Kimi Danaei, Executive Theme Editor
Raven Ramsey, Theme Editor
The 2020 presidential election has projected former Vice President Joe Biden to be the 46th President of the United States, as Biden holds the majority of the votes in the electoral college. At this point, Biden has received 78,827,968 votes and 290 electoral votes, while incumbent President Donald Trump has received 73,163,974 votes and 232 electoral votes, according to the Associated Press. With 270 electoral votes needed to win and Biden receiving 290 electoral votes, Biden has been announced as President-elect by the Associative Press. The election has come to an end, but President Trump has refused to concede. At this time, Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, is conducting an audit of the state’s ballots by hand, as the election results are extremely close, according to CBS News.
“Obviously this election has been different from past ones because of the movement toward early voting and voting by mail, due to the pandemic,” Costa Advanced Placement United States History teacher Steve Singiser said. “I think [mail-in voting] has been used successfully in both red (Utah) and blue (Washington) states, and I hate to see the mistrust being sewn by some opportunists. Overall, I love the voter turnout but hate the recriminations and allegations after the fact.”
This 2020 presidential election has been dramatically different from past elections because of the number of people that voted by mail due to COVID-19 concerns. However, regardless of these unprecedented times making it difficult to vote in-person, this election has achieved a record high voter turnout. With the amount of people voting growing and the amount of mail-in votes increasing, this election has taken longer than previous years.
“As nerve-wracking as it was, I didn’t mind waiting a few extra days to find out the results of the election, as long as everyone got to vote,” senior and Youth Activism Club President Lydia Johnson said. “I do think it is alarming, as well as sad, that some people have not accepted the results of the election yet.”
Biden’s victory is secured as he has gained more than the 270 electoral votes needed to win, causing people to begin celebrating, having street parties and drive-bys and voicing their opinions on what they believe are some of the biggest issues Biden will try to improve throughout his presidency.
“I think President-elect Biden’s biggest policy challenge will be defeating COVID-19 and starting the recovery process,” senior and president of the Political Debate Club Parth Badhwar said. “I’m interested to see how his administration’s concrete policies differ from President Trump’s, and whether or not they prove to be effective in getting us back to normal, from a
public health standpoint, at the same time, having a strong economic recovery is important to me, especially as I look past college and into the future jobs market.”
There are many Costa students with opposing views on this year’s presidential election. Although Costa’s mock election suggests that the majority of students would or did vote for Biden in this year’s election, 26.4 percent of students said that they would or did vote for President Trump’s reelection.
“I doubt there will be any policies that come out of a Joe Biden presidency that I actually like,” junior and president of the Young Republican Club Nathan Smith said. “This is for two reasons: we maintain opposing political beliefs on some key issues, and the possibility of a Republican senate could block any hope of new policies that Joe Biden would wish to implement.” Biden has addressed the plans and policies he hopes to set forth during his term as President in debates and through his website. On issues such as the COVID-19 crisis, Biden has announced that he will move swiftly and communicate with scientists and experts to ensure his response is effective. Biden has expressed his plans of forming a permanent task force to be prepared for future pandemics; on Nov. 9, Biden unveiled the members of his COVID-19 task force that will help him with his policies. On the issue of climate change, Biden and Trump have opposing views and ideas. While Trump denies climate change, Biden believes it is one of the greatest challenges the world is facing. Biden plans on taking action on this issue by re-joining the Paris Climate Agreement, an accord between 194 countries for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, that Trump decided to withdraw from on June 1, 2017.
“Biden has said he’d use executive orders as soon as he got in office to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, the [World Health Organization] and close lands previously opened to drilling. But I hope the new administration does more than that,” senior and president of Save the World Club Alex Cortez said. “There are certainly a myriad of changes the new administration needs to make in other areas, but our club is certainly looking forward to the positive environmental impact a Biden presidency should have.”
Trump and Biden also have contrasting views on LGBTQ+ policies. During his presidential term, Trump has reversed Obama’s repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which allowed transgender individuals to serve in the military while open with their gender identity. Biden has promised to create an enactment of the Equality Act during his first 100 days as President and to reverese many of Trump’s policies, such as his transgender military ban.
“Joe Biden was an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights during his vice presidency, and I believe he will do even more good for the community as president,” senior and Gender Sexuality Alliance Club President Hayley Balen said. “He has already stated that passing the Equality Act will be one of
his top priorities, which would amend the Civil Rights Act and protect citizens from discrimination based on sexual identity and gender identity.”
This year, Manhattan Beach’s General Municipal Election was held on Nov. 3 and Nov. 8, where citizens voted for the new members of the City Council. The newly elected city council members are Steve Napolitano, Richard Montgomery and Grettel Fournel. Starting this year, the election will be held in November of even years to correlate with the statewide elections. The election
date which was scheduled for March 2 and March 7, changed as a result of declining voter turnouts. This change was adopted in October of 2016 but did not take effect until this year. “Local elections, while often overlooked, are incredibly important in shaping our lives because it’s in these elections that our voices really matter,” Cortez said. “Despite this, I was especially disappointed in the local elections this year as Proposition 16 failed and Uber and Lyft were able to buy their own labor laws with misleading ads; there are also companies, such as Davita, that are notorious for their lack of care for patients and yet we allow them to continue without simple health measures.”
The 2020 election ballot featured 12 certified propositions. One proposition that would greatly affect the younger generations is Prop. 18. This proposition allows 17 year olds who will turn 18 by the general election date to vote in primaries and special elections. Another proposition that will affect many is Prop. 16, repealing Prop. 209 from 1996 that prevents the state from discriminating or having a bias against specific racial groups, sexes, colors, ethnicities or origins when it comes to public employment, education and contracting. While many teens believe they should be able to cast their vote and voice their opinions on these topics, Proposition 18 and Proposition 16, allowing teens to vote in the primaries, did not pass.
“I don’t think that Proposition 16 is a good thing, as it would take away the proposition that protects people from being discriminated against based on something they can’t control, such as skin color,” junior and secretary of the Black Students Union Ameena Campbell said. “This proposition would allow for people of color to be followed and kicked out of stores, but voting no would make sure that brands and businesses don’t get away with discriminating against people for no reason.”
At Costa, students were able to participate in the election. The mock election ballot was given to students in all grades in their Social Emotional Learning (SEL) class on Oct. 28 and was accompanied by videos on various propositions that were being voted for in the state of California. The form included 10 questions regarding the national election, state representatives, California props and the Manhattan Beach City Council race. The mock election closed on Nov. 3 and the results promptly followed, showing the number of students from each grade who voted and the most voted for choices. The results showed that Costa students favored Democratic candidates and were more likely to vote in favor of a proposition than not. “It is very important for students to practice how to vote to understand the issues they are voting for and how their vote impacts the results,” Costa’s psychologist Janet Allen said. “In a mock election students should research the issues to determine whether an issue is important for the future of the nation as a whole, rather than their own self interests.”
Leave a Reply