The Eve of the Election: Is it Over Yet?

I am writing this on Monday evening, November 4^th, the evening before the Presidential election which officially is tomorrow, Tuesday, November 5^th.

Unless you have been living under a rock, shipwrecked on a deserted island, or been in a coma, you know all the drama of this election process which arguably began on January 6, 2021. 

From the beginning it was clear that the 2024 election would be a rematch of the 2020 election.  The election first pitted former President Trump against President Biden.  In their first debate on June 27th, it was clear to everyone, except President Biden, that President Biden was no longer mentally capable of doing the job.  If he stayed in the race, Trump would have been easily elected.  His advisors and party leaders got him to accept this fact and back out of the race.  Almost immediately, his VP, Kamala Harris, declared her candidacy for President on July 21^st and became the official Democratic candidate on August 5^th.

As unprecedented as this was.  The most unprecedented part of the elections is that there were two assassination attempts on former President Trump.  There were actual shots in the first instance, July 13^th, in which a bullet grazed and bloodied Trump’s ear.

On the more precedented side that has been the norm of the 2016, 2020, and now the 2024 elections.  There has been a lot of mudslinging and both candidates.  They seemed say anything about their opponent and offer any outlandish thing to garner votes.

By all predictions, the electoral college vote is too close to call, and deadlocked in the “swing states” (Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada).   Each of these states are polling 49% for each candidate.  The difference in each case is less than the polling margin of error.  We just have to wait until tomorrow evening to see who our next President. 

Did I say tomorrow?

It is highly unlikely we will know the results tomorrow night.  After the counts, recounts, accusations of fraud, and the subsequent court cases after the 2020 elections that ruled there was none, the networks and the election officials are going to be very conservative.  They will only announce results when, they are sure.  I have seen reports were states and municipalities are prepared for lawsuits, protests, and even civil unrest which I believe are more likely to happen if Trump loses. 

I hope we see a more civil election and transfer of power than we did in 2020.

Many people are tired of the polarization and the ridiculously long election process.  It is exhausting and they just want to see it be over.   People are weary to the point where they want the election to be over almost more than they care who wins.

I would sure love to see a candidate someday that I want to vote for rather than selecting the better of two lesser choices.  Is this too much to ask for?  It seems that in a country of 350 million people there might be one or two.

When I sat down to write this, I had the intention of writing a harder hitting post.  In reading it over, I am far off from that mark.  I believe it is a sign of my own weariness with the elections in this country have become.