It’s Election Day – Not Results Day
Photo by Phillip Goldsberry on Unsplash Election Day has finally arrived; however, there are still 64 days until Congress declares the winner of the 2020 presidential election on January 6, 2021.
Everything that happens in between—from counting the votes to each state certifying their slate of electors for the Electoral College—may test our democracy like never before. It’s likely we won’t know all the winners tonight, not just for the presidential race, but also for many federal, state, and local seats. It may take days or weeks for states to properly count the number of mail-in ballots a COVID-safe election necessitated.
Malicious actors may use that time to further stoke fear and chaos. Fearful candidates may attempt to declare victory before all the votes are counted and even act to intimidate or prevent the legitimate counting of votes. We must be diligent and patient to ensure the electoral process is fair and complete.
If you have already voted–THANK YOU! If you have not–what are you waiting for?! GO VOTE! As long as you are in line to vote before the polls close, election officials must allow you to cast your ballot.
Together, we can defend safe and fair elections. The Center for Freethought Equality, the political and advocacy arm of the American Humanist Association, is a member of a large coalition of organizations determined to protect the election results. Become of a member of the Center for Freethought Equality (membership is free) to be kept up-to-date on how to respond if threats arise. This coalition is prepared to respond forcefully, but peacefully, if the results of the vote are not honored and if there are attempts to throw our country into a Constitutional crisis. We will protect our democracy.
Even with potential threats, we are very hopeful about this and future elections. The demographic changes in the United States point to a future, which perhaps begins with this election, that rejects the bigoted, anti-science, racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, and homophobic crusade of white Christian nationalists, who are far too powerful in our political arena even as their numbers continue to decrease. Conversely, the atheist, agnostic, and religiously unaffiliated voting bloc has nearly doubled since 2008—from 15% to 28% of registered voters. When we exercise our electoral power in this and future elections, our community is a constituency to be reckoned with and we can build a political culture and society to be proud of.