The 2020 election featured record turnout and an impassioned electorate. That momentum continued on Wednesday as crowds rallied in New York and other cities nationwide, demanding that states count all of the legal ballots cast in the election.
In Midtown Manhattan, several hundred people took to the streets while chanting “count every vote.” Organizers called it the “Protect the Results” rally. Nighttime aerial video from CBS New York showed a crowd congregating around a fountain area in Washington Square Park.
Meanwhile, several landmarks and businesses in New York City remain boarded up as they brace for any potential looting or unrest, according to CBS NY. The city faced significant looting after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May.
A dozen similar rallies were taking place across the country. In Philadelphia, protesters involved in the rally as well as people protesting the fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. merged into one group in Center City, CBS Philadelphia reported. Demonstrators were seen carrying a large sign that read “count every vote.”
In Chicago, protesters who worried that President Trump would stop the counting of remaining votes in battleground states marched through the downtown area as part of a “Defend the Election” rally, CBS Chicago reported. The group marched along downtown streets before surrounding Trump Tower.
The protests appeared to be peaceful, but law enforcement officers were seen at the rallies.
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