After many days of counting, Joe Biden has been elected president and will become the 46th president of the United States. His running vice president will be Kamala Harris, the first women and women of color elected.  President-Elect Joe Biden has won the electoral college votes by 290. Leaving President Trump’s term ending with 214 electoral college votes. Joe Biden reached 270 electoral votes by gaining Pennsylvania on November 7th. 

The presidential votes were mainly done by mail in ballots, as a result, there were many absentee ballots and many waiting to be counted. 65 million people chose to vote using mail-in ballots due to the coronavirus. This made the process more complicated and longer because the states have to receive the ballots by mail and individually count them. President Trump had been leading Pennsylvania on Tuesday, November 3rd, but according to npr.org there had been more than 2.4 million mail in ballots which hadn’t been counted. On November 7th, President Elect Joe Biden reached 270 electoral votes by taking Pennsylvania.   President Trump was denied a second term in the White House. Overall, the 2020 Presidential election was extremely close.

Donald Trump mainly took the central states including Texas, South Carolina, and Florida. Joe Biden mainly takes the western states and the north east which included Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota.  Surprisingly, Joe Biden won the electoral vote for Arizona with 1,652,778 votes and Donald Trump with 1,639,268 votes. According to the New York Times, in the 2016 Election Donald Trump took the lead in Arizona by 48.1%. Joe Biden also took Nevada with 50.2% votes (671,427 people) and Trump with 47.5% (634,701 people). According to the associated press, the states North Carolina and Georgia have not finished counting the votes, but Biden has already gained Pennsylvania and Nevada. 

Although, President Trump continues to fight and claim “The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor”. Donald Trump has refused to stop investigating the votes,  which lead to further legal action on ballot counting. 

Donald Trump is suing Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania for a recount. According to Fox News, Trump’s administration is refusing to sign a letter which would allow Biden’s team to formally start presidential work. The rules for a recount are different for every state, in Pennsylvania, the recount is automatically triggered if the numbers reach a certain point. In Georgia, the numbers must get to a certain margin to request a recount. And in most states like Nevada, there is no margin to request a recount. The Trump team has worked to investigate the mail in ballot counts. With little evidence of fraud, Trump’s campaign is continuing to investigate. The Justice Department officials have confirmed that they were looking at Pennsylvania and Nevada to the FBI.

Joe Biden makes a victory speech in his hometown Whilimington, Delaware on Saturday evening November 7th. Joe Biden stated  “I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect Harris,” Biden said in a statement. “In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America.” According to Cnn politics, Joe Biden asked the Trump supporters for a compromise and a chance to Unite the US again. He added: “With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.”