(Fmr. Vice President Joe Biden / Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
**UPDATE** AS OF 11/5/20: Joe Biden now has 264 Electoral votes and Donald Trump has 214. The race still hasnt officially been called until he reaches 270.
In the presidential race, as of 9 a.m. Eastern time on 11/4, we did not yet know who won Alaska (3 electoral votes), Arizona (11), Georgia (16), Michigan (16), Nevada (6), North Carolina (15), Pennsylvania (20), Wisconsin (10) or Maine’s Second Congressional District (1) (see update above).
Former Vice President, Joseph R. Biden Jr. has 227 confirmed electoral votes and would need 43 more to win. President Trump has 213 confirmed electoral votes and would need 57 more to win.
Trump declared early Wednesday morning that “we’ll be going to the US Supreme Court,” and “we want all voting to stop.” Trump’s statements oversimplify and misconceive how elections work and how the courts function.
But can he do that?
Let’s put this in perspective: Article II of the Constitution specifically gives the states the right to administer their own presidential elections: “Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct” its presidential electors.
We do not have one unified, national election system; we have 51 separate and different systems (one for each state plus the District of Columbia), each with its own set of rules and procedures.
Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien told campaign surrogates in a telephone call this morning that campaign lawyers are already in those states in anticipation of filings, a person familiar with the matter said.
Trump campaign officials told allies on the call that the first likely step would be requesting recounts in states including Wisconsin and Michigan.
Trump also signaled before the election his lawyers would intervene in Pennsylvania shortly after the election, and officials have told Trump allies they anticipate a filing there in the next few days.
It wasn’t clear what would constitute the legal challenge in Pennsylvania.
Trump campaign lawyers are currently on the ground in several other states, including North Carolina and Georgia, officials familiar with the matter said.
Biden still has multiple paths to victory. But results so far have not produced the decisive “blue wave” many investors had been expecting.
Credit Suisse told clients early Wednesday that the races for both the presidency and control of the Senate were “much tighter than expected.”
It cautioned that the country may not have a definitive answer on whether President Donald Trump or Biden won until Friday.
(Photo credit: BBC)
We get updates every day on what our senators and congresspeople are doing in Washington, DC, but how often do you hear about what your state legislature is up to?
The truth is that state legislatures, compared to Congress, are very productive.
Every year they pass bills that have a huge influence over what you can and can’t do where you live. (They work pretty efficiently too: in some states, including Vermont, the legislature only meets for part of the year.)
The truth is that a lot of the things we have to deal with every day are decided at the local level:
A good portion of our local taxes goes to fund education, and local school boards have a big say in how that money gets spent.
If you’re tired of driving into potholes on your commute to work in the city, and you start to wonder why you can’t take a bus or a train instead, you should talk to your mayor.
Mayors, more so than most national governments, are also leaders in the fight against climate change, racial discrimination and how funding is distributed.
Want your city to go carbon-neutral or to be fair and financially secure? You know who to call.
Local prosecutors are the single most powerful people in the criminal justice system when it comes to deciding who goes to jail or prison and who doesn’t.
And that’s just a few examples.
Most of the things that impact your daily life happen on a local level and are influenced by local politics, but because we are bombarded by national stories every moment of every day, we find ourselves thinking nationally, not locally. It’s time for that to change.
There has been much talk about people rioting, things are gonna blow up, people are going to leave for another country…etc, depending on who wins, but let’s all take a collective pause and breathe.
Do you know that we as a people have been through worse than this and survived?
Nearly everything imaginable was done to the African American community to destroy us, dishearten us, break us apart, break us down and literally wipe us off the face of the earth, but guess what: We are still here!
So depending on who wins and who you voted for, you may be disappointed, but it’s not the end of the world–literally and figuratively.
To be honest, it could be a wake-up call for more to get involved in the process earlier and not just in the Presidential election.
This may be the awakening needed to not rest until you get the health, resources and peace you want for yourself and your family. All of that can only be accomplished by having a level head.
Waiting while doing nothing helps no one. While we wait, ask yourself, what you can do to help others in need?
Why not start that business?
Why not enroll back in school?
Why not finish your degree?
Why not apply for a new job?
The list can go on and on…
The point is to don’t stop living. The sad truth is that no matter who you are, everyone dies.
Yes, at some point in life, everyone dies, but not everyone truly lives.
Meaning, not everyone lives out the fulfilling life they were meant to live. So, let’s go out and get busy living.
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