From the pandemic to the social justice campaigns, many thought 2020 could not become more unorthodox. However, as the Presidential Election occurred, once again it has proved 2020 will be a year that nobody forgets.

On November 3, the long, high tension campaigns of Biden and Trump were finally coming to an end. Years of campaigning, with hundreds of millions of dollars spent, would all come down to one night: Election Night. Millions of Americans and people around the world tuned in to their local broadcast trying to catch a glimpse at the results. 

The night was a rollercoaster of emotions for many, with one candidate in the lead and within minutes the other would jump ahead. By the end of the night, it seemed that Trump may cross the finish line. In fact, on election night, Trump gave a speech stating, “Frankly, we did win this election. So our goal now is to ensure integrity, for the good of this nation.”

In the late hours following election night, at 2:00 a.m., Trump’s statement seemed to be true. The candidates were closely aligned in called electoral votes, with Trump leading, even by the hundreds of thousands of votes, in many of the swing states needed to achieve victory. However, the election was far from over, with mail-in ballots still to be counted.

By the following day, it was evident that things may not be going as Trump had spoken. Due to the high contention around and Trump urging many of his voters to vote in-person, the mail-in ballots were coming in in unimaginable spreads for Biden. Biden would be seen taking 90-98 percent of votes coming in from many of the swing states. As a result, on November 7, four days after the election, many national news organizations would project Joseph Biden, the 46th President Elect.

Normally, at this point, the sitting President, Trump, would call the now President Elect, Joe Biden, to formally concede and begin the transition process. As it would become evident for many Americans, this was not going to be a normal transition. With Trump claiming massive voter fraud, to this day he has still not conceded the election. He hopes through lawsuits and other means that he can still pull ahead. So what exactly is he doing? What grounds does he have? And when is the presumably end date where we will know for certainty who the next president will be?

As the days proceeded the election, it would be clear that Trump’s lawsuits would be a wide range of allegations across multiple states. So far, though not all have been filled directly by Trump, and according to NBC, “at least 56 cases to have been filed,” with “at least 44 have been denied.”

With these cases, Trump has only been able to win one, with miniscule effect. Recently, the GOP and Trump received a devastating blow when the Supreme Court unanimously decided, without a decent, to a Pennsylvania case that argued mail in ballots were unconstitutional within Pennsylvania. 

Now all hope isn’t lost for Trump. It is extremely unlikely any decision would be enough, especially since the electoral college certified the results on December 14, to overturn the election but that is without saying it can’t happen. However it is still very unlikely with even Trump’s Attorney General, William Bar, in an Associated Press (AP) interview, stating how he had seen no election fraud. The AP explained, “Attorney General William Barr declared Tuesday the U.S. Justice Department has uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election.”

In the following days, if Trump fails to win any substantial cases in court, and no other disputes are made, one can look towards January 6 as being the date where the election will be finalized. Though in the days prior with the casting of electoral votes already made, on January 6, a joint session of Congress will accrue where they will count and formally certify the election.