The 2020 Presidential Election: The Basics

 Let’s talk about the wild ride that was this year’s election. After many nerve-racking and daunting days, Joe Biden defeated now Former President, Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Biden is bringing his Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris, into office alongside him. The Associated Press officially called the race at approx. 11 a.m est. on November 7th, 2020. 

 All of the votes have yet to be counted, but as of now, Joe Biden has passed 270 electoral college votes, which is the amount a president candidate requires to win. Currently, President-elect Biden has 290 electoral votes compared to 214; Trump’s amount of electoral votes.

 With the coronavirus pandemic, voting was a more difficult process this year. Many voters chose to fill out mail-in ballots, rather than physically going to a polling place. The abundance of mail-in ballots filled this year caused a slight flaw in terms of the election process.

 Plenty of the 50 states, such as Nevada, Pennsylvania, Georgia, etc. didn’t finish counting the votes until days after election day, which was November 3rd. This was mainly due to late arriving mail-in ballots. Realistically, though? We should blame COVID for this one. 

 There was a public outcry on multiple different social media platforms due to the prolonged election. 

 After President-elect Biden was announced as the winner of this year’s election, there was nearly immediate rallying by supporters of Donald Trump, even locally. There was a rally of Trump supporters in Downtown Annapolis a few hours after President-elect Biden won. There’s been claims of riots initiating, targeting POC and members of the LGBTQ+ community, led by Trump supporters.

 As a POC who’s part of the LGBTQ+ community, I’m fearful. 

 President-elect Biden being elected into office is marking history in more ways than one. VP-elect, Kamala Harris, is the first female Vice President in American history. Not to mention, she’s also the first black female VP as well. This is a huge step for us, as a unified society. A powerful, female POC being represented in office will inevitably be impactful for countless people.

 So, what now? In this upcoming January, President-elect Biden will be inaugurated and move into the White House along with the new First Lady, Jill Biden. In his victory speech, Biden stated that his first goal as the president of the United States will be to get coronavirus under control.