Writer: Siena Iwasaki Milbauer
For many folks, the over three day wait to learn the outcome of 2020’s presidential election was, to put it lightly, a little stressful. Not knowing who the next president would be on Election Day was frustrating. But 2020 is far from the first time this has happened in America.
Before legislation passed by Congress in 1845, many states didn’t even have the same Election Day! After 1845, a number of presidential elections still went undecided for days, weeks, even months after Election Day. A few historical examples:
- Election of 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes vs. Samuel Tilden: 4 months
- Election of 1884, Grover Cleveland vs. James G. Blaine: Over a week
- Election of 1888, Grover Cleveland vs. Benjamin Harrison: Several days
- Election of 1916, Woodrow Wilson vs. Charles Evan Hughes: Over 2 weeks
More recently, presidential elections in 1948, 1960, 1976, and 2000 took anywhere between an extra day and an extra month to be declared. In fact, the last presidential race in 2016 wasn’t called until early in the morning the day after Election Day.
All this is to say that not knowing who the winner of a presidential race is on Election Day is nothing new for the United States. It is worth noting that elections have also been getting increasingly close in America, because our electorate is more and more polarized. The closer the election, the harder it is to call. So 2020 will likely not be the last time we have to wait (patiently!) for presidential results.
Luckily, the United States has a strong and resilient democratic system. 2020 has proven it. In the midst of a pandemic, we still counted each and every vote, and a winner was declared based on those free and fair results. Joe Biden is the President-elect. Kamala Harris is the Vice President-elect, making history as the first woman, first Black woman, and first Asian woman to hold that office.
In 2020, we all came together to participate in and defend our democracy. The election results are here, but our work is far from over. We will hold our new elected officials accountable and continue the hard but rewarding work of advocating for our communities.
Sources:
Lemire, Jonathan, Miller, Zeke, and Weissert, Will, “Biden defeats Trump for White House, says ‘time to heal’”, Star Tribune, 8 Nov. 2020. https://www.startribune.com/suspended-animation-count-drags-on-as-biden-nears-victory/572998582/. Accessed 10 Nov. 2020.
Mitchell, Robert, “A presidential election history lesson: Americans often waited days or weeks for the outcome”, Washington Post, 4 Nov. 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/11/03/history-election-night-wait-results/. Accessed 5 Nov. 2020.
Parker, Laura, “Why ‘close-call’ presidential elections are happening more often”, National Geographic, 4 Nov. 2020. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/11/why-close-call-presidential-elections-are-more-likely-today/#close. Accessed 5 Nov. 2020.