2020 election summary

Delnaz Kazemi, Reporter

The 2020 presidential election was described by many as historic. Although Joe Biden has been named President-elect after he gained 306 electoral votes, according to the AP, current president Donald Trump has yet to officially concede. He and his supporters have made claims of voter fraud as the reason for Biden becoming the projected winner of the race.

HCP also did a presidential election poll. Biden won by a landslide with 78% of the vote. Kanye West landed in second him with 10% and Trump trailed behind with 9.6%.

It was a long path to November 3. There was well over 20 candidates in June of 2019. Prominent candidates dropping out paved the way for Joe Biden’s nomination at the Democratic National Committee in August.

Although Joe Biden has been announced as the winner of the election by almost all major news outlets, President Trump has continued to claim victory via his Twitter account. Trump alleges voter fraud and miscounts have occurred, calling the 2020 election the “most rigged election in history.”

GOP officials have been split. Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma has accepted Biden as the President-Elect. He said in a news conference that he will work with President Trump until January 20, 2021 and he will work with President-Elect Biden after January 20.

Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma said on a radio show that he would “step-in” to ensure that Biden receives daily briefings, but has since said that his statement was misinterpreted. Senator Sasse of Nebraska, who is a part of the Republican Party, has also recognized Biden as President-Elect.

On November 19, Rudy Giuliani, along with two others who are representing President Trump, held a press conference detailing their accusations of voter fraud.

Along with Giuliani were Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell. A few days after the press conference, the Trump campaign announced Powell’s departure from its legal team. Powell has advocated for the president for a while before representing him.

Senator Sasse of Nebraska, who is a member of the Republican Party, made this statement after the press conference: “Wild press conferences erode public trust… Rudy and his buddies should not pressure electors to ignore their certification obligations under the statute. We are a nation of laws, not tweets.”

In Oklahoma, where Pres. Trump won with 65.4% of the vote, house Republicans prepared a letter for the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives. Although there has been no evidence of election fraud in any state, they were urging Arizona reps to make sure that “illegal votes” are rejected.

President Trump’s claims of voter fraud are nothing new. In June, he tweeted,“RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!”

He then tweeted in August that Democrats “will search & find people, then ‘harvest’ & return Ballots.” He concluded the tweet with, “Not fair!”

During a senate hearing in September, FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that the FBI has not seen evidence of a “coordinated national voter fraud effort.” Although the FBI is an independent agency, President Trump has publicly stated criticism of Director Wray for not investigating voter fraud, which is similar to the case of the previous FBI Director, James Comey, who Trump fired because of the investigation into Russian influence/interference during the 2016 election.

President Trump’s won security officials have stated that the 2020 election was the most secure in modern history.

On November 18, the President fired Chris Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Since the firing, Krebs has been reassuring voters on Twitter, saying that the election was secure and that citizens should have confidence in our election systems.