Canadian political watchers will have to wait on U.S. election results, says prof

A political scientist at UPEI says those hoping for U.S. election results are "going to have to be patient and sit tight."

The U.S. presidential election count continues with no clear winner emerging, despite Donald Trump declaring early Wednesday that he will ultimately win.

"It's a very tense time," UPEI professor Peter McKenna told CBC Radio: Island Morning host Mitch Cormier. 

"Trump did what he said he wasn't going to do. He said, you know, he wasn't going to declare victory, and all of a sudden he got impatient and declared it … he set things up for, you know, a major contested election going forward over the next few days."

President Trump is obviously not your typical politician— Peter McKenna, UPEI political science department 

Not atypical

McKenna said a situation like this, where no clear winner has emerged, is not unusual and is actually typical of U.S. elections.

"It often goes on for four or five days. That's why, you know, you don't have an inauguration until sometime in January," he said. 

"The Electoral College representatives don't vote until mid to late December, so there's lots of time for the democratic process to unfold and do what it always does, but people have to wait."

The political science professor, who has an expertise in Canada-U.S. relations, said a clearer picture will likely emerge in the coming days. This includes whether or not the president will follow through on contesting the legitimacy of absentee ballots in key states like Pennsylvania. 

"I don't know if there's going to be opportunities there to contest these votes. You know, I think that will be an angle," he said. "President Trump is obviously not your typical politician. He's unlike Al Gore in 2000. It will not be easy for him to concede."

McKenna said Trump is stirring the pot with his comments around uncounted ballots, of which there are many due to the high volume of voters who opted for mail-in ballots due to the ongoing pandemic. 

He said he believes this has always been part of Trump's strategy in his re-election campaign.

"A lot of that mail-in ballot has been going towards Biden and the Democrats," he said.

"If there are any opportunities for him to exploit, I suspect he's going to try to do that. Part of the reason why he was so anxious to get someone on the Supreme Court, Amy Barrett, was just in case this did happen, 

"He thinks he has sufficient allies on the court that will vote in his favour to disqualify, delegitamize those mail-in ballot votes."

'I'm hoping calm will prevail'

McKenna said the Democrats should be nervous about Nevada, where the race is tight and Biden needs those six electoral college votes to get to the 270 he needs to become president.

"Georgia is also in play again, very tight. A lot of mail-in ballots still needs to be counted, particularly around the city of Atlanta, which tends to be a Democratic vote," he said. 

"Then you go to Pennsylvania … there's 75 per cent of the vote that's in, 25 per cent to come in."

Ultimately, McKenna hopes there isn't unrest or violence in the streets of the United States.

"I'm hoping calm will prevail. President Trump has a role to play in that," he said.

"Former Vice President Biden came out and tried to calm the nerves last night by saying, 'Look, let's wait and count the ballots and let's see what happens.'"

McKenna said he'll be eagerly awaiting results alongside everyone else.

"Boy, it's a real nail-biter."

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