Trump and Biden conclude election campaigns: Uncertain outcome until the last vote

(Patria) – US President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden will hold their final campaign rallies on Monday, concluding campaigns in a long and fierce battle for the support of American citizens.

On the last day of the election race, Trump will hold rallies in four states – North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

At the same time, Biden faces the challenge of securing voter support in Ohio and Pennsylvania to maintain his lead over Trump, as indicated by pre-election polls.

Nevertheless, Trump still has a strong chance of securing the 270 electoral votes needed to win, as determined by the Electoral College.

In 2016, he won support in the same states, giving him an advantage over then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, although poll results suggest Biden could win them back for the Democrats.

Trump will formally conclude his campaign in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the same venue where he ended his 2016 campaign, with a rally scheduled for after midnight on Election Day, Reuters reports.

Biden, along with his running mate Kamala Harris and their spouses, will spend the final day of the campaign in Pennsylvania, splitting their efforts to cover four corners of the country that are crucial for Biden.

Former US Vice President Joe Biden has held rallies almost exclusively in states that Trump won in 2016, criticizing his response to the pandemic, which has been the main theme of all his speeches.

Biden has accused Trump of giving up the fight against the pandemic, which has claimed over 230,000 lives in the US and cost the American economy more than a million jobs.

Meanwhile, Trump has promised economic recovery and a vaccine against the coronavirus, which leading US infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci claims could become available by late December or early January.

Trump has repeatedly questioned the integrity of the elections, calling the counting of votes after Election Day a 'terrible thing,' and suggesting his lawyers would take care of it.

By the final day of the election campaign, around 60 million Americans had already voted by mail, and in some states, it will take several days, even weeks, to count the votes – which will only delay the declaration of a winner.

"I think it's not fair to wait so long (for the result) after the election," Trump told reporters.

In some states like Pennsylvania, mail-in ballots will not even be processed until Election Day, which will significantly slow down the process.

Trump has repeatedly warned that mail-in voting is fertile ground for fraud, although election experts claim such cases are rare, at least in US elections. This method of voting is common in US elections; in the previous election in 2016, one in four votes was cast by mail.

Democrats advocate for mail-in voting due to the coronavirus pandemic, while Trump and his Republican Party are counting on a large, traditional turnout on Election Day.

According to data from the U.S. Elections Project, a record 92.2 million early votes have already been cast by mail or in person, representing about 40% of voters. The same organization predicts that the final turnout could reach 65%, which would be the highest since 1908.