The first presidential election that many AACC students voted in wound up being one of the most controversial in history—and did not produce definitive results on Election Night. 

By the morning after Election Night, former Vice President Joe Biden had 238 electoral votes and President Donald Trump had 213. It’s possible the winner will be revealed on Thursday or Friday, once all absentee ballots are counted. 

Still, Trump declared himself the winner on Tuesday—Election Night—and filed multiple lawsuits on Wednesday in an effort to stop local districts from counting any more ballots. 

Some students said Trump’s announcement was premature. 

“I think what he said probably should have been thought it over a little bit more before he said something,” first-year business administration student Taylor Toman said. “I think just his personality is the type to be one to make remarks of that sort .” 

Liam Wagner, a second-year information assurance and cybersecurity student, agreed. 

Trump’s announcement was “very unnecessary,” he said. “I believe that some of [his] tweets were flagged or looked at by Twitter themselves. …  but really it is just a distraction that definitely says something about what he’s going to try to do … trying to get some court to kind of look into it.” 

Third-year communication student Amber Nathan said the president was frustrated with his political opponents when he made the announcement. 

“I think Trump is just fed up with the [Democratic] Party,” Nathan, a Republican and a former editor-in-chief of Campus Current, said. “They’re being ridiculous. They have lied about him from the beginning. And I think that he’s frustrated because he knows that he would have won if they weren’t making this whole mail ballot crisis.” 

First-year media production student Dominic Salacki disagreed. 

“He keeps shouting out things that aren’t true,” he said. “And he jumps to conclusions. I guess he wants to win so badly that he’s willing to lie about it.” 

Some students who said they have concerns about Trump’s statements said they voted for him anyway. 

“To be honest, I don’t think he’s been doing such a great job,” second-year premedical student Moriah Thompson said. “But when it comes to …  some of the values that I uphold, I think he would do a better job of upholding them than Biden.”