By all accounts, the 2020 United States election may be remembered as an extraordinary time in the country's history.
But it remains to be seen whether it will be merely a chapter in America's story, a longer-running saga with consequences for democracy or “the faltering start” of a Trump political dynasty.
While America has seen contested votes before - the most recent being in 2000, when George W. Bush emerged the victor - US history expert Dr Daniel Fleming from the University of NSW believes this year’s election is right up there with the messiest.
He said that despite the country’s history of contested elections, the Trump-Biden election is unique in that .
“The general principles are that you accept the result of the election when it’s been determined,” Dr Fleming told SBS News.
President Donald Trump. Source: Getty
“It is also unique because of the way Trump demonised the whole electoral process leading up to the election. I can’t think of any similar kind of circumstance.”
Nonetheless, the US has seen its share of dramatic and controversial elections, with the 2000 Bush-Gore showdown capturing the world’s attention as it left the country in limbo for about a month.
The dispute saw Mr Gore contest the tight count in Florida and the state’s highest court order a recount of ballots that had been rejected because they were incorrectly punched.
However, Mr Gore conceded the election when the Supreme Court stopped the recount, saying he wanted to spare the country further partisan infighting.
“In 2000, I think it was fair to say that the result of the election was not known, really, for a month, because one important state, Florida, which had enough votes for the electoral college, had not been determined,” Dr Fleming said.
“This time, there’s no doubt about who the winner is.”
Dr Fleming said this election would go on to be seen as an extraordinary period in history, but it wasn’t yet clear “whether it’s just a chapter or whether it's a whole kind of section of a book”.
Tempers flare as George Bush and Al Gore protesters confront each other in front of the Supreme Court amid an appeal of the Florida recount in 2000. Source: Getty Images
He said potential consequences of undermining a democratic result remained to be seen. And then, there was the question of the Trump family’s political future.
“Another Trump family member could run, Trump can run again in 2024,” he said. “So, you know, is this the faltering start of the dynasty, is this the end of Trump? [It] remains to be seen.”
Stephen Loosley, a senior fellow at the United States Studies Centre who served in the Hawke and Keating governments, also sees the current election as one of the worst “in terms of a failure to acknowledge the result of the ballot box”.
However, he does not at this stage see it as unique or extraordinary in the context of America’s history of contested and controversial elections.
He said there were several elections in the 19th century but the worst was in 1876, when a tight result between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden was resolved with a “corrupt bargain”.
The Democrats accepted a Hayes presidency after Republicans agreed to withdraw troops left over from the Civil War from southern states, in a move that helped usher in the Jim Crow era of legalised racial segregation.
“That is probably the worst example of an election that is tainted, the result is tarnished as a consequence,” Mr Loosley told SBS News.
“And compared with the current situation in the US where Donald Trump is objecting, it fits into a pattern that has occurred and reoccurred over American history for over two centuries.”
Mr Loosley also saw some historical context for the challenges facing President-elect Joe Biden as he takes the reins early next year.
“In a sense, he confronts the problem Gerald Ford confronted in late 1974 when he followed Richard Nixon into the Oval Office,” he said. “He has got to try and restore some dignity and trust and civility.
“(Ford) had to take difficult decisions to do that, like the pardoning of his predecessor.
“Joe Biden has some difficult decisions to make, too. But the signs so far are very good in terms and attitude and terms of approach.”
Meanwhile, as Mr Trump refuses to concede - citing ongoing legal challenges and recounts - a news poll has recorded a majority of Republicans as saying .
President-elect Joe Biden speaks in Wilmington, Delaware. Source: AP
The news poll from POLITICO/Morning Consult on Wednesday showed a sharp rise in Republican voters who don't trust the process.
With additional reporting by Reuters.
