The coronavirus pandemic has caused billions of voters to cast their votes by mail for this year’s 2020 election, raising the possibility that the American citizens may not know the outcome of the election for several days to come. It came to no surprise that the American nation did not know the results of the election on election day, because this is not the first time it has happened. Usually all elections take only up to 1-2 extra days to make sure that all votes are counted and the correct winner is chosen. However, this year election officials warn it may take weeks to determine the results of the election due to the coronavirus pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic caused an unpredictable number of voters to cast their votes through mail, which ultimately means that the election officials need time to accurately tally votes and verify the winners.

As of Wednesday morning, President Trump won a series of key battlegrounds including Florida, Ohio, and Iowa. Mr. Biden expressed confidence that he would win key northern states and Arizona. According to NBC news projections, as of this moment in the race, “Joe Biden has clinched 220 electoral votes, while President Donald Trump has secured 213 votes”, placing Biden in the lead. To win the presidency, President Trump or Joe Biden will need to secure at least 270 votes in the 538-vote Electoral College.

With millions of votes still to be counted, President Trump prematurely declared that he had won the election. According to CNBC news, “President Donald Trump addressed supporters early Wednesday from the White House and tried to claim victory in the presidential election, even as states across the U.S. continue to count millions of legally cast ballots.” Not only did he declare this statement, but he also warned that he would go to the Supreme Court to try and shut down the election. “We did win this election,” President Trump said. “So our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation.” Mr. Biden responded to this news saying that it is not his place nor President Trump’s place to declare who has won the election, it is the decision of the American people.

Vice President Biden started election night with a clear path of remaining in the lead to reaching 270 electoral votes, however, after the recent news that President Trump had won Florida, Ohio, and Texas those chances decreased drastically. Many mail-in ballots still have to be counted, and those ballots are predicted to be in Mr. Biden’s favor because many democratic voters used mail-in balloting this year. The victory still remains far from certain for these first few days of election week, however, Mr. Biden believes he is on track with winning this election due to the recent results being in his favor. As for President Trump, according to Republican strategist Alex Contant, “Trump’s path to winning is exactly the same as it was in 2016.” As of now, nobody is entirely sure who the winner will be, but it is certain that the whole nation is on the edge of their seats to find out who our next president will be.