“The people who cast the votes don’t decide an election, the people who count the votes do.” – Joseph Stalin

NO winner yet as of November 3 midnight.

The winner in the U.S. presidential race between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joseph Biden may not be known yet after several days or even weeks.

This was the consensus made by election experts and analysts who estimate the canvassing of ballots in Pennsylvania, a key battleground with some 2.5 million mail-in votes, among other “swing” states in a similar situation like Michigan and Wisconsin, might drag on.

The aforementioned major battleground states are expected to decide the 2020 presidential election, and they remained too close to call as polls in most states have closed across the United States.

As of this writing, Florida was leaning toward Mr. Trump, bolstered by higher support in populous counties than he won in 2016, particularly among Hispanic voters, according to CBS News.

President Trump was also leading in Georgia and Texas, which Democrats have tried to turn blue for several years.

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Mr. Trump has narrowly surpassed Mr. Biden in North Carolina, which remained a toss-up with 95 percent of the expected vote counted.

Meanwhile, CBS News reported that Mr. Biden’s prospects could hinge on his performance in the so-called “blue wall” of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, all of which were traditionally Democratic but voted for Mr. Trump in 2016.

Mr. Biden can likely afford to lose Florida, North Carolina and Georgia and if he wins the blue-wall states, but vote-counting in Pennsylvania is proceeding slowly as officials sort through a mountain of absentee ballots, with some jurisdictions pausing their counting until Wednesday morning, it was reported.

The former vice president also appeared likely to win Arizona, which would be a significant shift in a traditionally Republican state that hasn’t voted for a Democrat since 1996.

Mr. Biden has made inroads in several important demographic groups compared to Hillary Clinton in 2016, particularly among men.

Exit polls showed Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump running even with men, who preferred Mr. Trump by 11 points in 2016.

But the president also performed better among non-White voters — 27 percent nationally compared to 21 percent in 2016 and Republicans, increasing his share of GOP voters from 93 percent this year, up from 88 percent in 2016.

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 TWO hours before the voting places closed, I made an ocular visit in the Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the “hottest” area in New York City amid reports that some disgruntled groups were threatening to launch another violent demonstration and looting like what happened several months ago when protests against George Floyd’s killing escalated nationwide.

We observed that almost all establishments have been boarded up anew to prevent rioters from destroying their windows in the event they would relaunch a violate rampage.

We also observed that the famous Trump Tower was heavily guarded by police and patrol cars. Heavy trucks from the New York Police Department (NYPD) were also positioned in nearby establishments to protect them from rioters and looters.

As of midnight, we haven’t monitored a single violent incident in New York City contrary to the authorities’ fears earlier.

The author who is now based in New York City was a former editor of two dailies in Iloilo City