[ 2016-11-08 ]

The world’s attention on USA elections
THE attention of the world is focused on the
outcome of the United States of America today as
the country votes to elect a new president.

Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald
Trump criss-crossed the country yesterday as they
raced to sway undecided voters in a tight U.S.
presidential race that has Clinton with a narrow
lead, according to opinion polls.

With only one day left before Election Day, the
Clinton campaign was boosted by Sunday's
unexpected FBI announcement that it stood by its
July decision not to press any criminal charges in
an investigation of Clinton's email practices.

A Fox News opinion poll yesterday had former
Secretary of State Clinton leading Trump, a
wealthy New York real estate developer, by four
percentage points among likely voters.

Financial markets brightened yesterday in reaction
to the latest twists in what has been a
roller-coaster presidential campaign. Stocks and
the dollar posted their biggest gains in weeks
after Sunday's FBI announcement.

In early trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
was up 243 points, or 1.36 percent, at 18,131.33.
Opinion polls show a close race, but tilting
toward Clinton. Major bookmakers and online
exchanges were more confident than public opinion
polling that Clinton will win today’s election.

‘Predictit’ put Clinton's chances of capturing
the White House at 81 percent.
Both Clinton and Trump will spend the day racing
across a handful of battleground states that could
swing the election, given the Electoral College
system that awards the White House on the basis of
state-by-state wins.
Trump was scheduled to hold his first campaign
appearance of the day in Sarasota, Florida, where
he and Clinton have been locked in a tough battle
in a state with a large Hispanic-American voting
population.
He was also heading to North Carolina,
Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Michigan, closing
with a late-night rally in Grand Rapids,
Michigan.

COMEY SURPRISE

FBI Director James Comey again sent shockwaves
through the race by telling Congress on Sunday
that investigators had worked around the clock to
complete a review of newly-discovered emails and
found no reason to change their July finding that
there was no criminal wrongdoing in Clinton's use
of a private email server, rather than a
government system, while she was secretary of
state from 2009-2013.

It was uncertain whether the announcement came in
time to change voters' minds or undo any damage
from days of Republican attacks on Clinton as
corrupt. Tens of millions of Americans had cast
early votes in the 10 days since Comey first told
Congress of the newly-discovered emails.

“Nothing's going to change between today and
tomorrow to help [Clinton] win back undecided
voters,” Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway
said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Trump, who drew wide criticism last month when he
said the election was rigged against him and that
he would not yet commit to respecting the outcome,
questioned the thoroughness of the FBI review and
said the issue would not go away.

Clinton did not mention the FBI finding during her
last two campaign events on Sunday. 

"That's behind us now," campaign manager Robby
Mook told CNN on Monday.

Clinton was to make two stops in Pennsylvania and
visit Michigan on Monday before wrapping up with a
midnight rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was
to appear at an evening rally at Philadelphia's
Independence Hall with President Barack Obama and
First Lady Michelle Obama, as well as rock star
Bruce Springsteen.

Clinton, speaking briefly to reporters before
boarding her campaign plane in Pittsburgh, pressed
her commitment to bringing the country together.

"I think that these splits, these divides that
have been not only exposed but exacerbated by the
campaign on the other side, are ones that we
really do have to ... bring the country
together,” Clinton said.

Asked if she would be able to heal the country
after such a divisive election season, Clinton
said, “Absolutely”.

Markets have tended to see Clinton as the status
quo candidate, with more uncertainty over Trump,
and news favouring her bid often boosts investors'
risk appetite. Global financial markets slipped
last week as opinion polls showed the presidential
race tightening. News of the renewed FBI
investigation had appeared to fuel a slide in
Clinton's poll numbers since late October. 

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Clinton with
a 5 percentage point lead over the New York
businessman nationally - 44 percent to 39 percent
support - while races in the swing states of
Florida and North Carolina shifted from favoring
Clinton to being too close to call.

Clinton held a 4-point lead in the ABC/Washington
Post poll and a CBS news poll released on
Monday. 

How does the presidential election work?
Each of the 50 states, as well as the District of
Columbia, has a set number of electoral college
votes to award a candidate, based on the number of
members of Congress it has. 

This is roughly in line with population. Except in
Maine and Nebraska, votes are on a
winner-takes-all basis.
This system matters as the popular vote is less
important than the electoral college vote. 

Clinton's campaign should be buoyed by big
Democratic states such as New York, New Jersey,
Illinois and California, and these populous states
could lead her to victory with their large number
of electoral college votes.

Why Are Elections Held on Tuesdays

Ever wonder why Americans always vote in federal
elections on Tuesdays? According to NPR, there are
a few reasons—including a little something to do
with the horse and buggy.

Between 1788 and 1845, states decided their own
voting dates. Senate historian Don Ritchie told
NPR that strategy resulted in chaos, a "crazy
quilt of elections" held all across the country at
different times to pick the electors—the white,
male property owners who would cast their votes
for president on the first Wednesday of
December. 

In 1792, a law was passed mandating that state
elections be held within a 34-day period before
that day, so most elections took place in
November. (Society was mostly agrarian; in
November, the harvest was finished but winter
hadn’t yet hit, making it the perfect time to
vote.)

The glacial pace of presidential elections
wasn’t a huge issue in the late 18th and early
19th centuries—communication was slow, so
results took weeks to announce anyway—but with
the advent of the railroad and telegraph, Congress
decided it was time to standardize a date. 

Monday was out, because it would require people to
travel to the polls by buggy on the Sunday
Sabbath. 
Wednesday was also not an option, because it was
market day, and farmers wouldn’t be able to make
it to the polls. 

So it was decided that Tuesday would be the day
that Americans would vote in elections, and in
1845, Congress passed a law that presidential
elections would be held on the Tuesday after the
first Monday in November.

Source - The Finder

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