With Election Day fast approaching, coronavirus still posing a serious threat and people furious with the current administration, this election will be unique to say the least.
As of Oct. 17, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, early voting in Virginia has already exceeded the total amount of early voting in Virginia in 2016.

More than 700,000 ballots have already been cast in person and more than 560,000 mailed in, not to mention that there is still more than two weeks to go until Election Day.

“I think people are voting early because their vote has been put at risk of not being counted by so many different factors this year,” sophomore Ruftana Beyene said. “With the U.S. Postal Service threatened by the president, people are just trying to make sure their vote gets cast.”

Some also attribute the high voter turnout to the shift in public sentiment, emphasizing the importance of voting more than ever.

“There’s been so much in the news and even on social media pushing people to register and vote, which is amazing,” sophomore Ellie Davis said. “It’s as if people made up their minds a long time ago, so voting is just an easy thing to do now.”

In Pennsylvania, a state that Trump won by less than one percentage point in 2016, Democrats have cast more than three-quarters of the early ballots so far. Some believe the increase in voting is due to how the President has handled the pandemic.

“Trump hasn’t been doing much to try and stop the spread [of Covid-19]. He tries to play off the virus as if it isn’t that serious,” senior Jocelin Rivera said. “He’s done way more harm than good in all his four years as president.”

Some are worried about the safety of their ballots, saying they don’t trust the U.S Postal Service. One Pennsylvania mailman was found to have thrown a few ballots in the trash.
Nevertheless, many are still choosing to vote by mail, presumably to avoid contracting coronavirus.

Because of the influx of mail-in voting, it’s possible that the US won’t know the winner of the election come the night of Nov. 3. These results also hold the promise of being highly contested.

Trump has already said he will “have to see” if he accepts the election results and that the only way he’s going to lose the election is if it’s rigged.

Dissidents of the president hope that Biden wins by a wide margin to leave no room for argument about who won the election.

With so much up in the air, one thing is for certain: this election will be one to remember.