Election Day: When the Voting Ends and the Counting Begins

After a long and often bewildering campaign, we have finally reached Election Day—the conclusion of a season of charged rhetoric, legal posturing, and overwhelming early-voter turnout. Today, however, is only the end of a beginning. We the people have been tasked with selecting a title for the next chapter of American history, and after nearly two years of deliberation, the time for making a choice has come. Millions of us across the country have already submitted ballots, and millions more will cast votes before the polls close.

For most who have already voted, the afternoon will be the calm before the storm of results and punditry to come. In the age of endless news and constant coverage, we should embrace this slip in the media’s gears and let the quiet wash over us. Nothing is supposed to be happening, so don’t spend your day waiting for bad news that won’t be coming.

Tonight is the night to set anxiety aside and begin waiting for an outcome over which our influence has been exhausted. Voters and candidates alike will have been relegated to helpless spectators by this point, so, as Reinhold Niebuhr prayed, “Give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and the insight to know the one from the other.”

When doubt allows for hope, we should embrace it and cast aside our fear of the unknown. This has been a year filled with tragedy, loneliness, and uncertainty. With two long months to go, we can afford to take an evening to look back at where we’ve been and contemplate where we’re headed. The world and its stressors will be waiting for us in the morning. 

Regardless of the final tally, over forty percent of Americans will be disappointed in the certified results from the presidential election, and most of us will be upset about the outcome of at least one down-ballot race. Such is the nature of representative democracy, and while the thrill of victory is short-lived, the agony of defeat has a tendency to linger.

As we await the final election results over the coming days and contemplate the future of the United States, we should reflect on this past decade of division and consider these words from Martin Luther King, Jr.: “He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.” Time is always moving forward, and resentment is a heavy boulder to push up an endless hill. For the sake of our better angels, we are best served to cast it aside so we can keep pace with the ever-spinning world.