(CNN)

President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are racing to drive out the votes of Americans not among the more than 91 million who already cast early ballots as an election that started months before the pandemic, and then was defined by it, heads into its final, frantic hours.

Tuesday’s moment of destiny — and what could turn into a prolonged count owing to the crush of mail-in votes — will decide whether Americans reject Trump after a single term or re-up for four more years of his brazen presidency.It will unfold as the novel coronavirus emergency surges out of control all over the nation, in the wake of record daily infection rates and with the number of deaths climbing toward 1,000 per day.

The President on Sunday night hinted that he could seek to dismiss Dr. Anthony Fauci after the election after rejecting the admired infectious diseases specialist’s science-based recommendations on the pandemic.Biden will campaign Monday in Ohio — a late addition to his target list — and Pennsylvania, the state of his birth that could be the tipping point if the election is close. Trump will mount a hectic tripaboard Air Force One through North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in a last-ditch effort to save states he won four years ago and block Biden’s route to the White House.

Biden argues that Trump’s denial and neglect of a pandemic that has killed more than 230,000 Americans and is getting worse by the day should deny the President reelection.