WHILE the nation continues to wait for a result from the presidential election, several Filipino American voters in battleground states like Nevada and Pennsylvania are urging patience in the counting process and road to 270 electoral votes.
As of Thursday, November 5 — two days after Election Day — Democratic nominee Joe Biden leads with 72,649,061 votes (50.4%) and 264 electoral votes, while President Donald Trump trails behind with 69,079,009 votes (47.9%) and 214 electoral votes, according to the Associated Press.
Several key states, such as Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Nevada, continue to be too early to call for either candidate, as of press time. So far, Biden already surpassed Barack Obama’s 2008 record for the most votes received in a presidential election.
“I know that everyone wants to see the final results, but we must remain patient. It is paramount that every vote is counted. We must remain committed to our democratic process and fight back against the misinformation that is being spread about voter fraud. We held a free and fair election, and the results will dictate the will of the people,” Dan Santos, chair of the state’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Democratic Caucus, told the Asian Journal.
The Silver State, which has six electoral votes up for grabs, said it will continue to count mail-in ballots through the end of the week.
“Mail ballots on this scale is new to the state of Nevada. Our process has run a bit slower as a result,” Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria said in a press conference on Thursday. The county had some 51,000 ballots to count on Thursday and would release the results the next day.
The former vice president leads in the state with 49.4% of the vote (604, 251 votes), while the current president has secured 48.5% (592,813) of the vote.
Though the final tally is still up in the air, Santos said grassroots organizing in Clark County — which is home to the majority of the state’s AAPI population — has helped drive more voters to participate during this election cycle.
“During the past cycle, AAPI organizers in Nevada created a model for the entire country to follow for BIPOC organizing. We created culturally responsive political education programs, empowered young people to take on various forms of leadership, and built intergenerational and intersectional coalitions to ensure historically marginalized communities had a voice in this process,” Santos said.
Attention is also on Pennsylvania, which has 20 electoral votes to offer, where Trump is slightly in the lead as of Thursday afternoon with 3,260,869 (50%) votes, while Biden is at 3,185,418 (48.8%) votes, based on the Associated Press’ count.
Brad Baldia, eastern region co-chair for Filipino Americans for Biden-Harris based in Philadelphia, said it was expected that Pennsylvania would be deciding factor for either candidate and the two campaign’s outreach throughout the state reflected that. The state is home to nearly 42,000 Filipino Americans.
“Biden can win through multiple routes, but Trump, on the other hand, has a very narrow pathway, that’s why Pennsylvania is so important,” Baldia told Asian Journal.
The Trump campaign sought legal action in Georgia and Michigan to stop vote counting and is pursuing a recount in Wisconsin.
Speaking in Wilmington, Delaware on Thursday afternoon, Biden said, “It is the will of the voters — no one, not anyone else — who chooses the president of the United States of America.”
