November 7th, 2020. After four long, stressful days, Americans woke up Saturday morning to a final decision made on the 2020 Presidential Election. After surpassing the required 270 votes, former Vice President Joe Biden has won the race and has been named the President-elect. After his inauguration in January, President-elect Joe Biden will become the United States’ 46th President.
This election was truly unlike any other in U.S. history for many reasons, and even though the race has been called, it’s still not over. Not every state has been officially called, and many Senate seats remain undecided. In fact, Senate control is not likely to be decided until January, when two runoff races for Georgia Senate seats will occur. Additionally, even though the 46th President has been elected, there are still many votes across the country that have yet to be counted, and Alaska, North Carolina, and Georgia have yet to be called.
Voter turnout was extremely high this year, with many votes coming in weeks before the official election day. Early in-person voting began at least a week before Tuesday, with absentee and mail-in ballots sent out even before that. This historical voter turnout, especially through the increased use of mail-in ballots across the country is part of the reason that this election has been so different from others in the past. With the United States still suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, really with no end in sight, many voters went into the poll booths with different issues in mind than typical of previous elections.
2020 has truly been a year for the history books, and Election night was no different. The now President-elect Joe Biden broke the record for most votes cast for a U.S. Presidential candidate ever. The previous was set by his former partner, President Barack Obama in 2008. This record breaking number of votes cast continues to grow every day, only adding to how amazing voter turnout was this year.
Many states are still waiting to report their final numbers as poll workers are working to count all of the remaining ballots, many of which are mail-in. In fact, due to issues with the USPS distribution and collection of these ballots and other issues as well, some states have until later in November to finish counting ballots postmarked before Election day. In some states, these initial numbers were already being counted before in-person voting began Tuesday. In many other states, it was illegal to begin counting before Tuesday. This shifted the tone of election coverage early, as it became clear that we would not have a decision nearly as early as we thought we would.
The phrase “too early to call” became all too familiar Tuesday night as even when polling closed in states throughout the day, results took hours to become available, and still aren’t fully reported in some states. This changed the outcome of election night, as instead of having a good idea of an outcome by the end of the night, it wasn’t decided until Saturday morning.
Following Tuesday, the rest of the week was filled with ups and downs for both campaigns. For most Americans, this week was a time full of high stress and anxiety as we waited on states to count their votes and be officially called. Some of the major battleground states this election included Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona. Both candidates needed most of these states in order to have control of the electoral vote. For a while, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia leaned toward President Trump. However, this changed abruptly as Biden gained control in Wisconsin and Michigan and both states were called for him, giving him a massive lead over President Trump.
As Biden gained back control of the blue wall, and gained control of states like Arizona, putting him well on his way to reach 270, it became clear that he only needed Nevada to be called in order to win the election. The world waited on Nevada to finalize their vote count, and Nevada took its time. It wasn’t until Friday that it became a possibility that Pennsylvania and Georgia could pull ahead for Biden and we continued to wait anxiously.
It only seems fitting that the state that handed Joe Biden the Presidency on Saturday was his home state. Pennsylvania was called Saturday morning, giving Biden the electoral votes he needed to win. Nevada was ironically called soon after, propelling President-elect Biden’s vote count well over 270.
After Pennsylvania turned blue, President Trump lost any remaining chance he had at reelection. Now, as Georgia remains undecided but is leaning toward blue, he has lost another key state for the Republicans. If Biden takes Georgia, this will be a big win for the Democratic Party. Georgia hasn’t voted for a Democratic candidate since 1992 when they voted for Bill Clinton over George H.W. Bush. Interestingly enough, this was also the last election before 2020 in which an incumbent President did not win re-election.
This election has done nothing but set records, break boundaries, and change the course of the United States. From Kamala Harris not just being the first female Vice President, but also the first Black and South Asian Vice President, to an increase of the representation of the LGBTQ+ community and POC in Congress, Senate, etc. Some states also made history with some of their ballot measures passed on topics ranging from abortion, to drugs, to even restoring voting rights.
Oregon was a state that passed a number of ballot measures relating to drugs, including a measure that decriminalizes possession of heroin, meth, LSD, oxycodone, and other hard drugs. This measure rejects charging drug users with criminal offenses, pushing this state into a better position for promoting recovery for drug addicts and taking a step to change the justice system. Oregon also became the first state in the nation to legalize psilocybin mushrooms (a psychoactive drug) for therapeutic purposes. Voters in other states such as Arizona, Montana, and New Jersey all approved ballot measures legalizing marijuana for adults, for medicinal and/or recreational uses depending on the state.
In California, many key measures were on the ballot this year. One of these that Californians voted yes on was Proposition 22 which classifies app based drivers (Uber, Lyft, etc.) as independent contractors rather than employees. California voters also voted yes on Proposition 17, giving voting rights back to reformed felons. One of the propositions that Californians voted against was Proposition 18, which if enacted, would have permitted 17 year olds to vote in primary and special elections if they would be 18 by the time of the election in November.
Even though this race has been decided, and from this point on, no votes can switch the outcome of the election, President Trump continues to challenge the outcome of the Presidential election. He refuses to accept a Biden victory and in hopes of finding a way to bring the election back to him, he will be challenging the results with the help of his legal team. He has already filed numerous lawsuits in some of the key swing states of this election, and though there is a chance that his cases could go all the way to the Supreme Court, many find this unlikely. The President’s team have made allegations of voter fraud, challenged provisional ballots, and have demanded recounts. As this gap between President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump increases, it will be a much more difficult battle for the President to turn the election.
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris gave their victory speeches Saturday night in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden called this “a time to heal in America,” pledging to Americans that he seeks not to divide, but rather to unify the people of this nation. He has said multiple times toward the end of this election that he does not see blue or red states, he only sees the United States. Harris spoke of what her win represents, stating that while she is the first woman to take this position, she will not be the last. To celebrate this momentous occasion, Biden supporters took to celebration in streets all over the country, especially in Washington D.C. and New York City. Meanwhile, Trump supporters continued to protest vote counts. Whether these protests will escalate into something bigger as more results start to pour in and whether Trump’s legal challenges are denied is unclear. But one thing is for sure, this election has been historical, record-breaking, and memorable, and in the midst of the crazy year that 2020 has been, many now see a glimmer of hope for the United States in Biden’s victory.
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Photo #3: https://6abc.com/politics/president-elect-joe-biden-gives-victory-speech-%7C-live/7743401/
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