Clinton, Trump push into finale – What happens if US election is close?

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RALEIGH, United States, Nov 4, (Agencies): Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump geared up Friday for one final weekend to sway undecided voters and cajole supporters into turning out at the polls, slogging their way to the end of a divisive presidential campaign as the race continues to tighten.

As the candidates jostle for supremacy in the handful of battleground states that will decide Tuesday’s election, two of the biggest prizes on the electoral map, Florida and North Carolina, are now dead heats, according to RealClearPolitics poll aggregates.

Democrat Clinton has unleashed top surrogates including President Barack Obama to bolster her case, while billionaire Republican Trump deployed wife Melania to soften his image.

Storm

North Carolina was suddenly in the eye of the political storm, with the candidates frantically criss-crossing the southeastern state where they are locked at 46.4 percent apiece.

The candidates’ motorcades even passed one another Thursday on the tarmac at the Raleigh-Durham airport ahead of their rival rallies.

“You’ve got to get everyone you know to come out and vote,” Clinton implored supporters in Raleigh, where she was joined by her onetime primary adversary Senator Bernie Sanders and “Happy” singer Pharrell Williams.

Williams, dressed in a hoodie, sought to pump up black voter turnout — crucial to Clinton’s White House aspirations — which is down in early voting in several states.

“We’re black! Beautiful! So if you’ve ever been called a minority ever in your life … go out and vote and show everybody that you’re actually really the majority,” he said.

Obama shuttled into Florida for fiery rallies aimed at turning out the Democratic base for Clinton in a must-win state for Trump, who is under pressure to snatch battleground states and even poach one or two Democratic strongholds if he is to prevail.

On Friday, Trump heads to New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania, while Clinton stumps in Ohio and Michigan.

A nationwide CBS/New York Times survey showed Clinton’s lead shrinking to three points, at 45 percent against Trump’s 42 percent, a sign the bombastic mogul is winning over once-wary Republican voters.

Clinton added to the portrayal, telling North Carolinians that “if Donald Trump were to win this election we would have a commander in chief who is completely out of his depth and whose ideas are incredibly dangerous.”

Running mate Tim Kaine visited the border state of Arizona, making a play for Hispanic voters by delivering a speech entirely in Spanish.

Clinton’s last stand will come in Philadelphia on the eve of the election at a joint rally bringing together two of America’s most prominent Democratic couples.

She will be joined by husband Bill Clinton, President Obama and one of 2016’s most potent campaigners, First Lady Michelle Obama. A Trump win in Pennsylvania would be a giant step toward his becoming the 45th president.

Rather, the result depends on the Electoral College, an institution whose composition is determined by the winner of each individual state.

That means any potential dispute between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton resulting from Tuesday’s election would unfold state by state.

What is the electoral college?

The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors, with the share received by each state roughly proportional to its population size. A candidate must secure 270 votes to win.

In every state, political parties generally nominate their own slate of electors. When voters go to the polls to cast a ballot for president next week, they are actually choosing a presidential candidate’s preferred slate for their state.

Can electors vote for whomever they want?

Some state laws require electors to vote the same way as the majority of people in the state. Political parties in some states also require electors to formally pledge support for their presidential candidate, as a condition of their candidacy for the Electoral College.

Some electors are allowed to disregard their own political party’s candidate and vote for someone else, but that is extremely rare and has not had a meaningful impact on the election outcome in modern times.

What if it’s close?

Many of the procedures for voting in presidential elections are determined by state law, and administered by state officials. Each state, therefore, has its own rules for conducting recounts.

In Florida, site of the disputed contest between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore in 2000, a recount is automatically conducted if the difference between candidates is less than one half of 1 percent. In Wisconsin, where there is no automatic recount, a candidate can request one but must pay the full cost of any recount if it does not change the result.

Beyond a recount, anyone can challenge a state’s election process in court. With the US Supreme Court currently evenly split between liberal and conservative members, any legal challenge could be decided by a lower appeals court — all of which have different political compositions, depending on the state.

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