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Downtown Washington on election day had the feel of a city digging in for a siege. The White House and the Treasury were surrounded by a high steel fence and in the surrounding blocks, businesses and apartment buildings had covered every square foot of exposed glass with plywood.
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The wealthier and more cautious had laid down sandbags to hold wooden buttresses that in turn held the plywood in place, and the city centre began to empty out in the mid-afternoon. The grid of streets and avenues were eerily free of traffic.
On Black Lives Matter Plaza, a legacy of the last skirmish in the nation’s capital, an advance guard of the expected army of protesters had taken up positions by the White House fence, which was festooned with anti-Trump placards.
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Derek Torstenson was sitting against the barricade encouraging those around him to vote without fear of intimidation.
He had crossed the Potomac early from Virginia, as a protective measure. After the confirmation of Donald Trump’s nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, to the supreme court in October, a moment of triumph savoured by the president, his supporters tore down all the Black Lives Matter posters on the plaza, and Torstenson wanted to make sure it did not happen again.
“I’m here to protect the fence,” he said. “It’s not just a fence any more. It’s about memories of black people and about Trump also.”
Q&A How will the Guardian report US election results?
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Though most people will be likely watching the results of the race for the White House, there are more than 7,000 elections taking place across the US on Tuesday 3 November.
In the age of disinformation, it is more important than ever that media outlets report election results as clearly and transparently as possible.
The Guardian will be using data collected and analysed by the Associated Press (AP) as the source for when we will call election results for the presidency, Senate, House races and others. AP has a team of thousands of specialists and correspondents across America, who have trusted relationships with local officials. This will guide their data-led assessment of when it’s time to call a race.
There are a number of other highly reputable election «decision desks» in US media. They may call races earlier than AP. While the Guardian will report this is happening, we will rely on AP’s data to make our own final call.
Should any candidate declare victory prematurely, we will report this claim, but make clear that it is not valid. The only measure of victory is a complete count of all outstanding ballots.
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He saw no way Trump would vacate the building behind him voluntarily and so he expected a battle of popular wills to be played out in the court, and on the streets.
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“I think Joe Biden will win. But Donald Trump always said, live on the news, that he is going to refuse to transfer power. He already has his lawyers around in case that happens, and that’s why we are all going to gather here tonight, so that we can let him know that if you lose – you lose. You can’t challenge an election. That doesn’t happen.”
A few hundred metres south-east along Pennsylvania Avenue, some more modest barriers had been set up outside the old US post office building which since 2016 has been the Trump International hotel, the other Washington hub of a family empire spanning business and politics with no real divisions between the two.
Trump International is where foreign dignitaries and US business executives come to stay if they are seeking an audience with the president. It is where ambitious administration officials hold their office parties, helping bolster the Trump Organization.
In recent months, an opposition group has projected the climbing death toll from coronavirus against the hotel facade and it is likely to be targeted again, as a symbol of the open corruption of the Trump era in the aftermath of the election.
Trump had been planning to watch the results from the hotel, but he cancelled that plan, instead summoning 400 of his closest supporters to the White House for a party that, whatever the outcome of the election, is bound to become the latest in a string of coronavirus super-spreader events hosted there.
The White House and Trump International are two outposts in an overwhelmingly hostile city – only 4% of DC residents voted for Trump in 2016 – which are destined to be flashpoints if the battle for power drags on after the election. Depending on how that battle ends, they could provide the setting for Trump’s last stand on the political stage.
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