On Saturday, November 7th, the 2020 presidential election came to a close as Democrat Joe Biden was declared the winner of Pennsylvania, pushing him over the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidential nomination. While almost all mainstream media outlets have called the race, President Donald Trump has yet to concede, and has made allegations of widespread voter fraud delegitimizing the election. While the final chapter in this election’s story may not be quite finished, it seems clear that come January, Biden will take office as the 46th President of the United States of America. 

While Biden will face many challenges when he takes office in January, the most paramount of those is certainly the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Throughout his campaign, Biden attacked Trump for his handling of the pandemic, and promised Americans that if elected President, he would be able to get a handle on the situation. COVID was understandably one of the biggest issues of the presidential race, and voters have clearly stated that they believe Biden’s promises to deal with the pandemic in the correct way.

“I do think that Joe Biden will take the necessary steps to combat the coronavirus,” said Riverside Brookfield High School junior Marc Zoppi. “Time and time again he’s vocalized his disappointment with how the White House has handled the virus so I don’t see him making those same decisions.” 

After placing their trust in Biden, voters hope that he will make good on his promises, and achieve all of his goals for the nation.

“I hope Biden will deliver on most of the promises he has made on his campaign trail. I hope he creates a more strict effort to eradicate the virus. I also hope that he will be able to return this nation to a more unified whole after fixing its internal problems,” said senior and first-time voter Julian Schmitt.

Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump has falsely claimed that mail in ballots are directly linked to voter fraud. Due to the pandemic, the number of mail in ballots cast rose drastically compared to previous elections. The majority of the mail in ballots sent in this year were from Democrats, the bulk of votes going to Biden, fueling the president’s conspiracy theories.  

“A lot of his [Trumps] claims, he says without a solid base to it. And this one especially, there is no evidence of voter fraud,” freshman Morgan Anderson said. “Once the mail in ballots started being counted, it started going towards Biden, and I think that that scared him.”

Mail in ballots were also the reason as to why the result dragged out until Saturday, unlike in usual times when we’d find out on the night of Election Day. This led to a draining and news-focused week for many followers.

“In the days before the election, I wasn’t particularly anxious because I knew a significant number of ballots wouldn’t be received until after election day, so we wouldn’t have all of the votes until the following day,” said senior Jesse Whisler.

Those who kept up with the news throughout the week were glued to their TVs and phones, checking the many news sources that were keeping us updated as votes came in. Most states were announced by Wednesday morning, but some key battleground states such as Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Georgia weren’t able to be called until Saturday, or later.

“I did thoroughly keep up with the election. Constantly, I was on my phone, trying to see updates, always being frustrated by Nevada and their voting process,” said senior Jackson Fields.

Dating all the way back to the Democratic primary last year, Biden has presented himself as a safe option, someone who will keep the nation running smoothly both domestically and on the world stage. This tactic may have helped sway the election in the former Vice President’s favour, as many Americans wanted a president less tumultuous than Trump, who has routinely shocked the nation, and overall been a wildcard ever since he was elected in 2016.

“With Trump in office there is too much inconsistency, hopefully Biden can bring some stability back to the government,” said junior Owen Leander.

With Biden’s election, his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris from California, makes history. Harris will become the first woman, African-American, and South-Asian American to hold the office of Vice President.

“I think that it is kind of about time that we didn’t have a white male as President or Vice President,” Anderson said. “All of these different people make up our country, and aren’t always represented in our main government. And it is so important that they are starting to be represented. I think Kamala Harris is a great example.”