Photo courtesy of CNN shows election results and electoral votes by state.
Ashley Kairis contributed the photo story for local elections.
Tuesday night was a roller coaster of emotion and surprise for many people as election results surprised people nationally and locally.
President-elect Donald Trump may have been the biggest surprise, as results began to defy media and poll predictions for a Hillary Clinton victory. The USC/LA Times tracking poll and the Investor’s Business Daily/TIPP tracking poll were the most accurate in predicting Trump’s win.
Clinton’s loss of traditionally democratic Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin was unexpected. Clinton’s campaign did not stop in several key states, such as Wisconsin, which may be what caused these unpredicted shifts.
Trump won North Carolina by 3.8 percent. In Jackson County specifically, Trump won by 16.4 percent.
Clinton supporters at her headquarters Tuesday night after the results were announced. Photo courtesy of CNN.
Clinton won the popular vote, with 213,091 more votes than Trump, according to CNN. This is the second time in 16 years that Democrats have lost the election while winning the popular vote. Assuming that this election follows the previous trend, when President George Bush was elected despite losing the popular vote to Al Gore, we can expect to hear discussions regarding alternatives to the electoral college system.
There are 538 total electoral votes, and a majority of 270 votes are needed to elect the president. Each state is allotted a specific number of electoral votes, one for each member in the House of Representatives and two for senators.
Trump’s victory came from the western and mid-western United States. Trump’s large collection of states, worth an average of 11 electoral votes, added up compared to Clinton’s smaller collection, which were worth an average of 45 electoral votes.
Following the results, Trump gave a victory speech at his campaign headquarters. The full text and video of the speech can be found on CNN. Within hours of the speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Trump on his win and indicated that Russia would be willing to fully restore its relationship with the United States.
Clinton chose not to speak last night, instead sending her campaign manager to her headquarters and giving her concession speech Wednesday morning. Both Clinton and President Barack Obama called Trump to congratulate him on the win.
Trump supporters at his headquarters Tuesday night after the results were announced. Photo courtesy of CNN.
Trump voters will expect him to follow through on promises he made throughout his campaign. Of all the promises made by Trump, the most notable according to CNN are: the wall, “lock her up”, Muslim ban, repeal of Obamacare, NAFTA and TPP.
Many voters were gathered at their candidate’s headquarters last night. As it became clear that Trump would win the election, a video from CNN shows many Clinton supporters crying and devastated about the loss. ABC News put together photos showing people’s reactions to the election results across the world.
Once it became clear that Trump would be the next U.S. president, protests began in New York outside of Trump Tower. Similar protests have been ongoing in many states across the country.
On Twitter, anti-Trump voters have trended the hashtag #NotMyPresident on Twitter, using it as a chant in many protests. For Clinton supporters, who have favored the hashtag #ImWithHer throughout the election, many have now taken to tweeting #StillWithHer in support.
When Trump secured several battleground states, the Dow Jones futures dropped 750 points. This would have been the biggest single-largest digit loss since Great Recession if it had held. The market is slowly recovering from the drop.
The running joke for many anti-Trump American’s throughout the election was their plan to relocate to Canada if he won.
Dispute at Jackson County Recreation Center led to remeasuring of campaign lines. Photo by Chad Grant.
Well, Trump is the president-elect, and Canada’s immigration site crashed Tuesday night in response.
Locally, there weren’t too many surprises for Jackson County elections. In a story posted on WCJ Tuesday night, the results for local elections were listed.
Republicans now dominate elected offices in Jackson County. In the race for Board of Commissioners, Ron Mau received 9,481 votes compared to incumbent Vicki Green’s 8,300. Mau’s running-mate, Mickey Luker, received 9,474 votes compared to incumbent Mark Jones’ 8,305.
Overall, there were very few issues reported at local polling places.
At the Jackson County Recreation Center, a Republican dispute regarding the 50-feet campaign line rule forced the Chief Judge to re-measure.
John Patterson, a Democratic greeter at the Jackson County Board of Elections was called a “vulture” by a Trump supporter in the parking lot.
In the race for governor in North Carolina, the results were so close that a recount was called. Currently, Democrat Roy Cooper leads incumbent Republican Pat McCrory by 4,980 votes – or about 0.11 percent.
The following photo story by Ashley Kairis shows Election Day photos in and around Jackson County polling locations.
