The presidential race between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden has not yet been called. Photo courtesy of huffpost.com.
MEGHAN STRATTON | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | mrstratt@butler.edu
Managing Editor Maddy Kline, Managing Editor Bridget Early, News Editor Ellie Allen and Assistant News Editor Annie Faulkner contributed to this story. The Butler Collegian will follow this story as more information becomes available.
Election night in America yields more questions than answers — many Americans will wake up this morning without knowing who their next president will be.
As of 5 a.m. on Nov. 4, 2020, the American presidential election remains undecided. Former Vice President Joe Biden currently leads the popular vote with around 67.1 million voters, as compared to President Donald Trump’s approximate 65.2 million voters. Millions of votes still remain to be counted.
Biden also leads in Electoral College votes — 224 to Trump’s 213. However, there are still enough votes to be counted with the potential to flip the election outcome in the race to 270 votes. The high influx of absentee and mail-in voting will likely lead states to continue counting votes for the foreseeable future.
The battleground states still left to be called include Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona.
Noteworthy Electoral College wins for President Trump include Florida and Ohio, guaranteeing him 29 and 18 electoral votes, respectively. As projected, Indiana voted overwhelmingly red, with 59.4% of constituents supporting Trump. Marion County was one of three Indiana counties that clearly voted in favor of Biden, with 62.3% of constituents supporting him.
Another noteworthy outcome of Election Night included the candidates’ responses to the contentious results. Biden has assured constituents that he and running-mate Kamala Harris are on track to win the election, though he has repeatedly noted that the election will likely not be resolved until morning at the earliest. For his part, Trump falsely and prematurely claimed victory, calling the election a “fraud” disillusioning the American people and citing wins from states that have not yet counted all votes.
Around 3 a.m. Trump spoke publicly to the American people and threatened to take legal action to encourage the newly-conservative Supreme Court to decide the election.
“To me, this is a very sad moment and we will win this,” Trump said during the speech. “And as far as I’m concerned, we already have.”
Around 2 a.m. Biden took to the stage in Delaware to commend voters for their patience and offer insight for the outlook of his campaign, stating, “We feel good about where we are.”
Biden said he remains hopeful about Michigan and Wisconsin. Although it may take time to count the votes, he asserted he will win Pennsylvania. Nevada creeps closer to weighing in Biden’s favor, and Arizona continues to be a contested state. Biden encouraged his supporters to “keep the faith, because we’re going to win this.”
How does the Butler community feel in wake of the current uncertainty? Some students expressed feelings of nervousness, fear and surprise in response to the contentious race.
Meghan Singer, senior Spanish and critical communication and media double major
“I’ll feel super relieved [if Biden wins]. I was talking about this earlier with my roommates, and we feel like we’ll be emotional about it, even though we don’t super love Joe Biden; it will just be such a feeling of relief to know that the next four years can look a lot different than the past four years.”
Walker Demel, senior computer science, math and piano triple major
“I guess I’m a little surprised that so far the only difference in the electoral map from 2016 so far is AZ. I expected more of a referendum on how Trump is handling coronavirus — of which the majority of people disapprove — but although several races are closer there haven’t been any big flips toward Biden. It makes the American public seem much more entrenched and partisan than I would personally like to believe.”
Samaria Patrick, sophomore creative media entertainment and critical communication double major
“I’m honestly getting increasingly nervous about this election. I want Biden to win. I think this country needs Biden to win. But I’m honestly afraid of what the outcome might be, especially if things are delayed.”
