With Election Day just six days away, tensions are high in America. Whether you support President Donald Trump or Joe Biden, 2020 has proved that anything can happen. What should you expect in the next few weeks?
- Large voter turnout
- Not knowing who our president is on election night
- Question marks about the election results
- Court intervention
Large turnout
We are already seeing a large voter turnout in America with 62 million people voting through mail, absentee and advanced in-person voting. That number will only increase with just a few days left until the election. Experts are predicting 100 million people will have voted before election day. Even though we are divided and currently experiencing a once in a lifetime pandemic, this is great for our nation. We are doing our civic duty.
With such a large turnout predicted, we likely will not know who our president is on election night. Some predict it will take a week to count all the mail-in ballots that come in around election day. With all of these things considered, some have raised question marks about the results.
Election results
President Trump already has discredited the election results. For the last four to five months, Trump has tweeted and said in interviews that the 2020 election will be the most rigged and corrupt election in our history. Why would he say this? The truth is, he sees the cracks in his campaign.
Why would he say the results were going to be rigged if he thought he would win? I do not know a lot about Trump himself, but I know he never counts himself out. He’s a winner. Why would he believe so strongly in June, July, August, September and October that the results will be rigged? Trump is trying to condition you to believe the only way he can lose is by corruption and fraud. He will broadcast to America the isolated cases of fraud and discredit the whole system.
Even though he states the polling is wrong (which it was in 2016 for a number of reasons), he still is setting up this perfect storm for a potential loss. There is no evidence there is systematic voter fraud in America, yet he will try his best to convince you otherwise.
The courts
Unfortunately, like in the 2000 election, the Supreme Court will be involved in some capacity and Trump could not have picked a better time to appoint a Supreme Court justice. Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in as the newest justice on the nation’s highest court Monday evening – only seven days before the election.
Why is this significant? First off, it is almost certain that President Trump will take legal action after the election and Republicans should feel confident that a 6-3 conservative majority on the court will benefit them. Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said this week that Barrett will be an asset, not a liability.
Even with the Supreme Court appearing to “side” with conservatives, President Trump has been vocal against some of the Supreme Court decisions which could lead to some not even honoring the court’s decision. Some of his strongest supporters believe that the courts are not favorable to President Trump, the media is fake, and the election will be rigged.
Prepare for anything.
Bradley DeMers is senior studying political science at FHSU. He is a former Student Government Association president and has worked for politicians in both main political parties.