2020 Election Makes Number History
We have had an interesting year, to say the least. On top of a global pandemic, Australian bushfires, killer bees, and nationwide protests, we witnessed one of the most important elections in the United States’ history. People may disagree that this election was “the most important,” but it was certainly the most involved. According to The Associated Press, more than 156 million Americans voted in this year’s election, making it the highest voter turnout in U.S. election history. Furthermore, President-elect Joe Biden received more votes than any other candidate in U.S. history. With more than 81 million votes and counting; he surpassed every candidate that has won in the past. President Trump also received more votes than every winning candidate to date, 74 million in total.
This year’s Presidential debates looked a lot like a Looney Tunes cartoon; two characters fighting and ending up in a hazy cloud of swinging arms, legs, and heads. No one watching can really tell who is winning until the dust settles and one character is left standing on top of the other. Our country’s Presidential election went exactly like that, from the over-the-top debates to the actual voting process. It has taken well over a month for the Electoral College to announce Joe Biden as the winner.
The days leading up to the election were characterized by mass anxiety, and the results on election night were “too close to call.”
Both Biden and Trump received votes days after the election, but Biden received more. Republicans and Trump supporters’ initially declared voter fraud, even while votes were being counted and there was a chance that Trump could win. People also began to question the legitimacy of voting by mail, created only to help Biden’s campaign. However, Trump promoted in-person voting while Biden promoted mail-in’s.
As the election grew closer and closer, President Trump began to discredit the idea of mail-in ballots. At a rally, the President questioned them, asking, “Who’s sending them? Where are they going? Who’s sending them back?” He went further, exclaiming, “What the hell are they (the Democrats) doing?” This was a strategic move to make his constituents think the election was rigged.
A week after election night, Biden was still receiving votes from mail-in ballots, hence widening the gap in the polls. Trump immediately attacked the election process.
There is no conspiracy. If you ask your supporters to vote in-person, the majority of them will. The greatest number of mail-in ballots were for Biden, and the number of mail in ballots in total surpassed that of any prior election. That doesn’t make it fraud, it just means you didn’t get as many votes as the other candidate.