After waiting more than three days, Joe Biden becomes the new president-elect, winning the 2020 presidential election with 284 electoral votes on Saturday morning.

“Well, I voted,”  said senior Casey Wanatick, a first-time voter “I sent in my ballot about a week ago. I’ve been staying informed and I’ve been educating people who don’t know what’s really going on.”

The election was a narrow, high-stakes race. Students at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School voiced their opinions on the issues that matter to them and got involved in a variety of ways. Even students who couldn’t vote had strong feelings about the candidates they supported and closely monitored the results.

“Biden has been pretty calm,” 18-year-old Wanatick said. “He’s giving America hope, which is good. Trump, on the other hand, has been really, really immature.”

Biden received the most votes cast for any presidential candidate in United States history, with more than 74 million votes. Trump received the second most votes in history, with over 70 million votes. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is also the first woman and first person of color to win the ticket. 

President Donald Trump has become the first incumbent president to lose reelection in 30 years. During the course of the election, Trump filed lawsuits in several swing states including Pennsylvania, which handed Biden the presidency, Michigan and Georgia to recount their votes, according to the Associated Press, due to what he perceives as voter fraud. 

In contrast, Biden “urged voters to be ‘patient’ and wait until the final results are tallied,” according to The Hill. Several DPMHS students have opinions on the election process itself. Factors including the electoral college, voter fraud and the popular vote are continuing to be highly debated. 

“This is how the political system is designed,” senior Cassia Ramelb said. “I don’t think (the electoral college is) a good way of judging votes. It should be by the popular vote because it’s what the majority wants rather than sending it to the electoral college to decide for us.”

While some students wanted a new President in office, others supported Trump. Senior Patrick Bullock supported Trump’s goal of being reelected.

“Well, of course (Biden winning) is not ideal in my opinion because I disagree with a lot of what Biden stands for but this isn’t that bad of a thing,” 17-year-old Bullock said. “It’s not like the world is over for me.”

Biden and Harris are set to speak to the American people on Saturday evening to officially declare victory. Trump has refused to concede, stating that the election is “far from over.” He plans to proceed with prosecuting cases in swing states. 

“We knew this from the beginning,” Ramelb said. “That the mail-in ballots were going to come days after. Trump was going to call (it) fraudulent. We all knew this. (Calling fraud) is really treacherous. They’re denying people their vote. Mail-in ballots just need to be counted.”