On Nov. 7, major news networks called the presidential election to an end with the results favoring former Vice President Joe Biden. However, President Donald Trump has yet to concede, instead filing lawsuits in key battleground states Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Arizona over vote counting.
While the vote counting continues, students at the University of Mississippi have already formed their opinions on the results of the election.
Genevieve Wilson, a freshman international studies major, said that she is fairly skeptical about the lawsuits Trump filed.
“I think it’s interesting considering how we’re more accepting of the elections for Senate and the House, but the presidential election is controversial,” Wilson said. “I think it’s a little interesting why he’s so set on that, but we’ll see what happens.”
Robert Hughes, a sophomore computer science major, was not surprised by the results of the election and said he had predicted that the presidential race would be extremely close. Hughes also said that while he thinks it is well within Trump’s right to contest the election results, he doesn’t think the outcome will change after recounts.
“I hope this will lead to more clarity,” Hughes said. “I’m sure Trump will eventually concede.”
Hughes also said he hopes that people will start to put more trust into the electoral college system following this election season.
“Right now, it seems like every four years, whatever the losing side is always has some big trust issues within it, and democracy fails whenever we can’t trust our election system,” Hughes said.
Cassie Ray, a sophomore Chinese and business management major, said she thinks that the potential recounts will not make a difference, but if they give people peace of mind, then they should happen. She also thinks that the country as a whole should recognize the winner of the election as the president, no matter who it is.
“I heard the saying ‘Trump is not my president’ too many times. No matter who wins, which right now Biden has won, that is the president,” Ray said. “Most of us should be able to agree that how this election went down is simply embarrassing to the country as a whole.”
