I am thrilled beyond words with tears welling-up in my eyes as I write this, that the majority of United States voters are preserving our democratic republic, the constitutional form of government our nation's founders gave us "if you can keep it", as Benjamin Franklin cautioned. Our democracy and our freedoms prevail as I could only hope all citizens in other nations might benefit from also.
Projected winners for the offices of President and Vice President in the U.S. have finally been made: the Joseph Biden-Kamala Harris ticket are expected to win; defeating the incumbent President Donald Trump and V.P. Michael Pence after their serving only one four-year term, but a very long, harrowing, grim, demoralizing, chaotic one.
U.S. voters have tried to patiently await the ballot counting in our fifty states which continues as I write this. Meanwhile, the incumbent is filing multiple lawsuits contesting various state vote tallies citing undocumented, so far, voting violations.
To date our citizens have been highly engaged in this election with a historic number of people voting. If the totals prevail, as is expected, Biden-Harris have received a record-setting number of winning votes, 74 million. The incumbents have also received record numbers of votes but sufficiently less than our projected winners, Biden-Harris.
Biden-Harris are expected also to receive the most Electoral College votes in addition to having won the popular vote. The incumbents did not win the popular vote four years ago but did acquire the most Electoral College votes which is what enabled them to assume office.
How symbolic that the state of Pennsylvania popular vote totals will give the Biden-Harris Presidential/Vice Presidential candidates the necessary Electoral College votes to officially become elected. Philadelphia, PA is where our founding fathers wrote and signed our constitution.
Here is a timeline that could still be problematic if states delay in reporting results:
December 8, 2020: Safe Harbor Deadline -- States must choose electors that will be accepted by Congress; voting disputes must be resolved. (Described in this ABA Journal article)
Here are the final timelines once our individual states popular votes are finalized:
January 6, 2020 at 1 p.m.: The vote will be finalized and certified in a joint session of Congress.
January 20, 2021 at noon: The President is inaugurated.
Our citizens have rejected efforts to alter our form of government which would have turned it into an autocracy led by a vindictive man who has created primarily chaos in our country for four years, nurtured hate-filled divisiveness and violence, tragically has failed to fulfill his basic oath to protect each of us as the pandemic continues to take lives.
I am fully aware there will be no quick fix for all the challenges facing our nation. I hope our citizens will continue to provide the meaningful support and patience to aid our new leaders unifying efforts by thinking primarily of what is best for our country, ultimately each of us.
I celebrate our nation once again will have leaders I can respect, of whom I feel proud, who present the true soul of the majority of American people who care about each other in all our diversity and about all people around the world.
