Twenty years after Congress passed the Help America Vote Act, Philadelphia and Berks County elections officials still have challenges providing election supports.
President-elect Joe Biden (right) and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris.
As it approached midnight on Tuesday, November 3, Michelle Jawando, a voting rights attorney, sat at her Maryland, United States, home watching the presidential election results. Joseph R. Biden Jr, the Democratic Party candidate, and Kamala Harris, his vice-presidential running mate, were trailing the incumbent, Donald J. Trump.
Jawando has had a long history of political involvement – including having served as general counsel and senior adviser to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) – and she knew this would be among the most challenging elections she’d ever experience. She also expected that “the story on election night was not going to be the story of the election” because of the high number of mail-in ballots. So she “prayed and hoped” for patience and calm among Biden supporters. But was she calm?