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Roommates Kathyrn Voler and Shockey Sanders were certain they wouldn’t know the results of the presidential election until days after polls closed. But they still watched the ballots being counted until 1 a.m. after Election Day. 

While polls across the country began closing around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, neither President Donald Trump nor former Vice President Joe Biden had been declared the winner as of early Thursday morning. Several states, including Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, remained too close to call. 

“(We) had a little dance party to celebrate the end of the world,” said Voler, a sophomore public relations major at Syracuse University. “Cause that’s what it feels like. Just everyone is nervous and freaking out.” 

Nearly all 50 states allowed residents to vote early or by mail in addition to coming to the polls in person on Election Day, causing delays in tallying votes for many states. Students said they felt anxious watching the votes come in Tuesday night and are still on edge waiting for the final results to arrive.  

This was the first presidential election that sophomores Elizabeth McAdoo and Zach Meyerson voted in. McAdoo stayed up until 2 a.m. watching the polls, but neither she nor Meyerson believed the country would have a winner by morning. 

“I went to bed before a lot of things were really secure,” Meyerson said. 

Voler has been consistently checking the Electoral College map to see which states each candidate wins. She’s accepted that there won’t be a clear winner right away and felt calmer on Wednesday than she did on Election Day. 

“It almost doesn’t feel like the election is happening,” Voler said. “You’re so used to finding out right when it happens. We don’t really know when we’ll know.” 

Senior Kyon Russell, though, said his nerves haven’t subsided at all since Election Day. While he had already been counting down the days to Tuesday, Russell said the wait now feels even longer. 

“The fact that it wasn’t decided definitively, it just adds to the tension because I feel like it’s just extending the whole thing. I wanted it to be over one way or the other,” he said. 

Russell, who is studying environmental science and biology, said this year’s election is especially stressful for him because the candidates’ policies will impact the field he wants to pursue after he graduates. He expected Biden to gain a high number of young voters this year.

“I think a lot about the last election. There are a lot of people who felt very strongly but were too young to vote. So I imagine this time around, there’d be a huge surge and younger voters out there,” he said. 

Noah Price also expected that an increase in young voters would give Biden a larger advantage in the polls. He was surprised by how close the results were last night. 

Price, a senior in SU’s College of Arts and Sciences, described the election as a ‘static wall’ — he can’t see what his future looks like beyond Election Day. 

“It’s this big date that we’ve been counting down to for the last six months,” he said. “But it still feels static. I still have no idea what’s going on.”

Biden led Trump in several key states as of Wednesday night, including Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona, but results remained inconclusive. While some students said it’s hard to tell which way the election will go, others anticipate a win for Biden.

Senior Rody Conway, chair of SU’s College Republicans, is surprised by how well Trump performed Wednesday, but he ultimately foresees a victory for Biden. 

“I think Biden will end up carrying it,” Conway said. “To carry it by such a narrow margin and also to see the demographic shift in the Republican Party that took place (Tuesday) night gives me hope for the future.” 

David Bruen, the communications director of SU’s College Democrats, said he had “no doubts” that Biden will win the presidency. 

Many students feel this election in particular is of historic significance and that the outcome could affect their rights. Students should make sure they’re taking care of their mental health during the election by limiting social media use, going outside or talking to a friend or loved one, Student Association President Justine Hastings said.

“Students feel passionately about a variety of issues, and there is a lot (at) stake, which is why it is understandably emotional for some people,” Hastings said.

Osatohanmwen Onaghinor, president of SU’s NAACP, is more concerned with what she sees as attempts to suppress voting in this election, such as the president’s rhetoric against mail-in voting. 

Katelyn Marcy | Digital Design Director

Trump filed lawsuits in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia on Wednesday to dispute the legitimacy of the ballot-counting process. The lawsuits in Michigan and Pennsylvania allege that Trump’s campaign does not have sufficient access to spaces where ballots are being counted. The lawsuit in Georgia alleges that a poll worker at a ballot-counting station mixed processed and unprocessed absentee ballots.

Regardless of who wins, students should continue to strive for positive change and to combat injustice, Onaghinor said.

“As much energy individuals have put into this election, they should put in local programs in their communities and keep an eye on policies being implemented in their local towns, cities and states,” Onaghinor said. “And more than anything, think of other people.”

Asst. News Editor Maggie Hicks, Asst. News Copy Editor Mira Berenbaum and Staff Writer Joey Pagano contributed reporting to this article.

Published on November 5, 2020 at 1:46 am

Contact Sarah: scalessa@syr.edu | @sarahalessan