ELECTION NIGHT 2020: What Now?
What happens when the election to decide the future of democracy in the free world is too close to call?
We have woken up on Wednesday to discover that the results of the US election is dependent on Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin . The fact that it is even this close is extremely disheartening. It shows what a broken system the American democracy is that a candidate has written the textbook on how to be the worst President and he still is in contention to win the next morning. Millions of people still voted for a white supremacist. It could be a few days before we find out because they are tracking down and counting absentee ballots. I don’t know about you but I can’t handle it being a few days.
The unprecedented number of postal ballots means that votes may take longer to count especially when some states have rules against counting any ballots until the polls have closed . As well as this, the Republican efforts of voter suppression means there are less polling stations meaning long queues . In the US if you are in the line when the polls close, you are still allowed to vote. So, with recorded queues, there could still be voting in states several hours after the polls officially close. As of Wednesday morning there are still hundreds of thousands of ballots to be counted.
The notable differences between election nights in the US and the UK is that the UK has only one timezone. So all the polls close at the same time, realising an exit poll so that by 10.30 you know which way the wind is blowing. For example last December, I watched the exit poll and decided that it would be a shitshow that I did not want to stay up for. Four years ago we knew who had won by 3am. However, this year did not find out the results last night which, *cries in staying up all night to write a breaking news article*.
The Republicans and Trump plan to maximise on the confusion caused by their voter intimidation. As the votes are swinging towards Trump, they will announce a victory even if there are still huge numbers of votes to be counted. This could be caused by districts counting the ballots from today before the absentee, early and postal ballots (which are leaning generally Democrat). Different counties are counting the votes in different priorities which is causing states to keep flipflopping colour. Even though I know why this is the case, it is still not doing my blood pressure any good. Even though common sense reminded me otherwise, I still got excited of the possibility of Texas going blue.
If these votes then lean towards Biden, the GOP will claim voter fraud. They are already doing this by claiming votes counter after election day shouldn’t be counted even though law will claim they can. With the judiciary and Supreme Court leaning towards Trump they could get away with a coup this election. We know this, because they did it before in 2000. Florida was too close to call and needed to go to a second recount. The Governor of Florida said no, which I am sure has nothing to do with the Governor being the brother of one of the candidates. The issue went to the conservative leaning Supreme Court who sided with the Governor. Bush won with only one Electoral College Vote over the minimum. Media late found that if the recount had been allowed, Florida’s ECV’s would have gone to Gore, winning him the election.
Trump has declared he has already won the election and that fraud has occurred and that he will take it to the Supreme Court. He is following the tried and tested plan to undemocratically steal an election.
Something I have been reconciling with is how terrified I am. It scares me to my very core what would happen if the Republicans stay in power. While the options seem to be between bad and worst, for many the options are between no systematic change or losing more rights. I was on a political theory tutorial yesterday morning and the lecturer was talking about the US election. He was trying to reassure the Masters students that no matter what happens, the political implications would be fascinating. This made me so angry. People’s rights and their lives are not a trade for interesting content. This separation from consequences is always an issue with academia, but I would have thought that experts in politics would understand how political actions can have devastating consequences. I would love to have extremely boring politics for the next four years.
When considering what the worst case scenario could be of tonight I realised we have been living it for four years and cannot live through four more. A lot of people did not make it through the first term. ‘We can get through this’ is a hollow comfort when many people already haven’t. However, if I have learnt anything from 2020, is that things can always get worse.
For those who voted Democrat in 2016 (which lets not forget, was the majority of voters), everyday of Trump’s presidency has been a long slog of constant updates on the awful things the GOP has done. Even if you are not directly affected, the mental strain has been intense. This stress has even affected people outside the US in a way that international elections don’t normally do. Watching the news has become a game of Russian Roulette that something else horrible has happened. While not all bad news in the last four years has been because of Trump but he has done his lion’s share in exacerbating all global politics.
I am not going to tell you that things will be alright, because that is simply not true. However, what I can say is that regardless of who is victorious, the positive social movements that have gained so much traction in recent years, support for the environment, Black Lives Matter and March for Our Lives against guns for example will continue to gain momentum.
Written by Zoe Williams
Zoe is 22 and originally from Bath but currently residing in Manchester. She just graduated in Politics and therefore loves a good rant about Brexit and Boris Johnson. She is currently working for a Coffee chain that shall remain nameless, but they pay far too little tax and keep their staff’s tips. Unsurprisingly she is on the market for a new job. She is also a textile artist when she finds the time.