Americans go to polls today in watershed election to choose their president

Today is Election Day in the United States of America on which date the country’s people will go to the polls to decide on who their President is going to be for the next four years.

That is not all. A new Vice-President, 33 Senators, 435 House Representatives, 12 Governors and a host of other local offices will also be elected. Out of 538 total electoral votes, only 270 are needed to win. Of those 538 votes, swings states–also called purple states or battleground states–hold 85 electoral votes and represent where the US presidential election is fought and decided.

Already approximately 40 million ballots have been already cast in the presidential election on the early voting system. Various tallies kept by elections experts show early voting could surpass 2012 in popularity by Election Day. The percentage of voters who cast ballots early rose from 30% in 2008 and 32% four years ago. That represented about 46 million mail and in-person early votes.  

For the 2016 election approximately 34 million Americans have cast their ballots already thus it is more accurate to call it the Election Weeks, that end today, rather than Election Day.

Both nominated Presidential candidates would represent a first in the event elected as President. Hillary Clinton would be the first female President and Donald J. Trump would be the first President with no political or military experience. 

Trump’s nomination also marked only the third time in US history that an outsider has succeeded in the hostile takeover of a political party. The two previous successful hostile takeovers were mounted by former US Congressman William Jennings Bryan (D) in 1896 and by US Senator Barry Goldwater (R) in 1964. The immediate impact of those two takeovers was massive defeat for their party, but, more importantly, each had long-term consequences for the American political party and electoral system.

The US presidential election is also likely to draw record voter turnout as growing discontent with the “establishment” mobilizes young voters and those typically unengaged.

This year’s presidential election has been the hardest-fought in decades. Given the divided politics, that’s not amazing. The anger and the frustration this stokes may keep many voters from taking the time to vote.  

An estimated 126 million voters cast ballots in the 2012 White House election. 

Ohio, Cleaveland where we are currently based will be open for voting today from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. 

It has been a great year if you make a living as apolitical satirist. A highly contentious presidential race has produced a bumper crop of worthy targets for comedians to skewer those who regularly in bombast, pretension, hypocrisy and hyperbole.  

The FBI has determined that a new batch of e-mails linked to Hilary Clinton’s private e-mail server “have not changed our conclusion” that she committed no criminal wrongdoing, the FBI Director James Comey told congressional leaders in a letter. 

The news gave the e-mail drama a different turn.

“We are glad to see that he (Comey) has found, as we were confident he would, that he has confirmed the conclusions that he reached in July and we are glad that this matter is resolved,” Clinton told reporters.

Republican Presidential candidate Trump however has reacted angrily saying that “you can’t review 650,000 mails in eight days. Hilary Clinton is guilty, she knows it,” he added. 

“It is up to the American people to deliver justice at the ballot box,” he added.  

We, the East-West Center’s 2016 US Presidential Election Special Reporting coverage journalists, guided by the Programme’s Coordinator Liz A. Dorn will take an in-depth look at the vote counting process, observing US voters cast their ballots at a polling station and watching the election night results with US voters and party activists at the election night gatherings of the State Republican Party and the State Democratic Party, poised to send the reports home as they play out.