It's been a long, distracted week. Although the general election was on Tuesday, it's now Saturday and we still don't know the final outcome of the presidential race. Some disturbing things are happening this week, with President Trump trying to undermine vote counting and other threats to the voting system. Truly, it feels like our democracy is unstable. At this point, neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden have the minimum number of electoral college votes (270) to win. Joe Biden won the popular vote. Due to COVID-19, many states have expanded access to mail-in voting and millions of people voted via mail. However, the counting process for these votes is slow so we still don't have national results. Here are the current standings, per the AP:
| Candidates | Electoral votes | Vote % | Vote count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 264 | 50.6% | 74,816,073 | |
| 214 | 47.7% | 70,556,076 |
Pennsylvania is in the thick of it, and is currently learning toward Biden. Luzerne County did go for Trump, as in 2016. So we wait and hope it will be over TODAY.
In the meantime, we keep busy with work, school and plenty of menu planning & food preparation (with COVID rates increasing, we have stopped going to restaurants again other than take-out). As a quick update, Alex you called me last week so very happy that you met with your Gov't, Law & National Security advisor and are confirmed to graduate in December. It is the end of over 5 years of college study, and I am thrilled for you and proud that you've reached this huge milestone. Rob, in the meantime you are checking out Pennsylvania college programs for chemical engineering with virtual information sessions and then unofficial campus visits. This week we drove to Bucknell, likely we'll get to Lehigh later this month. Exciting!!
The video below that Steve found on YouTube is hilarious. As an alternative to thinking about troubling things that are going on, it should make you laugh.
