Presidential election remains too close to call, likely to continue for days

With several states still counting ballots, no clear winner has been determined and the 2020 presidential election is expected to continue for days.

Trump secured the electoral votes of battleground states including Florida, Ohio and Iowa early Wednesday, but a number of other key states — Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan — are still too close to call.

Arizona was the first state to flip from its 2016 results and favor Biden over Trump.

Cities across the nation are still counting ballots by mail. Officials in Pennsylvania expect most votes to be counted by Friday, and Michigan’s secretary of state said she expects finalized results to be in by Wednesday night.

Trump’s Florida win was among his most significant victories. He won a number of votes in Miami-Dade County unexpectedly and gained 29 electoral votes by winning the state.

As of 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, Democrats picked up Senate seats in Colorado and Arizona, but Republicans flipped Alabama and maintained a stronghold in states Democrats were hoping to break through. Democrats are expected to maintain control of the House.

Speaking to supporters in Delaware early Wednesday, Biden said he remains optimistic regarding the outcome of the election. Biden also urged patience throughout the night and expressed a commitment to the democratic process.

“It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare who’s won this election,” Biden said. “That’s the decision of the American people.”

As his wife Jill Biden clapped and cheered beside him, Biden thanked his supporters in Delaware and across the nation.

“I’m grateful to the poll workers, to our volunteers, to our canvassers,” he said.

Around an hour after Biden delivered his statement, Trump addressed a room of supporters in the White House. He declared victory, though several key states had not yet been called, and made false claims regarding election results and ballot validity. He also vowed to go to the Supreme Court to stop counting ballots.

“We want all voting to stop,” Trump said. “We don’t want them to find any ballots at 4 o’clock in the morning and add them to the list. This is a very sad moment, to me this is a very sad moment, and we will win this. As far as I’m concerned, we already have.”

Notre Dame College Democrats and College Republicans both held election watches Tuesday night to follow along with the results in real time.

Gathering in Room 102 in DeBartolo Hall, the College Republicans cheered on the incumbent as they tuned into Fox News. Sophomore Adam Morys, president of College Republicans, said he holds conservative ideals “across the board,” and he feels that while Donald Trump is not “100%” conservative, he still agrees with the president on most issues — most importantly, abortion.

“[Trump’s] definitely a lot more pro-life than Joe Biden is,” Morys said.

Morys thought the biggest surprise of the night was Arizona flipping to favor Biden. Despite the loss for Trump, Morys still believed the president had a path to reelection, and he expressed skepticism regarding the loss.

“There’s some people who are contesting whether Arizona has really been won by Biden yet or not,” he said around 2:40 a.m. Wednesday.

Morys said he enjoyed the opportunity to spend election night with his fellow members of the College Republicans.

College Democrats also held an election night watch to discuss the results as they came in. The club gathered in the Dahnke Ballroom in the Duncan Student Center, and around 150 people joined the watch over the course of the night.

Junior Emma Dudrick, one of the co-presidents of College Democrats, said she was disappointed to watch Trump maintain a stronghold in states Democrats were hoping to flip. Since many states had not yet counted absentee or early votes at that time, around 1 a.m., Dudrick thought the results are likely to be skewed toward Trump.

“Those [votes] that have yet to come in are probably going to look pretty different from the votes that have already come in,” Dudrick said.

Dudrick, a native of New York, also said she was a little disappointed by the Senate races, but she was happy to see Arizona leaning to Biden.

Both Dudrick and Morys agreed that there has been no clear winner as of early Wednesday morning, and it will likely take days until the results are in.

“We’re not going to know tonight, and that’s okay,” Dudrick said. “It’s probably for the best. I think in a true democracy, it’s important that every single person’s vote is counted. I’m more than happy to wait a few days to make sure that every single person gets the change to have their voice heard.”