Mail-in ballots for the 2020 presidential election flipped swing states in favor of candidate Joe Biden causing him to win the Presidential race, awarding the Democratic Party the presidential position.
On the morning of November 7, the Associated Press announced that Biden had won after swing states Pennsylvania and Nevada finished counting mail-in ballots and changed from a projected Republican win to a Democrat majority.
The election had high levels of polarization and before the mail-in ballots were counted, wasn’t definite for several days.
The election results originally favored incumbent candidate Donald Trump, but flipped after mail-in ballots were counted.
The outcome resulted in Joe Biden winning after successfully collecting the electoral votes of swing states Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Arizona. As of November 16 Georgia’s count was in favor of Biden, but had yet to be declared.
Prior to the November 3 election day, sophomore Kiera Hennessy wasn’t sure who would win the election.
“With the days coming up towards the election, I genuinely didn’t know who would win,” Hennessy said.
Others had predicted the outcome of the election, expecting a Biden win.
Sophomore Joey Crecca thinks that even with the polarization between the political parties, the want for change over the past four years gave Biden an advantage.
“I wasn’t too shocked,” Crecca said. “I mean I knew that the majority of the people wanted change in the country.”
According to Pew Research Center, the 2020 election had some of the highest levels of polarization the United States has seen in a while.
Sophomore Caden Schaeffer believes that the polarization will begin to decrease over the course of the next year.
“It’s still going to be separated for a bit, but I think within a year it should be not as bad as it is right now,” Shaeffer said.
Crecca thinks that the polarization was amplified by the stress of the virus.
“I think if the virus cools down a bit, some peace will be restored,” Crecca said. “I think the election didn’t help people’s stress. So stress turns into anger and you take your anger out on people. So I think that’s a big reason why we’re so separated.”
Schaeffer was disappointed to see the country in such a divide over deciding what he thinks should be a unifying political position.
“It was actually kind of sad because it’s America and people are always saying, ‘Well, America is like the best country and we’re all so close together’ but it just really wasn’t the case here,” Schaeffer said. “There were so many differences in opinion and opposition, like supporters on both sides were getting in fights. They really had to hold people back.”
Students seem to agree on the hope that peace can be restored to the American political system.
“It divided our country and I think it’s now time to try to piece it back together,” Hennessy said. “This election has shown us the effects of a divided country and peace in America needs to be restored.”
Schaeffer hopes to see this divide within the country be mended.
“It’s a shame just to see how separated the country is and shouldn’t be that way. And I hope that it can be fixed,” Schaeffer said.
According to Hennessy, these tensions were felt at school during the vote count.
“You could definitely tell people were on edge and nervous for the outcome,” Hennessy said.
Issues like voter intimidation and voter fraud have raised questions of legitimacy on both sides of the political divide.
“I know some Trump supporters went to election offices or polling booths with guns and that’s clear voter intimidation and should not be allowed,” Shaeffer said.
Hennessy hopes that Americans can come to terms with the election results no matter their personal views.
“I think our country can’t dwell on who could have been our president. The only thing to do now is to move on and look forward because our country has a huge future ahead,” Hennessy said.
Hennessy believes there is still uncertainty in the next four years even though the vote has been called.
“Once Biden gets in office things will start to change – maybe for the better or maybe for the worse, no one really knows yet,” Hennessy said.
She hopes the best for the future, but Hennessy is expecting an economic decline if COVID-19 continues to close down businesses and schools.
“When stores aren’t open, people can’t work, resources will be limited. I truly want to stay optimistic for these next four years and hope that peace and unity can be found in this country,” Hennessy said.