At least we know who lost the election: the American people
AS the sun rose on election night, the world woke up to the jarring headline: America Has No President. In a strange way, many Americans were expecting the ambiguity. Living in the US during the coronavirus pandemic has been laden with uncertainty. Each state has handled the crisis with wildly different laws, from California mandating masks be worn in all public places, to Florida, which recommends but does not require face coverings for any county barring a select few.
Even election night, one of our most traditional processes, felt unfamiliar. Millions of mask-clad voters headed to polls, standing six feet apart and slathering on hand sanitizer before casting their ballots. Other voters who wanted to avoid crowded polling places cast a record 65 million ballots by mail, and the number is expected to grow as more votes are publicised by states, according to the U.S. Elections Project.
This massive increase of mail-in voting shifted expectations on when most ballots are counted. Many Americans are accustomed to voting on Nov 3 and learning the results that night. However, several states not prepared for high volumes of mail-in voting did not start counting ballots until the next day. Other swing states allowed absentee ballots to be postmarked up until November 4.
Both parties threw accusations following the news that it may take weeks for mail-in votes to be counted. Trump claimed a “very sad group of people” was trying to disenfranchise his supporters, while Biden’s campaign called Trump’s demand for all voting to stop “outrageous, unpresented, and incorrect.”
There was also discourse around the conspiracy of postal ballots leading to election fraud. Though numerous national and state-level studies have shown electoral fraud is very rare, Trump tweeted in June that mail-in voting would lead to “the most corrupt Election [in] USA history.”
Now, Democrats are calling for more time to count votes while Republicans claim additional time is an opportunity to cheat.
So what does this mean for Americans?
As votes continue to be counted, the solutions to several key issues each campaign promised to handle differently are still up in the air. According to a study by the Pew Research Center, the top four issues for voters in the 2020 election were the economy, healthcare, Supreme Court appointments and the coronavirus outbreak. Given Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was already sworn in last month, the top three still leave fears looming for Americans across the spectrum.
With the country in the midst of a recession, nearly 80% of Americans say the economy will be very important to them following the election. In a list of agenda items for a second term, released in August, Trump’s campaign stated his priorities include creating 10 million jobs in 10 months. Trump also wants to establish more than one million domestic jobs that were previously based in China.
There are no details about these plans, apart from their inclusion on the agenda list. However, the White House stated it will not give federal contracts to companies that continue to manufacture products in China; continuing the Trump administration’s stance against the country amidst a trade war, sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden’s plan for the economy centres around sectors such as domestic manufacturing and investing in clean energy. This includes a $15 minimum wage, universal paid sick leave and 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. Additionally, Biden wants to increase the corporate tax rate by 7% in part of his $4 trillion tax package.
Both also have opposing views on healthcare. Trump wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which currently gives 20 million Americans healthcare as of 2019, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Though his administration has not publicly proposed their alternative, many supporters rally behind his pledge to lower prices of prescription drugs and insurance premiums.
Biden holds a completely different stance and wants to expand the Affordable Care Act. Additionally, Biden said in an interview last year that undocumented immigrants would be able to buy into the public option plan and receive unsubsidised coverage.
Americans are also understandably worried about handling the pandemic. Those in support of stricter lockdowns cite the 233,000 Americans who died due to Covid-19, according to the latest government figures. Other say the large unemployment rate and catastrophic closing of businesses are reasons Trump should actually lift lockdown restrictions.
Over the next several weeks, the world will continue to watch states tally their mail-in ballots. The Trump administration will still be claiming fraud, while Biden’s campaign will fight to extend vote counting by any legal means. Both politicians will flood our news stations and social media timelines with accusations and rhetoric similar to the disaster that was their first debate.
And as they argue, millions of Americans will still be facing uncertainty. Citizens of both political spectrums, regardless of who they think is the best candidate, will be out of work and unable to afford their bills. They will be uncertain what laws will be passed regarding immigration, the LGBTQ community and healthcare.
They will, as we have been throughout this unprecedented year, be confused, exhausted and afraid.
As Trump and Biden fight to win the highest office in government, it is the American people, hardened by 2020 and the uncertainty it continues to bring, who feel they have truly lost.
Citizens of both political spectrums, regardless of who they think is the best candidate, will be out of work and unable to afford their bills