By: Ryan Pattee
This article was written at 11:15 a.m on November 7th, 2020. Information in this article may be missing, or excluded from the document due to the time of publication. Facts, information, and statistics may no longer be accurate as more votes and information is provided in the day.
The 46th President of the United States?
After days of waiting, Pennsylvania has awarded their electoral votes to democratic candidate Joe Biden, making him the 46th President of the United States.
The news broke only a few minutes ago, Pennsylvania who voted for President Trump in 2016 has shifted towards the democratic party giving Joe Biden 284 electoral votes. With this news the Associated Press has declared Joe Biden the 46th President of the United States. While many Biden supporters are undoubtedly celebrating the news, the decision is not quite final. Recounts, and controversy has surrounded Election Week. The Trump campaign had sued states in an attempt to stop ballots from being counted on Wednesday November 4th, which has yet to go through. In many states such as Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, votes are extremely close and a recount is expected in those states. Any political campaign can call for recount if the vote is within 0.5% of the vote.
A Change of allegiance:
Three states which voted for Trump in 2016 have changed parties in 2020. These states include: Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The latter three states had historically voted democrat, and their votes for President Trump in 2016 came as a shock to many Americans. On Tuesday November 3rd, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan all looked to be voting for President Trump once again. However, after counting mail-in ballots a majority of votes by mail have appeared to be heavily favored towards President-elect Biden.
Three States have yet to announce a winner in their state: Georgia, Nevada and Alaska. While Georgia has not declared a winner, it seems to be shifting towards Joe Biden which, if Biden wins, will provide him 16 more electoral votes. If Georgia does provide votes to Biden it will be the first time since 1992 that the state has elected a democrat for President.
A Record Breaking Election:
Many records were broken during this election cycle. Early on Joe Biden surpassed the most votes for a single candidate in United States History. The previous record was held by President Barack Obama in 2008 at 69.5 million votes. So far President-elect Joe Biden has 74,847,834 votes according to the Associated Press. President Trump has also broken this record with 70,591,531 votes. The amount of citizens who have voted in 2020 has been the most votes casted by Americans since the 1900s, and more votes are continuing to be counted. Joe Biden has also become the oldest person to be elected to office at age 77. Breaking records has not been exclusive to President-elect Biden, but also by his running mate and Vice president-elect Kamala Harris. Harris has become not only the first woman to become Vice president-elect, but also the first woman of color to hold the position.
Reactions:
On twitter Joe Biden made an announcement saying “America, I’m honored that you have chosen me to lead our great country. The work ahead of us will be hard, but I promise you this: I will be a President for all Americans – whether you voted for me or not. I will keep the faith that you have placed in me.”
So far no response has been given by the Trump Administration, or campaign, but is expected later today.
What Next?
Recounts are expected in multiple states including, but limited to: Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin. Voter fraud has been a concern of many Americans and President Trump during this election cycle, as a result and investigation might be launched to verify the authenticity of votes throughout the country. If the projected states remain as they are currently projected following recounts and investigations the Biden administration will take office on January 20th, 2021.
