Election Aftermath

ELECTION AFTERMATH: WHAT’S NEXT?

Phillip Powell|Fact Checker

Photo by Lauren Allen “[America] has never been more indecisive on the path it wants to tread into the future”

After a grueling and often insufferable campaign season, the verdict is in. Joe Biden was elected the 46th President of the United States, and Kamala Harris was elected the 49th Vice President of the United States, the first woman and first African American and Indian American person to hold the office. The Biden/Harris ticket won the most votes of any Presidential ticket in American history, 79 million and counting, in the highest turnout since 1960. Biden and Harris also defeated an incumbent President with the highest percentage of the vote (51.0) since Roosevelt beat Hoover back in 1932. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many states drastically expanded absentee voting. The states’ hasty adoption of increased absentee voting led to the Associated Press and other major news outlets unable to call several key states the night of the election.

Americans around the country waited from election night on Tuesday, November 3rd until midday Saturday, November 7th for the AP to project Biden as the winner of the 2020 Presidential Election with 306 electoral votes beating Donald Trump’s 232. It is important to note that there is no tradition of finalized election results on election night. Many voters remember the 2000 election, which was so hotly contested that George Bush wasn’t declared the winner until weeks after Election Day.

As of November 18th, President Trump has refused to concede the election to President-Elect Joe Biden, breaking a democratic tradition integral to America’s electoral process since John Adams conceded to Thomas Jefferson in the Election of 1800. President Trump has issued lawsuits challenging election practices in multiple states and has repeatedly claimed himself the winner, blaming widespread voter fraud for aiding Biden. It should be noted that there is absolutely no evidence of widespread voter fraud or widespread election malpractice. Many of Trump’s lawsuits have been voluntarily dismissed by his lawyers because of their complete lack of evidence for any of their claims. But secondly, even if many of these cases alleging voter fraud were substantiated, the tiny number of fraudulent votes would not overturn a 12,000-vote lead in Georgia, a 10,000-vote lead in Arizona, a 150,000-vote lead in Michigan, a 20,000-vote lead in Wisconsin, a 100,000-vote lead in Pennsylvania, and a 30,000-vote lead in Nevada. Trump must flip the vote counts in all of those states to win the election, and it is impossible for him to do this. Recounts may change the final certified vote totals on the margins, but it will not flip thousands and thousands of votes to President Trump. Finally, even if you are still unconvinced that this was a free and fair election—think—if Biden and the Democrats had truly rigged the election, then why did Democrats lose seats in the House of Representatives? Why did Democrats fail to pick up Senate seats in several states? Why did Republicans retain control over several State Legislatures? How did Democrats rig the Presidential race while keeping the down-ballot races fair? The answer is: They Didn’t.

However, there is one important caveat. While Biden has won the election, not only with a convincing popular vote victory but also in the Electoral College, the Electoral College has not met to certify the election results. The Electoral College will meet on December 14th to vote on behalf of their states for the next President and Vice President, and while many states have laws forcing electors to vote for the candidate who won their states, many states do not have these laws. So, while it is highly, highly, highly unlikely, there is still a sliver of a chance that Donald Trump could become President even while losing the election. Suppose there are enough faithless electors, or state legislatures send electors who represent the Republican Party to vote, even though Biden won those states and is entitled to the electors from those states. In that case, Trump could still achieve the 270 electoral votes necessary to be elected President.

The country is both in mourning and jubilant. Many fear the possibilities of the next four years, while others are excited about what the next four years may bring. Regardless of how you feel about this election, there are three facts that all of us must grapple with: one, Biden defeated Trump, but Democrats did not defeat Republicans. Liberalism/Progressivism did not beat Conservatism. President-Elect Biden does not have a convincing mandate to govern, as evidenced by a smaller Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and the fact that Republicans have already secured 50 seats in the Senate. If the Democrats manage to win both run-off Senate races in Georgia, they will only have a Senate majority with VP Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote. Second, Trump isn’t going anywhere. President Trump’s refusal to concede and his incredibly strong and enthusiastic support base will make him increasingly relevant to Republican politics and the nation’s overall national discourse for years and years to come. Finally, the nation is more polarized than it has been in a very long time. There are two America’s that have been forming for a very long time. Those two America’s are increasingly embracing two separate realities, based upon distinct concepts of what America has been and what it should be. Conciliation and compromise have become all but impossible, and even while America is reaching more and more levels of involvement and engagement, the country has never been more indecisive on the path it wants to tread into the future.