Twenty years after the George Bush versus Al Gore case to decide the presidency of the United States, Americans are afraid that the 2020 US election may result in a similar impasse. The situation would arise if neither Republican incumbent Donald Trump or Democrat candidate Joe Biden would win by a clear majority of 270 electoral college votes.
What would happen in such a case, or in the event of Trump moving the Supreme Court if he is dissatisfied with the US 2020 election result? The President has already made public remarks calling into question the vote-counting in the election and saying he would move the Court to get his way. Check US election 2020 results live updates here
There’s a hushed concern in the US at the moment – what if the year 2020 sees a repeat of the nightmare that 2000 presidential election was? The world had to wait for 36 days to know who Americans had voted to power through a long-drawn constitutional process that ended up at the SC.
Hundreds of lawsuits have already been filed during the Trump-Biden race, primarily concerning the constitutionality of mail-in ballots. Vote counting so far indicates the race for presidency in 2020 is tight too, raising the chances of the US SC having to decide the winner of the 2020 US elections.
As of 8:15 pm IST, Joe Biden had secured 238 electoral college votes, while President Donald Trump was trailing with 213 votes secured. However, major 'swing' states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are yet to declare their results, which may turn the tide.
What had happened during the 2000 US election?
In the year 2000, the Republicans had fielded George W Bush, and the Democrats had fielded Albert Arnold Gore. Their presidential race was so close that the authorities had to order a manual recounting of votes in the tightly contested state of Florida. The Democrats had sought more time to recount all the ballots, but the Republicans had dubbed the recounting fraudulent.
The debacle had spiralled so much that the courts had to step in to arbitrate in the Bush versus Gore race, and the former was declared victorious by the SC after it awarded all 25 electoral votes of Florida to the Republican Party. George Bush was then named the President of the United States.
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