US Elections 2020: Do most Americans want to change their vote?

There are just 6 days to go for US Presidential Election 2020 and early voting is taking pace at a historic pace. Number of votes cast has topped 70 million. This is more than half of the total early-voting turnout in the last election. It is as much a sign of how most Americans don't want to risk exposure to COVID-19 as it is of an intense fight between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

But do most Americans want to change their vote?

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Donald Trump says they do. He says most Americans want to change their vote to him after watching the final presidential debate

Strongly Trending (Google) since immediately after the second debate is CAN I CHANGE MY VOTE? This refers changing it to me. The answer in most states is YES. Go do it. Most important Election of your life!" he tweeted.

After advising people to vote twice, Trump now wants them to change their preference and vote again. In America, you can change your vote yes, but not in 'most states' as the US President suggests. Only a few handful of states have this option

How it works

Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alaska and some counties in Connecticut explicitly allow voters to change their absentee ballot. In New York, there's no specific provision to correct a vote. Voters who have returned their absentee ballot can still vote in person on election day. But only in-person vote will be counted.

Everywhere else, once a vote is cast, it cannot be changed.

But do Americans really want to change their votes?

Trump says recent Google trends suggest they do. He says the topic was trending on Google after the final debate. After looking at Google's top trending searches Trump's claim does hold up to some extent at least. There has been a spike in 'can I change my vote' searches in last two weeks. But there is no way to know whether the spike is related either to the debate or to the fact that most people want to change their vote to Trump. It can hence be said that Donald Trump exaggerated.

Meanwhile, the shooting of a 27-year-old African American in Philadelphia has drawn fresh attention to police brutality. The entire incident has been caught on the video. The victim Walter Wallace was seen holding a knife in the encounter. The police say that they shot him because he refused to drop the weapon.

But for protesters, this was yet another act of racism and high-handedness of American police. America has gone back to the state it was in a few months back. There is violence, arson and loot. The US National Guard has been called in as Philadelphia braces for further unrest.

Six days to go for the presidential polls, and America is as divided as it was.