Three days after Election Day, no president-elect had yet been named. As the wait for a decision stretched out, voters on both sides of the partisan divide are anxiously awaiting a call. The Naugatuck River Valley is home to both kinds of voters.
Fred Centrella supports Donald Trump. And that support goes far: if his candidate doesn’t reach 270 electoral votes, then he believes the presidential election was not a fair race.
If Joe Biden becomes president, Centrella believes he would be "an illegitimate president, one hundred percent. Period." He believes there’s no way for Biden to be elected legitimately. When asked for evidence, Centrella cites the enthusiasm and crowds at President Trump’s rallies compared to Biden’s small crowds. The Biden campaign held socially-distanced rallies to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Karen Ljongquist was expecting this wait. She read about it in the news. And she understands the wait is due to the extra time it takes to open and count absentee ballots.
"What surprises me is that everybody is so alarmed that we don’t know anything right away," Ljongquist said, "which I really didn’t anticipate knowing right away. I expected it to be this long."
Her friend, Terry Meisel, said she was concerned about the President’s behavior in the days since the election. "This morning I heard some of his last remarks," Meisel said "and I’m thinking, 'if I didn’t have my eyes open, I would think I would be listening to a dictator.'" What concerned her most were his comments about not leaving office.
The pair of friends said they believe the American electoral system is working and that results should be accepted, whatever they are.
Joe Kenny thinks supporters can separate out the truth in Trump’s statements. But he said he thinks the president should tone it down until all the votes are counted.
"People understand and...they can separate what’s true and what’s rhetoric. I don’t have any concerns on that part."
But at least some of Trump’s supporters believe the president's attempts to cast doubt on the integrity of the election.
Joe Pisani is one of those voters. He’s unhappy with how the count is going. Pisani claims it’s a corrupt election because of lack of transparency.
"And it’s proved by virtue of the fact that they wouldn’t allow the Republican poll watchers in," Pisani said. His comments show how the president’s disinformation is catching fire. During a speech to the nation Thursday evening, Trump falsely asserted that Republican poll watchers were barred from counting sites in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
John Cardozo was one of a few voters who cast doubt on the system by which Americans chose a president: the Electoral College.
"When you get the majority of the people voting and you win by five, six million votes," Cardozo said, "and you still can’t become president, that doesn’t make sense to me." Joe Biden currently leads Donald Trump in the popular vote by almost four million votes.
Brian Malarkey believes it’s unfortunate that many people believe the president’s unsubstantiated statements.
"I think at the end, no matter what the outcome is, I think our division is going to be greater than ever."
Ali Oshinskie is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Ali covers the Naugatuck River Valley for Connecticut Public Radio. Email her at aoshinskie@ctpublic.org and follow her on Twitter at @ahleeoh.
