rain in just eight hours on Tuesday — almost equalling a year’s worth.
“All of Spain weeps with all of you... We won’t abandon you,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told victims and their families in a televised address.
The disaster could not be considered over and “we will deploy all the necessary resources for as long as necessary so that we can recover from this tragedy,” he added.
King Felipe VI said he was “devastated” by the news on X and offered “heartfelt condolences” to families of the victims, thanking emergency services for their “titanic” response.
Damage to telephone networks and flooded roads were hampering efforts to reach stricken communities in the Valencia region, but rescuers’ access to all urban hubs was restored by Wednesday evening, Mazon said.
Some 155,000 homes were without electricity in Valencia region due to the storm, energy company Iberdrola said, adding that it had dispatched 500 workers to restore power there.
Defense Minister Margarita Robles told reporters more than 1,000 troops backed by helicopters were being deployed in the face of “an unprecedented phenomenon.”
The European Union activated its Copernicus satellite system to help coordinate Spanish rescue teams, commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told a news conference in Brussels.
The bloc has also offered to use its civil protection mechanism to send further reinforcements, she said.
Officials in the Valencia region announced survivors were being sheltered in temporary accommodation such as fire stations.
Rail and air transport remained severely disrupted. The high-speed line between Valencia and Madrid will be suspended over the next four days at least, rail infrastructure authority Adif announced.
Some downpours are expected to continue, but AEMET removed all remaining red alerts in the evening.
The flood toll is Spain’s deadliest since 1973 when at least 150 people were estimated to have died in the southeastern provinces of Granada, Murcia and Almeria.
Meteorologists have said the latest storm was caused by cold air moving over Mediterranean’s warm waters, which produced intense rain clouds, a phenomenon common for the time of year.
Scientists warn extreme weather events such as storms are becoming more intense, last longer and occur more frequently as a result of human-induced climate change.
Such extremes “can overwhelm the ability of existing defenses and contingency plans to cope, even in a relatively wealthy country like Spain,” said Leslie Mabon, senior lecturer in environmental systems at Britain’s Open University.
The heavy death toll came after warnings for extreme rainfall, suggesting Valencia’s flood alert system failed, said Hannah Cloke, hydrology professor at the University of Reading.
Reports on N.Korean troops ‘barefaced lies’: Russian UN envoy
Updated 31 October 2024
AFP
UNITED NATIONS: Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations on Wednesday denied reports that North Korean troops were present at its front lines in the war against Ukraine, calling them “barefaced lies.”
Vassily Nebenzia accused Washington and London of “disinformation” and insisted that Moscow’s interaction with North Korea has followed international law.
“These statements about the North Korean soldiers in our front should not surprise no one, because they’re all barefaced lies,” he told the Security Council.
Nebenzia spoke after the United States alleged that up to 10,000 North Korean soldiers had been deployed to Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, for possible action against Ukrainian forces.
On Tuesday the Pentagon said it had indications that a “small number” of North Korean troops had been deployed to Russia’s Kursk region, on the border with Ukraine.
Russia and North Korea have deepened their political and military alliance as the Ukraine war has dragged on, but sending Pyongyang’s troops into combat against Kyiv’s forces would mark a significant escalation that has sparked widespread international concern.
Even if the US allegations were true, Nebenzia said, “why is it that the United States and allies are trying to impose on everyone the flawed logic that they have the right to help the Zelensky regime... and Russian allies have no right” to do the same.
Nebenzia said Russia’s interaction with North Korea “in the military and other areas is in line with international law and is not a violation of it.”
However, other members of the Security Council expressed concern.
British ambassador Barbara Woodward warned of the benefits Pyongyang could derive from Moscow, in particular military assistance, which “risks further raising tensions on the Korean peninsula” and undermining security in the Indo-Pacific region.
If North Korean troops are indeed deployed in Russia, it would be seen as “a hostile act with direct consequences for European security, international peace and security, and would only increase the suffering of the Ukrainian people,” French ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said.
The United Nations said it had followed the allegations with “serious concern.”
“The United Nations does not have any additional details on these developments and is not in a position to verify or confirm claims or reports made,” said Miroslav Jenca, UN Under-Secretary-General for Europe.
How the US election works, from how ballots are counted to when we will know the result
With its electoral college system, staggered results, and early voting options, understanding how the election functions can be daunting
To cut through the jargon and complexities of the democratic process, here is a breakdown of all you need to know to survive election day
Updated 31 October 2024
GABRIELE MALVISI
LONDON: Early voting has already begun in the US to decide who will form the next administration in what many believe is among the most consequential — and hotly contested — elections in a generation.
Almost every poll published over the past week has placed the two main contenders, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, neck and neck in the race for the White House.
Analysts predict the result could come down to just a handful of votes. The outcome could have huge implications not only for domestic policy, but also for the international order.
With extensive media coverage, election jargon, and an overwhelming volume of information, understanding the process can feel daunting. Here is a breakdown of all you need to know to survive election day.
The polls
Polls are often excellent indicators of general voter sentiment. However, recent US elections have shown they are far from foolproof.
In 2016, almost every major polling firm predicted Hillary Clinton would defeat Donald Trump. However, pollsters failed to capture Trump’s unexpected support, leading to a surprise victory that confounded many.
In 2020, polls correctly tipped Joe Biden as the likely winner, but underestimated the actual vote share Trump would receive. In the week before the election, polls gave Biden a seven-point lead, yet Trump managed to close the gap by several points on Election Day.
With most polls indicating a close race on Tuesday, many are wondering whether the pollsters have got it right this time around.
Electoral college
About 244 million Americans are eligible to vote in this year’s election. If the turnout matches 2020’s record 67 percent, about 162 million ballots will be cast across 50 states.
People cast their ballots during early in-person voting on Oct. 30, 2024, in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP)
A recent Arab News-YouGov poll indicated that Arab Americans are likely to vote in record numbers, with more than 80 percent of eligible voters saying they intend to participate — potentially swinging the outcome in several key states.
When voters cast their ballots, they do not vote directly for their preferred presidential candidate. Rather, they vote for a slate of “electors” who formally choose the president — a process known as the electoral college system.
Due to the quirks of this system, the candidate with the most votes nationally may not necessarily win the presidency. This was the case with Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Al Gore in 2000, both of whom won the popular vote but lost the election.
Former US Vice President Al Gore (left) won the popular vote in 2000 and so did former US first lady and senator Hilary Clinton in the 2016 election. But both lost the race because their rivals won more electoral votes. (AFP/File photos)l
The electoral college creates what could be defined as 51 mini elections — one in each state and another for Washington, D.C. In 48 states and D.C., the candidate with the majority vote takes all the electors from that state.
However, Maine and Nebraska have a different system, allocating electors by district, meaning their electoral votes may be split between candidates.
In total, 538 electors are distributed among the states. A candidate must secure at least 270 of these to win the presidency.
In the unlikely case that no candidate has the required 270 electoral college votes, then a contingent election takes place. This means the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the US Congress, votes for the president.
How votes are counted
When the polls close on election day, the count begins. In most cases, in-person votes are counted first, followed by early and mail-in ballots.
Results from smaller or less contested states often come in early, while larger, key battleground states like Pennsylvania or Georgia may take hours — or days — to finalize due to stringent verification steps, including signature checks and ballot preparation for electronic scanning.
Jessica Garofolo (L), administrative services director for Allegheny County, demonstrates how the high-speed ballot scanner for mail-in ballots works during a media tour of the Allegheny County election warehouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 30, 2024. (AFP)
States like Florida, where mail-in ballots are processed in advance, may report results relatively quickly. Other states, particularly those with late processing times for absentee ballots, might not finalize their tallies until days later.
State and local poll officials collect, verify, and certify the popular vote in each jurisdiction, following procedures for accuracy before final certification by governors and designated officials.
In response to unprecedented threats in 2020, many polling stations have now installed panic buttons, bulletproof glass and armed security to ensure safety across the more than 90,000 polling sites nationwide.
This combination image shows smoke pouring out of a ballot box on Oct. 28, 2024, in Vancouver, Washington (left) and a damaged ballot drop box displayed at the Multnomah County Elections Division office on Oct. 28, 2024, in Portland, Oregon. (KGW8 via AP/AP)
Mail-in and early votes
Although election day is held on the first Tuesday after Nov. 1, many Americans vote early. Early voting allows citizens to cast ballots in person, while others opt for mail-in ballots.
This year, early and mail-in voting are once again expected to play a crucial role, with millions of ballots already cast. President Biden voted early on Monday in his home state of Delaware.
US President Joe Biden casts his early-voting ballot in the 2024 general election in New Castle, Delaware, on October 28, 2024. (AFP)
States vary in how they handle mail-in ballots, with some processing them before election day and others waiting until polls close. In closely contested states, the volume of mail-in ballots could be a decisive factor, potentially delaying results.
Voting by mail has grown in popularity. According to ABC News, as of Tuesday, more than 25.6 million Americans have already returned mail ballots, and more than 65 million — including military personnel serving overseas — have requested absentee ballots.
In 2020, a comparable number voted by mail, though the COVID-19 pandemic significantly increased reliance on this option.
A voter casts her ballot during the early voting period on October 29, 2024 in the city of Dearborn in Michigan state. (Getty Images via AFP)
Despite its growing popularity, the mail-in voting system has faced accusations of fraud. During the last election, authorities and the postal service were strained by millions of extra ballots.
At the time, Trump said that mail-in voting was a “disaster” and “a whole big scam,” claiming that the Democrats had exploited the system to “steal” the election. The Democrats claim those allegations contributed to the Capitol Hill attack of Jan. 6, 2021.
This election cycle, some states, including Michigan and Nevada, have passed laws permitting early counting of mail-in ballots, which should lead to faster results. However, most states’ absentee voting policies have seen minimal changes, leaving tensions high.
Authorities are closely monitoring the process. In a sign of just how tense the situation has become, officials announced on Tuesday that they were searching for suspects after hundreds of votes deposited in two ballot drop boxes in the Pacific Northwest were destroyed by fire.
When will a winner be declared?
Indiana and Kentucky will be the first states to close their polls at 6 pm ET, followed by seven more states an hour later, including the battleground state of Georgia, which in 2020 voted for Biden. North Carolina, another critical swing state which picked Trump last time around, closes at 7:30 pm ET.
Supporters of US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris cheer during a Get Out the Vote rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Oct. 30, 2024. (AFP)
By around 8 p.m. ET, many states will have reported results, most of which are expected to follow traditional patterns. However, early results in solid Republican states like South Carolina could hint at trends in neighboring battlegrounds like Georgia.
By 9 p.m. ET, polls in key swing states such as Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan close, with results trickling in soon after. By midnight ET, most of the nation will have reported, with Hawaii and Alaska closing shortly after, likely providing a clearer picture.
Pennsylvania, which is seen as a bellwether of the overall election outcome, aims to announce its results by early morning on Nov. 6.
The timing of a winner declaration ultimately depends on how close the race is in these key states. If one candidate establishes a clear lead in pivotal swing states early, a winner could be projected by major networks, as Fox News controversially did in 2020, calling Arizona for Biden hours ahead of other broadcasters.
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump dances as he leaves a campaign rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on Oct. 30, 2024. (AFP)
If the race remains tight in crucial states like Pennsylvania, Arizona, or Michigan — all won by Biden last time around — the results may be delayed, possibly into the next day or later.
In 2020, it took four days to project Biden’s win due to a high volume of mail-in ballots. Experts caution that similarly close results this year could lead to a comparable delay.
Possible controversy
As in previous years, the outcome of the election will likely be contested. Delays in ballot counting, especially from mail-in votes, could fuel disputes in states where margins are tight.
Mail-in ballots are secured inside a cage before election day, as officials host a media tour of the Allegheny County election warehouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 30, 2024. (AFP)
Both parties have prepared legal teams to challenge issues surrounding ballot validity, recounts, or other contested results.
Concerns over voter intimidation, misinformation and unsubstantiated allegations of fraud may further stoke tensions, despite the rigorous safeguards put in place.
In its latest assessment, the International Crisis Group noted that while conditions differ from 2020, political divisions remain sharp and risks of unrest remain high, especially if results are contested or take days to finalize.
As the world watches Tuesday’s election closely, there is widespread hope for a fair and peaceful process, marking a fitting conclusion to this tense political season.
