Joe Biden, left, and President Donald Trump (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr/Creative Commons)
Our Take
Did everyone have a restful sleep? Yeah, us neither. Despite knowing that a definite result was unlikely by the end of November 3, watching returns roll in on interactive cable-news maps with little context has been both unsettling and angering. Whatever happens in the next few days, the fact that a presidential election that is literally a referendum on humanity, on science, on racial justice, on corruption, on abuses of power, and on compassion wasn’t a landslide victory for those things is a horrifying indictment. Regardless of the final vote tallies, we face a reckoning that can’t be bright-sided away.
In the meantime, there’s a lot going on. As of 2:30 PST, Joe Biden is leading in the electoral-college race, but several key swing states—Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia, and North Carolina—are currently counting remaining ballots. The Trump campaign has sued Michigan to compel the state to stop counting ballots while also demanding an immediate recount of Wisconsin’s. And, of course, President Donald Trump has already falsely claimed victory. In other words, sleep might not be in the cards again tonight. But there’s still a lot of news to parse as we wait for the ballot counts to wrap up.
MEDIA ROUNDUP
-
Joe Biden has surpassed Barack Obama in winning the most-ever votes in any presidential election. [CBS News]
-
A mob of voters in Michigan have stormed Detroit’s TCF Center in an effort to disrupt the ballot-counting process, chanting “stop the count.” [Detroit Free Press]
-
Did you cast a vote by mail in a swing state? Worried that your ballot might be a victim of mail tampering on behalf of the Trump campaign? Track it online! [Washington Post]
-
“Stay in line” has become a rallying call, but it’s little more than a sign of the absurd hurdles that stand in the way of people who want to vote. [Washington Post]
-
Young voters have turned out in record numbers this election despite having to navigate a gauntlet of obstacles: As of October 23, more than 5 million voters between the ages of 18 and 29 had already voted. [USA Today]
-
It’s unclear how useful exit polls are in 2020, given how many voters cast their ballots by mail and the overrepresentation of Trump voters in day-of voting numbers. That said, an alarming number of voters ranked economic recovery over the COVID-19 pandemic as their top concern despite a sharp uptick in reported cases. [Washington Post]
