It’s Biden: America’s voice heard amid global pandemic

By Melissa Reyes, Editor-in-Chief

Democratic candidate Joe Biden was announced as the 46th President-Elect of the United States on Nov. 7 — five days after Election Day. 

Biden defeated incumbent President Donald Trump in the 2020 Presidential Election with 77 million votes, the most in presidential history.

Biden, the 44th vice president under former President Barack Obama, will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2021 at the age of 78. He will become the oldest president in American history.

“I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but unify, who doesn’t see red states and blue states, only sees the United States, and work with all my heart, with the confidence of the whole people, to win the confidence of all of you,” said Mr. Biden in his victory speech on Nov. 7.

Some Passaic Preparatory Academy students voted in the election.

Prep senior Michelle Carpinteyro voted for Biden, claiming that she did so for her friends, family, and people in her community who could not vote. In her eyes, she said that he was the “lesser of two evils.”

“This victory means that I get to keep my rights. The LGBTQIA+ community can continue to marry who they want. Immigrants can let go of some fear and the environment can be bettered. As a woman, I have hope that under the Biden administration I will continue to have the right to my own body,” Carpinteyro told The Boulevard. “We settled for Biden. He will not be a perfect president, which is why we should all continue to voice our opinions and continue to demand as there is still much change to be made.”

Biden’s vice president pick, Kamala Harris, will become the first female, first Black, and first Asian to serve as vice president of the United States.

The 2020 presidential election was historic, as people had to cast their votes during the Covid-19 pandemic. It took five days for Biden to be elected, and President Donald Trump has not yet conceded as of this writing.

As of Nov. 7, Trump claimed he had the most votes cast for him in presidential candidate history, believing that some of Biden’s votes were illegally cast.

Trump received about 71 million votes.

“71,000,000 Legal Votes. The most EVER for a sitting President!” he tweeted.

The Trump Campaign has submitted lawsuits to key swing states such as Pennsylvania, claiming rampant “voter fraud” despite a lack of evidence.

Swing states are states where both Republican and Democratic candidates have similar amounts of voters supporting them. 

Attorney General William Barr is allowing federal prosecutors to investigate certain claims of voter fraud in Nevada and Pennsylvania.

“It is quite humorous to see (Trump’s) tantrums via Twitter,” Carpinteyro added. “His claims are being made on no concrete evidence. Not to mention that he wanted states where he was ahead to stop counting, yet the ones he was behind to continue counting the votes.”

Bryan Perez contributed to this report.