Students gathered in the Searle Center Tuesday night to watch election returns and listen to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM, the campus radio station, deliver a live broadcast hosted by students that featured commentary and interviews.
The presidential election was too close to call throughout the night, but that didn’t stop students from enjoying each other’s company and complimentary chicken wings.
“I think everybody’s just happy to be together and to witness history,” said junior Vera Mackyntoich.
The radio broadcast, which ran from 8 p.m. to midnight, featured guests such as Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn, One American News Network investigative reporter Jack Posobiec, Professor of Politics Thomas West, and several alumni, including Washington Free Beacon writer Alexis Nester ’20, and Republican National Committee Media Affairs Coordinator Ben Dietderich ’20.
As news broadcasts reported results, students debated what they meant for the fates of President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Graduate student Josiah Lippincott said the biggest surprise of the night was seeing early certainty from some news outlets that Florida would go red.
“Miami-Dade has been so close from those early returns,” Lippincott said. “It seems that Trump is up with Latinos in a way that could potentially make a difference in this election in a big way.”
Some students questioned why news outlets such as Fox News and CNN chose not to call Florida and other states like Ohio even sooner.
“It’s been a big issue, especially the lack of calling Florida,” said sophomore politics major Gabriel Powell. “Even when you’ve got 95%, 96%, 97% of the vote in, the president’s up by four points, he won Florida by six points in 2016, and they’re still not calling it. It’s also interesting not calling Ohio for as long as they did. That is really puzzling because Trump was up eight points with 80% of the vote and I think that’s enough to call something, even if it is a swing state.”
Powell said he was equally upset at the media’s decision to prematurely call Virginia.
“I think it’s a long shot that they called Virginia,” Powell said. “They called Virginia for Biden despite Trump being up by four points. When I checked, 60% of the vote was in and Trump was up by 2%. I think that’s a little too early to call something for the other person in a state like Virginia where it is competitive. Calling California for Biden if Trump’s up by 20% in the first 10 precincts, I get it. But not when we’re talking about Virginia.”
Regardless, students were sitting on the edge of their seats all night, anxiously awaiting the next state to be called. Radio host and senior Martin Petersen said he was glad students had the opportunity to gather together and witness a moment in history.
“Back in 2016 I was a freshman, and it was two o’clock in the morning in the Student Union, and that whole place was full,” Petersen said. “This is one of the biggest nights on campus and I felt like we all needed to do something together. So when March of this year rolled around, we started planning this, and we’re very happy with the product we’ve been able to put out here. I think it’s been a success.”
Mackyntoich said she was grateful for Radio Free Hillsdale’s coverage.
“It’s very beneficial to have people speaking to me in terms that I understand,” Mackyntoich said. “When I watch the news, they tend to twist things and use words that are much more opinionated. The students are more in the middle, rather than actually stating their opinion. I also really appreciate that we can listen to actual people that I know.”
Lippincott said he’s hopeful Trump will prevail.
“My initial claim was that the election would mimic 2016, that it would be very close, but that Trump would ultimately prevail,” Lippincott said. “I think the same sort of political fundamentals are still there. It’s going to be close, but that optimism isn’t shaken. There certainly won’t be a blue wave Democrat victory.”
As of Wednesday evening, the New York Times had not called Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, or Pennsylvania. Biden was leading with 253 electoral votes, while Trump had earned 214.
Biden won Michigan and Wisconsin, a pair of battleground states that Trump carried in 2016, but the Trump campaign was filing a lawsuit to halt vote counting in Michigan and demanding a recount in Wisconsin.
In a statement on Wednesday, Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien said the president will “immediately” call for a recount in Wisconsin, where the race has narrowed to less than one percentage point.
The prospect of a recount, Lippincott said, is troublesome.
“I think any sort of potential recount is a source of nervousness and caution because it can throw doubt on the legitimacy of the process,” Lippincott said. “These recounts are just always very political and they could lead to a lot of problems, so there’s a lot of concern there.”
Powell echoed those concerns, adding that increased voter fraud could delay the election results dramatically.
“Nevada and Pennsylvania are my biggest concerns where it actually could matter,” Powell said.
He added that he’s worried about the two states’ decisions to allow mailed ballots to be counted for three and four days after Nov. 4, if the postmark date is illegible.
Powell believes there is one silver lining: the predicted blue wave was only a ripple. Republicans will keep majority control in the Senate and Democrats lost a handful of seats in the House.
A final result in the presidential election, Lippincott said, could drag on.
“I think we could potentially have a pretty good picture early on, but it looks like it could be close,” Lippincott said. “It could be very, very close for a while.”