Essay Example on American Elections

Introduction

The United States of America (U.S.A) holds her general elections every four years to get their government officials. The elections are held at three levels that are federal, state, and local. The constitution sets the eligibility of voters, and the state levels regulate the voters. According to the form, suffrage cannot be denied based on race, sex, and age, provided that the voter is 18 years and above (Baringer & Smith., 2020). For the system to keep going, early voting is done. This is simply a formal way voter cast their ballots before the official day of the election. The U.S has a presidential system of government as it allows the executive and legislature to be separately elected. This is not enough to answer the question in waiting. Further research on how the 2020 U.S. general election was conducted amidst the pandemic and how we will learn lessons from it is discussed in the next paragraphs.

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Keep Voting

Third November 2020 was a historic day to the Americans as this was their day to choose their long-awaited president and other leaders. The U.S. election recorded over 160 million voters casting their ballots. This was a tough year for elections as the pandemic was on the spot, and it had hit the U.S very hard. The U.S COVID 19 death tolls on 28th May had passed 100,000, and by 22nd September, 200,000 Americans had died of the pandemic. Due to the pandemic, the United States had to sign in 37000 youths as poll workers since the older people responsible before were at risk of the COVID-19 (Brewer & Maisel., 2020). Strategies were made, and this was the year that made history when voter turnout was high (66.9%) as compared to other years since 1900. Even though American lives had been lost before the election date, voters had to cautiously perform their duties in mind that they ought to use sanitizers and face masks everywhere. The election was successfully done, and this, therefore, was a remarkable display of democracy as there were accountability and transparency during the time of the election.

Racial Divide

A strong coalition of minorities ousted President Donald Trump from the white house even though Mr. President had been backed up by white voters' majorities who propelled his votes to 70 million. Joe Biden emerged victorious with 74 million-plus ballots, and this reflects a substantial racial divide in the States since 57% of white voters supported president Trump and 42% Mr. Biden (Trepagnier., 2017). To compare this with black votes, Joe Biden won with 87%, and trump only got 12%. A scenario of demonstrations marred by violence was witnessed as it was imminent in the U.S when Trump accused the president-elect of stealing the votes. White supremacists armed themselves after Trump's divisive utter of "stolen votes" and "fake news."

Diligent Work

Remarks from Frank LaRose, the Ohio secretary of state, marks the beginning of this series. He discussed the availability of many options for voters on how to feel safe while casting their votes. He argued that the citizens had the opportunity to vote by mail in Ohio. Also, he advised them to vote early in person at the county board of elections, and if possible, they could either vote at the polling locations they were signed at (Norris et al., 2018). From history, Ohio had used this voting method. Therefore, the state was armed to the length with management skills to fight the impacts of Covid-19 on the date of elections. This meant that the mails had to be improved and thus the higher demand for the mail-in/absentee voting. That aside, the secretary of State asked young people to participate in volunteer tasks such as poll workers or observers civically.

Civility Still Exists

The moniker phrase "the loyal opposition" is used in the United Kingdom by the majority party members to refer to the opposition party. This nickname earns respect to the opposition party, and despite policy differences, each party acts in a manner most likely to benefit their constituents. To get this right, this is all about community and political leaders who had different measureless views than their counterparts. Often the speakers would debate on the same issues and share opposition views (Miller & Gronbeck., 2019). All the same, discussions were free of ad hominem attacks and cheap shots. In other terms, this principle behind the loyal opposition was embodied by the speaker. The leaders and advocates who spoke during the 2020 U.S. elections exemplified the good in the community and showed a high level of civility required to reach across the partisan divide.

Conclusion

The 2020 U.S elections were done in the middle of a pandemic that made it uneasy to predict the outcome. This was a historic year as voter turnout peaked at over 160 million, which had not happened since 1900 even though the pandemic was raging rapidly. To conclude, the key points to learn from in the last U.S general election was that voters should keep voting no matter the challenges, the racial divide was visible, civility exists, and good leaders have got unique ability to lift others and lastly, those who show up carrying the day.

References

Baringer, A., Herron, M. C., & Smith, D. A. (2020). Voting by Mail and Ballot Rejection: Lessons from Florida for Elections in the Age of the Coronavirus. Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy, 19(3), 289-320.

Bethke, F. S., & Pinckney, J. (2016). Non-violent resistance and the quality of democracy. Conflict Management and Peace Science, 0738894219855918.

Brewer, M. D., & Maisel, L. S. (2020). Parties and elections in America: The electoral process. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Miao, C., Humphrey, R. H., & Qian, S. (2016). Leader emotional intelligence and subordinate job satisfaction: A meta-analysis of the main, mediator, and moderator effects. Personality and Individual Differences, 102, 13-24.

Miller, A. H., & Gronbeck, B. E. (2019). Presidential campaigns and American self-images. Routledge.

Norris, P., Cameron, S., & Wynter, T. (Eds.). (, 2018). Electoral Integrity in America: Securing Democracy. Oxford University Press, U.S.A.

Trepagnier, B. (2017). Silent racism: How well-meaning white people perpetuate the racial divide. Taylor & Francis.