On November 3, 2020, the United States started the election in which to decide who was going to be our President, either Donald Trump or Joe Biden. This election took place all over the country, and everyone has their own thoughts on who should win, which caused some problems.

There have been different issues since the start of the election, but have there really been more issues than past elections? Amy VanEeuwen, West Middle School social studies teacher declares, “I wouldn’t say that it has caused more problems, I think it just adds to the divides we have between parties right now.”

There have also been problems with people who burned valid boxes in both New York and California. Camryn Huhn, West Middle School student explained, “I [don’t understand] the purpose of that, because you’re burning the votes for [the runner] you voted for. And it’s unfair because people’s votes are lost.”

There were fake phone calls made to people who live in the Detroit area about voting. The calls were telling people that if they voted by mail, they could get arrested. The calls also included that people could get a forced vaccination and debt collection. In fact, around 85,000 calls were made nationwide, and around 12,000 of them were in Detroit’s 313 area code. Huhn answered, “I stand against [this, I think] that it’s so unfair. It’s like forcing someone to not vote because they get scared that they could get arrested.”

Everyone has their own opinion-whether or not it was fair for President Trump to Tweet “STOP THE COUNT.” Mrs. VanEeuwen states, “You can’t just stop counting the votes if people have done it and voted the correct way.”

This year many people used absentee mail-in ballots, but should that be allowed? VanEeuwen said, “Absolutely, here in Michigan this is really the first year that they allowed anyone to do it because before then you had to have a reason to vote absentee. As long as you have rules in place and you know that it has to be sent in by a certain time then absolutely they should be able to.”

For the people that voted in person, there have been rumors on how all Trump supporters were given Sharpies to make their votes invalid. VanEeuwen states, “Here in Michigan, we vote with Sharpies or at least [where I voted] we voted with Sharpies. I don’t know if that is true, it could have been true in some places. It’s another scare tactic I think.” 

This election is affecting many things, such as you and the people you care about. Huhn expressed, “There are two different runners, one wants to shut a lot of things down and try and stop the spread of COVID-19, while the other one wants to keep our masks on but still be able to live in the real world. It affects my family because [we don’t] want to shut down.”  The results for the 2020 Election that have been reported so far have caused many reactions, VanEeuwen said, “I’m not surprised that Biden has won because Trump, you either love him or you hate him. So I am not surprised that people were willing to turn out that don’t like him and wanted someone different.”

Also, Huhn said, “Whoever won, hopefully, will help the world in a better way throughout their four years.”

Works Cited

Team, Reality Check. “US Election 2020: Five Viral Vote Claims Fact-Checked.” BBC News, BBC, 9 Nov. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54811410. 

Foley, Ryan J. “Conservative Hoaxers Face Charges over False Voter Robocalls.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 1 Oct. 2020, apnews.com/article/election-2020-technology-arrests-michigan-voting-rights-5f035e2a68394f9765d9c0d500538d94. 

Leingang, Rachel, and McKenzie Sadeghi. “Fact Check: Arizona Election Departments Confirm Sharpies Can Be Used on Ballots.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 5 Nov. 2020, www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/11/04/fact-check-sharpiegate-controversy-arizona-false-claim/6164820002/.