Just like many other college students, this was the first time I voted in a presidential election, and I’ve finally had some time to process everything that happened. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I used a mail-in ballot to cast my vote early and was eager to learn the results of the election. But since this election was completely different than those in the past, we couldn’t learn the results by the next morning like we’re used to. I woke up every day checking my phone for results, disappointed to learn it would be at least another day until votes could be counted. It felt like it took years of waiting and nervousness to find out what turn our country would take, and I never want to experience that level of anxiety ever again.
I had three tabs open on my computer with different websites tracking election results. Not every platform was posting the same thing, so it was hard to keep up, but I didn’t want to miss a thing. I tried to stay up election night to view the final results, but once 1 a.m. hit, I knew it wouldn’t be finished the same night.
It took almost an entire week for the final results to come in, with Biden taking over Pennsylvania and being pushed past the necessary 270 mark. For me, it was an absolute relief to see that Biden was leading most of the race and that he is the new president-elect. I’m even more proud of the fact that Kamala Harris will be the first female vice president. On top of it, she is a young Black and Asian woman who is breaking down doors for many women following in her footsteps. Even if you don’t agree with Harris, this is a major accomplishment in American history, and I’m happy to see our country moving forward.
Even though most people have congratulated Biden and Harris on the victory, there’s still speculation about how accurate the results are because of all of the mail-in ballots that were counted post-election day. Trump has already stated he wanted there to be recounts in several states that had small margins, so that could delay a confirmation even further. Things may look uncertain for a while, but what we know for sure is this year has one of the highest voter turnouts in history. When we want something done, we use our collective voices to make it happen.