As America held its breath for days in light of the election, Joe Biden was elected as the 46th President of the United States of America on Saturday, November 7th. 

Along with the rest of the country, the Grandview student body stands divided as to whom they wanted to win the race, including some on either side of the political parties. 

One such student brought the suspected voter fraud into the spotlight. 

“Personally, I believe that this election has presented us with more fraud than ever seen before. Frankly that’s disappointing and I really think it’s a demonstration of what each side stands for,” an anonymous source said.  

“We look at states that have gone blue such as Wisconsin and Michigan and we see things like more ballots than eligible voters or a mysterious 138,000 plus ballots showing up overnight. Then we look at states such as Oklahoma where every single county voted red with no questions asked.”

As the votes continued to come in over the long 4 days since Election Day, some changes surprised members of our student body, causing a stir of different emotions.

“At first I was a little surprised that so many states had swung sides from 2016, causing a completely different outcome,” sophomore Quinton Kuper said. “But, after that, I started to feel a little angry because of the lack of integrity in the political system today. Nobody really cares how they win, only if they win.”

The election results also took a turn of events that varied from the way students projected. 

“I think that in the long haul, Trump will be our winner,” an anonymous source said. “I think that just looking at a map of the United States it is very easy to tell what the American people want, someone who supports patriotism and is willing to do anything for it, and that is Donald Trump.”

On the other hand, other students were more elated by the news of the president-elect. 

“My dad and I were driving home, and I heard that Biden was gonna win the election and I almost started crying,” sophomore Billie Koehler said. 

Another such student who was anxiously awaiting election results was sophomore Arianna Behoudi. 

“I was nervous about going to school with the election going on, especially knowing that some people at Grandview support Trump,” Behoudi said. “It’s a huge relief that Biden won.”

While other students still continued to be set in stone with their projections, even from the very start of the polls opening.

“In no way am I surprised about these election results. Although the results on the night of the election looked grim for Biden, there was still some hope because of the mail in ballots that needed to be counted,” senior Aaryn Mathias said. 

Mathias went on to describe how he and friends were able to accurately estimate the election results. 

“My friends and I created an election prediction map of what we predicted the election to be from background knowledge of the last presidential race as well as current polling information and created a map that looks exactly like the results except for Georgia being blue,” Mathias said.

Even with his accurate guess as to who would win, Mathias still found some surprise in the election results. 

“I am surprised by how close the election was. To be honest I was expecting it to be a landslide, but it was much closer than expected,” Mathias said.

Mathias then went  on to swear about his trust in the truth of the election. 

“I do not believe there was anything fraudulent about the election, and I also don’t believe that any recounts or lawsuits will change the results of the election,” Mathias said. 

With Biden set to take office in the new year, some of our fellow students are looking forward to his appointment.

“I’m relieved that Americans have chosen a president who values equal rights for all people (regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) and is capable of empathy,” freshman Lauren Campbell said.

Campbell was not only hopeful for the future of having a woman in the White House. 

“Even though I know that Biden isn’t ideal, I’m thrilled that Kamala Harris provides representation of women and women of color in the office,” Campbell said.  “This is definitely a win for anyone with American values.”

Others remained openly hopeful for the new president’s future. 

“I’m glad about the results of the election and happy that we have moved past a president who has been so incredibly destructive for our country and its image,” Mathias said.

Mathias went on to describe his hopes for the future actions of the new president-elect. 

“I hope that Biden can help unite our country and lead it into the future,” Mathias said. 

But, others are not as quite pleased with the future plans of the Biden Administration. 

“Ultimately, I am not that excited for a Biden Presidency,” senior Tim Perrin said.  “Don’t get me wrong, Biden is better than Trump, but only because Biden will not repeal rights or destroy liberties like Trump might have done.”

Perrin then went on to describe his fears of future actions taken by the Biden Presidency. 

“This does not mean he will improve things,” Perrin said.  “The future with Biden is not bright. As he said himself, ‘nothing will fundamentally change’, and that’s the problem.”

Although the student body may be divided in their reactions to the new president-elect, as we look forward into the future – whether Red or Blue, Left or Right, Republican or Democrat – it is important to remind one another that we all share the same country, and we are united as one. 

We are all Americans.