2020 Local and National Election Results
Bryce Banghart '23 Staff Writer
Sydney Corley '22 Staff Writer
On November 3, 2020, Americans all over the country began casting in-person ballots for the 2020 Presidential Election, along with a plethora of mail-in-ballots cast and mailed before election day largely due to COVID-19. Until November 7, a winner of the presidential election between republican candidate President Trump running with Vice President Mike Pence and democratic candidate Joe Biden running with Kamala Harris for Vice President had not been declared. However, as more mail-in-ballots and absentee-ballots were counted, Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
The winner of the election came down to a few swing states, including Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia. Pennsylvanian voters, specifically those voting in person, had cast their votes overwhelmingly in favor of President Trump. However, Presidential candidate Biden took the lead as mail-in-ballots started being counted, and won Pennsylvania by a 1.2% margin. Arizona had not voted in favor of the democratic candidate since the 1996 election, and became a state that was vital to Joe Biden. Biden ended up winning Arizona by 10,457 votes, hitting 270 electoral votes. Georgia, a state that had voted red in every election following the 1992 election and one that Joe Biden needed to win to have a comfortable margin of success, was a surprising turn of events: Biden won Georgia by a 0.2% margin, which was just over 12,000 votes.
Despite President-elect Joe Biden's electoral college victory of 306 votes, Donald Trump and his administration have yet to recognize him as the next president of the United States. They have filed numerous lawsuits claiming voter fraud and have ordered many recounts in states that were close, such as Pennsylvania and Georgia.
In addition, the policies in which the Biden Administration plans to enact, as compared to the policies the Trump Administration has passed, have caused many Americans to switch their support. One of the main issues on which Trump and Biden differ is their plans to end the COVID-19 pandemic. President Trump is eager to re-open businesses, shops and schools and does not want to enact a mask mandate. President-elect Biden, on the other hand, is less eager to re-open places and will enact a mask mandate, including his first 100 days in office during his Presidential term. Both plans support vaccine administration.
Another major issue Trump and Biden disagree on is the way to handle climate change. President Trump has withdrawn the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, which has strived to combat the rising issue of climate change worldwide. Biden, when in office, is preparing to implement a plan similar to the Green New Deal that will recommit the United States to the Paris Climate Agreement and enact environment-friendly choices within the U.S. Samantha Cho, a junior at Howard High School, says that one of the main reasons she was in support of Joe Biden winning the presidential election was because of the way Donald Trump has handled climate change issues. She states, “We rely on the earth to survive and we are completely abusing it.” In addition, she feels President Trump has not done enough for combating climate change since he withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement.
Along with the difference in policies affecting the way COVID-19 and climate change have been handled, the prominent issue of racism in our country affected the way many Americans voted during this election. After being asked what her main reason is for supporting the election of Joe Biden, Ember Anderson, a junior at Howard High School, states, “It mainly comes down to me that [Biden] is not a racist. [Trump] has mobilized the younger generation of some white people to project their racism and be outwardly racist.” However, as the issues of systemic racism and police brutality have recently been protested throughout the United States, Anderson states that a reservation she has when supporting Joe Biden is that he is not for defunding the police. Both President Trump and Joe Biden have histories with the issue of racism. Throughout the trail of Donald Trump's reelection campaign, his tweets have elicited racial tension with his calling protestors in the recent Black Lives Matter movements “thugs” and labelling the coronavirus the “Chinese virus.” Joe Biden has claimed to be an ally to minority groups when put in office; however, one of the main issues Americans have with placing their support for him is the way he voted towards the 1994 Crime Bill. His support of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, commonly known as the 1994 Crime Bill, has been a controversial issue of his past stance on racism, as it has been debated that the law exacerbated the mass incarceration of African Americans. Recently, he has said that his support for the bill was a “mistake.”
The Howard County Public School System, also known as HCPSS, also has its election too. Howard High School falls in district two out of the five districts of Howard County. The election was between Antonia Barkley Watts and Larry Pretlow II. Antonia Barkley Watts, who attended University of Delaware, University of California Berkeley and the University of Michigan, won the election with 72.1 percent of the votes. Larry Pretlow II, who is a CEO of LaPret World and is a songwriter and music producer, lost after gaining only 27.3 percent of the votes.
Winning the election for Antonia Barkley Watts was in part due to her plan to close the educational achievement gap. She said “students from traditionally disadvantaged backgrounds have fewer educational opportunities compared to their peers. Without these opportunities, the achievement gap will continue to grow.” To close this gap she will work to “expand the number of high quality and affordable pre-K programs in our schools.” She will also recruit more teachers of color because “teacher diversity can greatly improve all students’ outcomes through relationship building and cultural connections.” To achieve these goals, she asks for a strong budget that supports her educational and professional needs for the school.
The winner of the election came down to a few swing states, including Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia. Pennsylvanian voters, specifically those voting in person, had cast their votes overwhelmingly in favor of President Trump. However, Presidential candidate Biden took the lead as mail-in-ballots started being counted, and won Pennsylvania by a 1.2% margin. Arizona had not voted in favor of the democratic candidate since the 1996 election, and became a state that was vital to Joe Biden. Biden ended up winning Arizona by 10,457 votes, hitting 270 electoral votes. Georgia, a state that had voted red in every election following the 1992 election and one that Joe Biden needed to win to have a comfortable margin of success, was a surprising turn of events: Biden won Georgia by a 0.2% margin, which was just over 12,000 votes.
Despite President-elect Joe Biden's electoral college victory of 306 votes, Donald Trump and his administration have yet to recognize him as the next president of the United States. They have filed numerous lawsuits claiming voter fraud and have ordered many recounts in states that were close, such as Pennsylvania and Georgia.
In addition, the policies in which the Biden Administration plans to enact, as compared to the policies the Trump Administration has passed, have caused many Americans to switch their support. One of the main issues on which Trump and Biden differ is their plans to end the COVID-19 pandemic. President Trump is eager to re-open businesses, shops and schools and does not want to enact a mask mandate. President-elect Biden, on the other hand, is less eager to re-open places and will enact a mask mandate, including his first 100 days in office during his Presidential term. Both plans support vaccine administration.
Another major issue Trump and Biden disagree on is the way to handle climate change. President Trump has withdrawn the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, which has strived to combat the rising issue of climate change worldwide. Biden, when in office, is preparing to implement a plan similar to the Green New Deal that will recommit the United States to the Paris Climate Agreement and enact environment-friendly choices within the U.S. Samantha Cho, a junior at Howard High School, says that one of the main reasons she was in support of Joe Biden winning the presidential election was because of the way Donald Trump has handled climate change issues. She states, “We rely on the earth to survive and we are completely abusing it.” In addition, she feels President Trump has not done enough for combating climate change since he withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement.
Along with the difference in policies affecting the way COVID-19 and climate change have been handled, the prominent issue of racism in our country affected the way many Americans voted during this election. After being asked what her main reason is for supporting the election of Joe Biden, Ember Anderson, a junior at Howard High School, states, “It mainly comes down to me that [Biden] is not a racist. [Trump] has mobilized the younger generation of some white people to project their racism and be outwardly racist.” However, as the issues of systemic racism and police brutality have recently been protested throughout the United States, Anderson states that a reservation she has when supporting Joe Biden is that he is not for defunding the police. Both President Trump and Joe Biden have histories with the issue of racism. Throughout the trail of Donald Trump's reelection campaign, his tweets have elicited racial tension with his calling protestors in the recent Black Lives Matter movements “thugs” and labelling the coronavirus the “Chinese virus.” Joe Biden has claimed to be an ally to minority groups when put in office; however, one of the main issues Americans have with placing their support for him is the way he voted towards the 1994 Crime Bill. His support of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, commonly known as the 1994 Crime Bill, has been a controversial issue of his past stance on racism, as it has been debated that the law exacerbated the mass incarceration of African Americans. Recently, he has said that his support for the bill was a “mistake.”
The Howard County Public School System, also known as HCPSS, also has its election too. Howard High School falls in district two out of the five districts of Howard County. The election was between Antonia Barkley Watts and Larry Pretlow II. Antonia Barkley Watts, who attended University of Delaware, University of California Berkeley and the University of Michigan, won the election with 72.1 percent of the votes. Larry Pretlow II, who is a CEO of LaPret World and is a songwriter and music producer, lost after gaining only 27.3 percent of the votes.
Winning the election for Antonia Barkley Watts was in part due to her plan to close the educational achievement gap. She said “students from traditionally disadvantaged backgrounds have fewer educational opportunities compared to their peers. Without these opportunities, the achievement gap will continue to grow.” To close this gap she will work to “expand the number of high quality and affordable pre-K programs in our schools.” She will also recruit more teachers of color because “teacher diversity can greatly improve all students’ outcomes through relationship building and cultural connections.” To achieve these goals, she asks for a strong budget that supports her educational and professional needs for the school.