UPDATE (11:10 a.m): The Associated Press has called the election. Joe Biden has won the presidential election against incumbent Donald Trump with 284 of 214 electoral votes.
Americans sat in anticipation as ballots were counted as Election Day closed on Tuesday. This election cycle became one of the highest turnouts in recent history with two/thirds of the Voter Eligible Population of over 239 million turning out.
According to the Associated Press’ electoral map, as of 1 p.m. today unofficial results for the presidential election show Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden ahead of Republican incumbent Donald Trump with 264 to 214 electoral votes, respectively.
A candidate needs 270 electoral votes in order to win the presidential election.
Trump said this while visiting the Republican National Headquarters in Virginia on election day morning.
“Winning is easy, losing is never easy, not for me it’s not,”
The statement adds to the concern that the president would legally challenge the outcome of votes and refute a loss.
Political Science professor Natasha Altema-McNeely says waiting for court rulings on the election slows down the electoral process.
“The unprecedented nature of an impact of the pandemic makes it a lot longer but if he continues to issue these legal challenges against the results…and I imagine there will be legal court cases regarding the validity of mailed-in ballots…that’s going to make the process even longer.”
States such as Nevada, Pennsylvania and Georgia are still to be determined. This is due to the COVID-19 pandemic which led to an increase in mail-in ballot requests which take more time to process.
Trump says mail-in ballots leads to an increase in voter fraud, tweeting at 11:49 p.m. on Tuesday that the election was being stolen. Biden tweeting Thursday “every vote must be counted.”
Political communication professor Gregory Selber gave an explanation on the president’s statements.
“I really don’t think that there’s that much possibility of fraud. This whole thing in the first debate about thousands of ballots ending up in that wastebasket that is to distract people and is to make sure the followers are on board, the wide-eyed, true believers so that at the end of the day they have excuses as to why maybe their ideas didn’t sell as well with the American people as they thought.”
Altema-McNeely explained that although we may not know a winner this week, the actual process to elect the president doesn’t occur until December, with Congress certifying the election in January.
“The ballots by the electors as part of the electoral college actually doesn’t happen until December so we have to be mindful that that process is already a couple of weeks away, within a month and maybe two weeks the electors are supposed to officially cast their ballots.”
For election updates and much more, visit utrgvradio.com.
For Vaquero News, I’m Justin Elizalde.
