Former Vice President Joe Biden became the projected winner of the 2020 presidential election on Saturday, after four days of counting mail ballots that dragged on the race in key swing states such as Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona.
Early on election night, the results of the race became increasingly unclear as in-person votes were tallied first. President Trump quickly won traditionally Republican states in the south and midwest like Texas and Ohio, while Biden won more east coast and new england states such as Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Trump also won Florida with a 300,000+ vote lead, surprising many Democrats who expected Biden to rally more Hispanic voters in the state.
Even with the President’s Texas and Florida wins, two states that Democrats hoped to flip blue, it became obvious as the night dragged on that winning just the Republican strongholds may not be enough for a Trump victory.
State officials warned for weeks prior to the election that counting mail ballots could take days due to the unprecedented mail voting numbers during the pandemic— This proved to be true as states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania were unable to count enough votes on election night to distinguish a clear winner.
The so-called “red mirage” that many election experts predicted, meaning states would appear red early on election night until mail ballots were counted over several days, suddenly became a reality.
The now President-elect Biden addressed the nation in Wilmington, Del. as vote counting began to stagnate around 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 4. Biden did not officially declare victory until Saturday, but reassured Americans that he was on track to win after all mail ballots were counted.
President Trump spoke at the White House around 2:30 a.m. that same night, during which the President alleged cross-state voter fraud with no evidence to back up the claim, even going as far as declaring victory.
“We won states, and all of a sudden, I said ‘What happened to the election? It’s off.’ This is a fraud on the American public,” the President said. “We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.”
President Trump threatened to use the courts to overturn election results in states he was predicted to lose, such as Pennsylvania and Georgia. Since then, the Trump campaign has filed numerous lawsuits in states he lost such, many of which have already been thrown out by judges due to lack of evidence.
Americans went to sleep on election night with no clear winner. By the next afternoon, Wisconsin and Michigan were called for President-elect Biden, with millions of votes still to be counted in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada. However, it became clear in the days to come that the remaining votes in those states were majority mail ballots, which were heavily skewed Democratic.
Biden pulled ahead in Georgia on Friday with just 14,000 votes, although the press has not yet declared an official winner in the state. The former Vice President also maintained his lead in Nevada and Arizona, additionally winning Pennsylvania on Saturday by more than 50,000 votes, causing most media outlets to project Biden as the winner.
The election was still relatively close. Biden won by razor thin margins in Wisconsin and Georgia, which are expected to be recounted. Biden accumulated a total of 77,330,457 at the time of publication, while President Trump won 72,184,569 votes, a five million vote disparity.
Voter turnout of the 2020 general election is projected to be the highest turnout in more than a century, says the Washington Post. The total voter turnout is projected to reach 66.5% once all election results are finalized, compared with the 60.1% voter turnout in 2016.
Despite Biden moving forward with creating his transition plan, President Trump still refuses to concede the election amid his claims of voter fraud “stealing” his re-election. But it’s worth noting that the electoral college will cast their votes on Dec. 14 regardless of whether Trump delivers a concession speech.
Although election experts think it is unlikely the Trump campaign’s lawsuits or recounts could change the election outcome, the President continues to spout misinformation from right-wing news sites like Breitbart on his Twitter.
Biden promised to be a president for all Americans in his Saturday night victory speech— but if even a small percentage of the 72 million Americans who voted for Trump believe Biden stole the election with no evidence, unifying the nation could prove to be a serious challenge for the President-elect.
Comments