Already 57.5 Million Votes Cast... Harris Expected to Watch US Election Count at Alma Mater's Historically Black University

[US Election 2024]

With the US presidential election on November 5 just 6 days away, it is estimated that more than 57.5 million people have already voted. Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris plans to watch the vote count on election night at her alma mater, a historically Black college. Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is expected to stay in Florida.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

According to the University of Florida Election Research Institute, as of 7 p.m. local time on the 30th, the number of Americans who had voted surpassed 57.56 million. Among them, more than 30 million voted early in person, and about 27 million voted by mail. The US presidential election will be held on the 5th following early voting and other processes.

In particular, this year’s election is unfolding as an extremely close race, raising expectations that the time to confirm the winner may be later than anticipated. According to the Associated Press, in the 2012 election, victory declarations were reported after 11:30 p.m. Eastern Time on election night. In the 2016 election, it was possible only in the early morning of the day after the election, and in the 2020 election, it was not possible until the morning of November 7, four days later.

Vice President Harris has chosen Howard University, a traditional historically Black college located in Washington DC, as the place to watch the election night vote count broadcast. Howard University is a specialized educational institution established for Black people before the enactment of the Civil Rights Act that prohibited racial discrimination. It is also the alma mater of Vice President Harris, who is Black and of Asian descent.

Former President Trump, Harris’s competitor, is expected to be in Palm Beach, Florida on election day. The Trump presidential campaign previously announced plans to hold an event to watch the vote count broadcast at the Palm Beach Convention Center on election night. However, the Trump campaign has not confirmed whether former President Trump will attend the event, seemingly cautious about revealing his whereabouts following two recent assassination attempts.

Former President Trump was at his New York residence, Trump Tower, during the 2016 election. During the 2020 election, when he was the incumbent, he was in Washington DC.

[Image source=Getty Images Yonhap News]

As the presidential campaign reaches its final stages, both candidates continued campaigning in battleground states on this day. Former President Trump launched an attack on the Democrats in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a battleground state, calling himself a “garbage truck driver.” This was a jab at President Joe Biden, a Democrat, who had previously been criticized for likening Trump supporters to “garbage.” Upon arriving in Wisconsin, Trump appeared wearing a fluorescent work vest and riding in a “garbage truck,” and he wore the same vest during this event. He also blamed Vice President Harris for all the crimes committed in the US by illegal immigrants she had “imported.”

Vice President Harris also arrived in Wisconsin that night for a campaign speech. During a campaign event in North Carolina on the same day, she said, “I will be a president for all Americans, whether they support me or not,” and criticized Trump as “unstable, obsessed with revenge, full of grievances, and craving unchecked power.” She added, “The biggest difference between Trump and me is that if Trump is elected, he will come into the office on day one with a list of enemies, whereas I will come into the office with a list of things to do.”