6 'Peculiarities' of the 2020 Presidential Election That Still Puzzled Americans
The 2020 presidential election had been a puzzling ride for many Americans so far, with many problems and allegations continue to rise.
Until the presidential election results have been certified, there is still no clear answer on who may be leading the country for the next four years.
Democrat Joe Biden kept himself busy with the transition ahead of the results, while President Donald Trump's team continued to question alleged widespread voter fraud this election.
Here are some claims of oddities during the election and some explanations offered by some officials and reports:
Counting in Some Swing States Stopped
On Nov. 4, a Facebook post started circulating online claiming some states stopped counting ballots, with Trump having a comfortable lead in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.
According to Politifact, the statements in the post weren't entirely true. There was a brief pause of counting in Georgia due to a burst pipe at an Atlanta Facility, and North Carolina only stopped after 100 percent of precincts were reported.
Several states only experienced some reporting delays on mail-in ballots on the night of Nov. 3 since those kinds of votes take more time to count. But there were no reports that counting stopped altogether.
Counting Continued Without Observers
Trump also claimed that election officials banned observers in Pennsylvania and Michigan.
In a press conference, the president claimed that his campaign was "denied access to observe any counting in Detroit."
Specifically, in Detroit's TCF Center, Trump claimed that there were pieces of cardboard covering the windows that prevented observers from seeing the counting area.
Forbes said there was no evidence of this supposed ban happening in the said state.
Pennsylvania's Late Arriving Ballots Were Counted
A GOP injunction filed on election week alleged that late-arriving ballots in Pennsylvania counties were not being segregated.
In response to this, a memo on Nov. 7 said that ballots received after the cut-off on Election Day had to be segregated and counted separately.
The memo continued, claiming that there was no evidence of disobedience to clear guidance in any county.
According to a USA Today report, 63 counties confirmed that they followed the guidance, including Allegheny and Philadelphia.
Failure in Signature Checks
Trump also claimed that elections in Georgia bore witness to failure in signature checks.
He said the state's consent decree made it "impossible to check and match signatures on ballots and envelopes, etc." The president called for real signatures to be exposed.
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But The Associated Press reported that there was nothing in the decree preventing election clerks from scrutinizing signatures.
Fewer Absentee Ballots Rejected by Election Officials
According to The Spectator, there was a "historically low" record of rejected absentee ballots for this year despite the massive expansion of mail-in voting.
New York Times reported that there was a recorded 319,000 mail ballots rejected during the 2016 general election.
But this year, a survey by NPR said the numbers ballooned to more than 550,000 as voters new to mail-in voting stumbled over the confusing requirements.
Non-Resident Voting in Georgia Under Investigation
According to Matt Braynard's Voter Integrity Project, an estimated 20,312 people in Georgia, who no longer met residency requirements, cast ballots in the state.
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The state's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Monday that there would be a new investigation looking into these groups who seek to cast votes illegally, reported WTVY.com.
Raffensperger said some of these people have not lived in Georgia in more than 25 years.
He added that some groups want to register out-of-state residents like people living in New York or try to convince college students to change their residency registration and change it back after the runoff election.