Regardless of who you support, the 2020 Election has been a tremendous source of stress for the last several months. However, despite the COVID-19 pandemic spiraling further out of control, the United States is on pace to reach its highest voter turnout in centuries. In addition to an already complicated race between incumbent Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, the COVID-19 pandemic left voters with three viable options in terms of the manner in which they would cast their ballots: early voting in person, absentee ballot by mail, or voting in person on Election Day. The overwhelming increase in mail-in ballots has prolonged the counting of the votes in this election, as many states have laws that prohibit them from counting the votes prior to Election Day. As results from more states slowly creep in, we have to cope with the uncertainty of this election.
1: Remind yourself of the positive things that have occurred so far!
With so much uncertainty still lingering, it is important to remind yourself of the amazing outcomes we have seen from the 2020 election so far. To name a few: Cori Bush will become the first black congresswoman in Missouri and Sarah McBride will be the country’s first ever transgender senator. As the results continue to roll in for the presidential election, we have to stay positive about the results we already know about!
2: Don’t let the fake news get to you and contribute to your stress!
As Bernie Sanders predicted on the Tonight Show weeks before the election, a red mirage flooded the media stations on Tuesday night, causing Trump to assert victory, even when most states were not nearly finished counting their votes. Early on Wednesday morning, Eric Trump posted a video in which 80 Trump ballots were supposedly burned. Later, news outlets confirmed that this video was completely fake – the so-called ballots that were shown in the video were merely sample ballots. It is important to fact check everything and remember that even the projections on the news outlets aren’t always accurate!
3: Try not to check the news more than once an hour.
Although it may be tempting, checking the news so often can cause a significant increase in election anxiety. Put the TV on as background noise while you are doing your work and check the news only when significant updates are put out.
4: Remember that” the election is not over until every vote is counted.”
As Kamala Harris tweeted on Tuesday night, “the election is not over until every vote is counted.” Although it can be stressful to see unsettling projected results on news stations, remind yourself that this race is not over yet! Some election experts are predicting that it will be weeks to have finalized results, especially if there is any involvement from the Supreme Court.