For the History Books

The Pandemic was already going to be in the history books, but the 2020 Presidential Election is sure to be right alongside it.

These screen captures are not in all chronological order, but it goes a little something like this...

Donald Trump has a good turnout on election day. He does far better than the vast majority of pollsters preditced.

Only the tune kept changing as time went on.

Neither side had enough electoral counts to win with several key states hanging in the balance. 

However, the more mail-in ballots that came in, the more Trump fell behind.

He called conspiracy and started legal processes that have continued for weeks after the election.

Personally, I think there are two likely explanations for the discrepancy in mail-in ballots.

1) There was cheating on both sides and the Democrats did a better job.

No, I don't think only one side did it if it was done. There are allegations going on now about PACs formed to support spoiler candidates that helped Republican candidates win office.

However, after everyone cried foul in 2016 this had to be one of the most closely watched elections. Ever. There's always a chance for incompetence, but it's less likely under intense scrutiny and oversight. There haven't been any big revelations from the courts or anywhere else so far.

2) People who did mail-in votes were more likely to vote for Biden.

Trump trash talked mail-in ballots and encouraged all his supporters to vote in person on election day. I bet they mostly did. He had a strong turnout and good numbers. Trump supporters in general tend to be less fearful of the pandemic.

On the other hand, Biden did not trash talk mail ballots. His supporters tend to be more fearful of the pandemic. I expect more of them used mail-in ballots.

So I'm pretty sure this headline is true. Trump got the vast majority of his votes cast by people who voted in person. Biden had a portion of his votes that came in over time.

If the mail-in ballots were done legally, then they should count. 

Trump's reaction was very human in it's frustration (and why many of his supporters feel he's more trustworthy than typical politicians), but unprofessional (and why many of his detractors have a problem with how he conducts himself). 

I couldn't help but feel that Facebook might be having some fun at Trump's expense with their fact checking on his posts. Trump went after them multiple times and I'm sure the company didn't appreciate it.

Trump's posts are probably the closest I or many other people will ever see a President's true feelings and reactions whether people agree with them or not.

I flipped back and forth between Fox and CNN to see the different takes and spins they put on things.

For the most part their numbers and races called were in line with each other. The headlines they delivered around those numbers? Very different.

I'm sure that many people have felt uncertain with Trump refusing to acknowledge Biden's victory and his claims of voter fraud.

My life has gone on as usual. I wake up, work, and do my best to be a blessing to everyone I talk to. 

One student said something about the election a couple of times, but the rest have all been quiet. I teach math, so it's not like current events are a frequent topic. I normally hear something, but with Zoom making every discussion a full class discussion by default students seem to be much more cautious with what they say.

I do check the news out of curiosity to see how things unfold. If Trump really tries to throw down it could be a major catastrophe for the democratic process, but personally, I don't think he will. My personal prediction is he will be upset, do everything he can to find a conspiracy or a loophole, not find anything, sulk, and make his exit. 

More interesting question: What will Trump do in his final moments and after he leaves the presidency? Who will he pardon? What can he pardon? Pre-pardons? Will he try to pardon himself? Or does that admit he did something?

The headlines of CNN and Fox continue to be very different even as the same events unfold before both of them.

Clearly, Fox is anti-Biden.

And CNN is anti-Trump.

In my opinion, less-biased news has been a casualty of the past decades.

I'm sure someone will come out with a book or story about the election that happened this year. I'm not going to read it, but I have found the extreme reactions on social media interesting. They're there, but almost never with anyone I talk to directly. 

Historic times. I prefer to leave them to the historians, but I can't ignore it all in my blog either. Shane may have to do a book report on this one day and the screenshots could be interesting.

The Dreaded Political Post

Someone more eloquent than me has probably said, "No matter who wins, at least half the country is going to be upset." 

It's certainly the way I look at this election.

I feel like every election year it's always "THE" election year. If the right person is elected, there will be sunshine and rainbows and life will go on. If the wrong person is elected....

Only there's always a problem eventually. The problem changes based on who's elected, but it's never 'all good.' 

With all the conflicting reports and polarized comments I read, I'm honestly not sure who will win. I think it will be like the recent school board votes for virtual school and for phase 3: Divided.

If you go by the signs, we live in Trump country. Our neighbors hung banners.

I see mainly Trump signs on the drive into town and in town. There's an occasional outlier, but Ellie's neighbor had someone drive into their yard to steal their Biden sign. 

Caught it on their game camera, too.

Yet, there are news reports in Orange County that someone was stealing Trump signs.

There are crazy people in both camps. There are people who bring guns to shoot peaceful protestors and there are people who try to use the protests to assault police officers and/or loot. 

I'm sure much of the news that bothers you relates directly to where you get your news.

Just look at the coronavirus. 236,997 people have died or 0.072% of the population? Is the statistic you pick more likely to indicate who you will vote for?

Or was it biased to write it that way? Should I have written 0.072% of the population or 236.997 people have died?

Both facts are certainly true (at least at the time I pulled the numbers). 

And I don't buy into this sort of talk. At all.

I could write a whole post about that quote, but I won't here. 

So where do I stand this election? 

This post has already started to grow beyond the size I originally intended. The more I write, the more I want to write, because my own feelings are complicated. I have serious qualms about both candidates. 

In the end, I decided to base my vote purely on my personal experience. I feel like Trump's presidency has had a negative effect on my life. 

My world feels more divided and I feel Trump's character, mannerisms, and strategy fuel that. There have been times he could have offered words of healing and direction (Remember the Aug 12 march?) or just admitted he made a mistake, so that the course could be corrected (The entire start of the pandemic being a flu) yet he seems incapable. He called names and 'shouts' in all caps on Twitter. He labeled COVID-19 the 'China virus' in a time when people are already being targeted for being different and, again, promoted division and strife rather than understanding and support.

So I voted for Biden.

And yet it wasn't without reservations. I disagree strongly with parts of his platform and if he does win, I don't want a sudden overreaction or course-correction with lockdowns. While I believe the initial responses to the pandemic were bungled and Trump bears much of the responsibility, I feel like a second clamping down this late in the game would be a second disaster. 

Obviously, I have no data on the future to tell if Biden would call for a second lockdown or not. It's more my perception of the trends in voters. 

The schools cautiously moved to return more students to in person school with a 4 to 3 vote. I'm willing to bet there's a strong correlation that the people who voted for moving forward tended to vote for Trump while the ones who voted against tended to vote for Biden. I wanted to move forward, albeit cautiously.

I voted in person the day of the election. It wasn't crowded.

I renewed my license from home in May and realized that while legal, the expiration number on the front had passed. I spent half the morning looking for my updated voter registration card, but didn't need it. No one wanted to touch a stranger's license amid COVID fears. The poll worker looked at the back of my license for half a second from behind a plastic shield to scan the barcode.

I was the 275th voter out of a projected 6,600 something.

I started to write this Tuesday and I'm wrapping it up Wednesday morning after editing to keep it concise.

We still don't know who won. 

And that won't stop time from moving on. I'm going to go about my day. There are chores to do, family to hug, and kids to teach. 

God is in control whoever wins.