US election: Americans in Whanganui on edge as Election Day arrives

Election results will start coming in around lunchtime on Wednesday (NZT). Photo / 123rf

Americans in Whanganui will be glued to their screens as results roll in for the US presidential election.

Democratic candidate Kamala Harris aims to be the first female elected to the role while Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, is looking to return to the White House after losing to Joe Biden in 2020.

Most polls have shown a tight race right to the finish line, with results to be announced from around 1pm on Wednesday (NZT).

Whanganui resident Kathy Cunningham said she would be devastated if Trump won a second term and could not understand his continuing popularity.

She said most of her friends on the East Coast of the United States were voting for Harris, although one had gone with Trump in 2016.

“I can’t call it.

“My gut says Trump but my brain cannot comprehend that that is possible, so my brain is saying Harris.

“I don’t think the people living in America understand the world is watching and the world is holding its breath.”

Teacher Dani Lebo said she guessed most Americans in New Zealand were supporting Harris.

“The Democrats have won the past three popular votes so if you’re looking at pure numbers, it would have been a win each time,” she said.

“If it happens again but they don’t win the election because of the Electoral College, I think it really speaks to the flaws in that system.”

Kathy Cunningham says the Electoral College system needs to change. Photo / Steve Caudwell

Under the Electoral College, each state has a certain number of “electors” based on population and candidates need 270 of the 538 electoral votes to win the election.

Lebo said she did not vote because the state where her last address was – Massachusetts – was safely Democratic.

“If we were in a swing state, we definitely would have.”

Swing states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin traditionally have voting numbers split between both candidates.

Cunningham also questioned the Electoral College.

“[Democratic vice-presidential nominee] Tim Walz said something early on about getting rid of it and Kamala shut him down really fast on that.

“I agree with him but it’s probably a conversation to have once you’re in office, not before.

“[Electoral College] has been going for 200 years and has not changed. I think it needs to.”

Robi Martin said her place of work, Dewhirst Law, would close early on Wednesday afternoon, with staff moving to the boardroom to watch updates, eat pizza and drink cocktails.

“I’m very nervous about it all. It’s way too close for comfort and the same thing happened last time,” she said.

Martin, originally from New York City, said she voted in the 2020 election while living in Whanganui.

Robi Martin will be having pizza and cocktails on election day. Photo / Mike Tweed

“I think it will be compete bedlam for a bit either way, especially if Trump loses.

“If he wins, it’s four more years of his craziness and babble.

“Him winning in 2016 was actually one of the big reasons we moved to New Zealand.”

Lebo said she asked friends and family on the East Coast and in the Midwest about possible civil unrest if Harris won and most “didn’t seem too worried about it”.

“My brother works for an archaeology firm doing some work on the State Capital Building in Minnesota.

“They are contractors and the state government said they needed a plan to evacuate ASAP if things hit the wall.”

Martin said her mother was a Trump supporter.

“When we talk on Sundays, that’s the one thing we must avoid at all costs.

“We get into it and I find myself yelling at my 80-year-old mother. It’s just not good so we don’t go there.”

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.