Battleground states race to count votes for presidential election

by Alyssa Craven, Editor-in-Chief

With the surge of mail-in ballots this year due to COVID-19 it is likely that the United States will not know the winner of the presidential election until the end of the week.

As of Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. according to the Associated Press Donald Trump has won in South Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee Arkansas, Indiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Louisiana, Kansas, Missouri, Idaho, Utah, Montana, Iowa, Ohio, Florida and Texas.

Joe Biden has won in Vermont, Virginia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware New Mexico, New York, D.C. Colorado, New Hampshire. California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Hawaii and Michigan.

Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Alaska and Georgia have still not been called. 

As of Wednesday night, Nevada is leaning blue. Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia and Alaska are leaning red. Many states are very close in numbers and subject change as more ballots are counted.

Iowa ended up giving its electoral college votes to Trump. This was different compared to Simpson College students. According to a study done by the political science department, Simpson students were twice as likely to vote for Biden than for Trump.

According to Trump’s campaign website, Trump has helped jump-start the economy, enforced Immigration laws and helped with agriculture in rural areas.

According to Biden’s campaign website, Biden’s goals are to address COVID-19, build on the affordable health care act and implement an economic recovery plan.