Sophia Gonzalez
Georgia, Pennsylvania and Nevada are the states to watch for as the U.S. braces itself for the election results.
Polls across the board predicted that presidential candidate Joe Biden would easily lead the election across the map with 122 toss up votes on the line, but election night told a different story as current President Donald Trump closed in on the gap for a neck-to-neck race for the White House.
“I did not expect how tight this race would be,” vice president of FSC College Democrats Kaitlynn Swanbeck said. “I was much more optimistic about it going into the day yesterday.”
Early polls predicted that Florida, Texas, Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina and Georgia were going to be toss up states, according to Taegan Goddard’s electoral vote map, which are crucial for Trump’s path to reelection. Early pre-election polls showed that Biden was favored in Florida and Pennsylvania, but between Nov. 3 and 4, Trump won the votes in most of the predicted toss up states including, Ohio, Texas and Florida.
“So far at 12:14 a.m. on election night, the election is going pretty much as I was assuming,” FSC president of college republicans Kalin Abernathy said. “Trump is leading in the majority of states left and Biden would have to switch those to have a chance.”
As it is in most presidential elections, Florida was a necessary win for Trump, and it would have been a key state that would have helped secure victory for Biden, which is why before the election both parties honed in their campaign efforts to Florida.
However, as early polling results started to trickle in, Biden underperformed in key areas of the state, such as Miami-Dade County. According to the New York Times’ map of Florida, Joe Biden led the vote in Miami-Dade with 53.3% of the votes. In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary won Miami-Dade with 63.3% of the votes and still lost the state.
Trump’s increased support in Miami-Dade’s Hispanic districts and white precincts helped him secure the state of Florida, according to the Miami Herald.
Although Hispanic voters supported Biden in larger numbers, Cuban-Americans backed Trump over Biden, according to Fox News.
“Florida, we didn’t win it,” Trump said when he addressed the nation shortly after winning Texas, Florida and Ohio. “We won it by a lot. We won the great state of Ohio. We won Texas.”
Although forecasts put Biden officially in the lead late in the night of Nov. 3 and throughout Nov. 4, Trump was leading in key deciding states in their initial tallies. These states include Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina, but forecasters warned that those were just the early votes.
According to the Associated Press News electoral map, Biden was able to secure the ‘Blue Wall’ and the state of Arizona. He would need to either maintain his lead in the state of Nevada or flip either Pennsylvania or Georgia. North Carolina and Alaska will most likely remain red.
“We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election,” Trump tweeted at 12 a.m. on Nov. 4 in a since restricted tweet. “We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!”
He is most likely referring to states such as Pennsylvania, who started counting their mail-in ballots on election day, and it might take a few days to count the votes and declare the winner of the 20 electoral votes. This can be frustrating for members of both parties since this is such a close election, but there is no indication that any votes were cast after polls closed.
Some states experienced difficulties with printing issues or had trouble openings in the early morning hours, which means that they went to court in order to expand voting time hours, as federal mandate
“We were winning everything and all of a sudden, it was just called off,” Trump said when he addressed the nation.
Biden maintained a positive outlook despite the tightness of the election.
“I am here to tell you tonight, we believe we’re on track to win this election,” Biden said. “We knew because of the unprecedented early vote and the mail-in vote, it’s gonna take a while. We’re gonna have to be patient until the hard work of tallying votes is finished, and it ain’t over until every vote is counted, every ballot is counted.”
Watch Trump’s and Biden’s Nov. 4 respective address to the nation at PBS NewsHour.
During late hours on Nov. 4 and early morning of Nov. 5, protestors stand outside voting precincts where votes are being counted as votes are being counted. In Maricopa County Arizona, Trump supporters shout “count the votes” while in Detroit, Michigan, they’re shouting to “stop the count.”
As of Nov. 4, Trump filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan and asked for a Wisconsin recount.
The AP News map’s current standings show that Democrats have secured 204 House seats and Republicans have 190 seats. In order to have a majority one party has to claim at least 218 seats, and 2 of those seats are for independent candidates. Fifty-one seats need to be filled for a majority in the senate, which currently projects Republicans with 48 seats and Democrats with 46.
When the final votes will be counted is still unknown, and depending on the outcome, the results might be contested.
