Scenes From a Normal American Democracy

In cities across the country, such desirable looting locations as Lululemon and Sweetgreen are boarded up in anticipation of what exactly we don’t know. And while there doesn’t appear to be the kind of mass voter intimidation or violence at the polls that analysts have been predicting with some regularity, there are certainly some interesting choices being made.

Early in the day, President Trump reiterated that “a lot of bad things happen” when ballots are counted after election day. Tuesday morning, the Michigan Attorney General reported that robocallers had been discouraged from going to the polls. In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a Republican commissioner suggested mail-in ballots that came in after election day wouldn’t be counted unless there was a Supreme Court ruling, though he was quickly rebuffed by his colleagues, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Which isnt’t to mention the less directly nefarious realities of voting in 2020: the masks, the anxiety, the covid-19-positive patients having their ballots collected by guys in full hazmat suits.

In any case, please enjoy these photographs taken today by various photojournalists of our very normal democracy as you wait to find out who will govern America for the next four years.