2020 Election: Get caught up here
Delaney Blackburn, Staff Writer
The results of the 2020 Presidential Election could be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Nov. 3, 2020, many U.S. citizens expressed confusion and concern as states extended deadlines for mail-in ballots due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, the official election results have not yet been finalized.
As of Nov. 16, former Vice President Joe Biden currently has 279 electoral votes, while President Donald Trump has 217. Some states are still in the process of counting votes.
With accusations of voter fraud circulating, some states have started the process of recounting votes. Deadlines for concluding these vote counts range from 10 to 20 days.
The Trump Campaign has filed lawsuits against six states due to questions of legitimacy in the election.
South Carolina House Representative and Affiliated Professor of Political Science at North Greenville University, Garry Smith said in an interview, “From the opinions of the people changing so often to increases in absentee voting, this election has just been so different from previous elections.”
Smith explained that the presidential election process can be very confusing because different states have different election processes.
“It can get confusing because you do have 50 different ways of doing it,” Smith said, “but it was intentional in doing that. It has worked out well for 250 years.”
Smith added that although there are still conflicts and issues with these differences between states, the Founding Fathers were intentional in designing the system this way.
“When you look at the electoral college, that’s the reason behind it: to make all the states relevant … to allow those minorities to have a say in the process. It wasn’t meant to be an official process. It was meant to be negotiated and something that can be agreed upon,” said Smith.
Smith said that most of the votes taken in the South Carolina House of Representatives are unanimous, but more controversial issues cause more differences and conflicts.
“That’s when votes really start to diverge from one another,” Smith continued, “and that’s okay. That’s the way it was meant to be.”
Smith recently wrote an opinion article for The Washington Times that included an explanation of the difference between absentee ballots and mail-in ballots, one of the primary topics being discussed in this election.
“The difference between mail-in ballots and absentee ballots is huge,” he said. “The way they’re administered and handled is different. Mail-in ballots are based on voter registration, which in many states is not kept up-to-date … that’s what causes so many problems.”
Smith said that because voter registration information is not updated well, ballots have been cast by dead voters. He added that ballots can be stolen from mailboxes as well.
Smith explained that unlike mail-in ballots, absentee ballots have to be requested.
“You have to fill out an application for absentee ballots,” said Smith. “You have to put a signature on it. That signature is compared to the registration laws … you have to get a witness signature as well as a notary.”
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 election reached record numbers of mail-in ballots. This increase in mail-in voting has left many citizens questioning if these ballots will affect the result of the election.
However, mail-in voting is not the only controversy in this election.
Smith explained that some of the decisions made by the lower courts in this election have been a source of conflict.
“An example would be the Supreme Court in Pennsylvania.” said Smith, “They overruled the general assembly and gave people an additional three days to vote. That’s going to the U.S. Supreme Court now.”
Smith said that disagreements over making exceptions due to the pandemic in this election have also caused controversy.
Smith continued, “Well, if you look at the decisions that have been made by the U.S. Supreme Court, they said there is no exception within the constitution for your rights and for those delegations of power for a pandemic.”
Due to the irregularities that took place in this election, the results were not officially decided on Election Day.
“You’ve got a lot of issues that are going to need to be resolved,” Smith said. “I think court cases are going to be pivotal going forward.”
