New York State Voters React to Election
After four days of counting votes, Democrat Joe Biden is now the president-elect. According to NPR News, more than 158 million people will have voted in election, a turnout rate of more than 66 percent, which is the highest since 1900. The results of the election had some people celebrating, while others called fraud and corruption.
25-year-old, Jesse Foster from Rochester is ecstatic about the outcome of the election and describes her experience finding out that Biden won.
“At first I didn’t think we had a chance because living in my area I am surrounded by a sea of red, but when I saw the tweet from CNN saying that Biden had won, I didn’t believe it was real. I turned on the news right away and screamed BIDEN 2020!” Foster said.
This election was historic by electing the first ever woman, Kamala Harris as Vice President.
“As a young black woman, I am truly honored to be alive during the time of Kamala Harris.” Foster said.
Voters continued to celebrate and post their joy all over social media, especially New York City residents.
22-year-old Steven Contreras is a New York City resident and registered Democrat who immediately started celebrating when Biden won.
Not only was Contreras singing and yelling with the rest of New York City on Friday, but he was the first person to run through the fountain at Washington Square Park. It has been a tradition that people run through the fountain when they want to celebrate a certain event.
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“Me and my friend were at the gym when we found out and immediately ran to Washington Square Park. Everyone was chanting and clapping for me as I ran through. The entire city was a parade and people were honking their horns all through the streets until about 3 a.m. Saturday morning.” Contreras explained.
“It felt like a sigh of relief when I found out. I understand that Biden has his flaws and policies that even I don’t fully agree with, but this feels like the country is finally headed in the right direction. That direction is not Trump,” Contreras said.
However, not all voters were happy with the outcome.
35-year-old Jon Foy from Long Island thought Donald Trump was going to continue on to a second term.
“I really thought Trump would win and I’m concerned that if borders open up that he had closed, more wars might start and our economy will tank,” Foy said.
Foy explained that he has a lot of money invested in stocks and is worried that he will lose money now that Trump is not the president.
“I never considered myself a Democrat or Republican I just always wanted to pick the better candidate. For this election I chose the Republican candidate that was better for my life and stocks,” Foy said.
23 year old Dallas Merola from Syracuse, New York is not happy about the outcome of the election and thinks the election was rigged.
“The election was rigged in my opinion because it doesn’t make sense how a state can get more votes counted than there is in the actual state population,” Merola said.
What Merola is referring to is the claim that several key states had more ballots cast than registered voters. According to USA Today, people on the internet is spreading misinformation about the election when a meme was posted that contained false data. The meme includes a table with the number of registered voters, projected votes and voter turnout rate from Nevada, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Michigan,and Arizona. It showed that voter turnout is above 100 percent for all of those states.
Merola still states the election was rigged even after finding out that the meme was false.
“I felt that it was gonna be 100 percent rigged. People hate Trump because he’s a business man and doesn’t understand the bigger picture. I think that the election is not over and they are going to have to recount and he should sue and get a fair chance,” Merola said.
With the voter turnout rate the highest it’s been in 20 years, this election has shown that the United States is actively participating in democracy. During a global pandemic, a civil rights movement and the constant distrust of mainstream media, President-elect, Joe Biden has a lot of expectations to live up to.
