Residents from the United States who are now living in the Maritimes say they’re keeping a keen eye on the election needle, as they wait to learn whether their president will be Donald Trump or Joe Biden.
Alicia Kirk is originally from western Pennsylvania but moved to Nova Scotia 15 years ago. She’s anxiously awaiting the results of the election, especially those for her home state.
“Us absentee voters and those mail-in ballot voters, that’s going to be what determines these states. So it feels more consequential,” said Kirk.
“It’s going to take some time, and it’s good to know that they have a lot of people working on that and seeing the process through.”
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Ian Gobert is another American living in Nova Scotia. He moved to Atlantic Canada about two years from his home in Virginia.
Gobert, a Democrat, says he tried his best to keep his eyes off election coverage Tuesday night.
“I try not to get my anxiety up, I guess, because I think Trump’s such a poor president and his administration goes against what I believe is just.”
But even though he’s not a fan of the political climate in his home country, he still made his voice heard by casting a ballot.
“It doesn’t mean that I’m not impacted by it, because my parents still live in Virginia,” he said. “But for right now, it’s good to have that outside look in, while still having some impact of what’s going on.”
As of 6 p.m. AT, the winner of the election is still yet to be determined. According to the Associated Press, Biden currently has 248 electoral votes to Trump’s 214.
READ MORE: No winner has been declared in the 2020 U.S. election. What happens now?
The results are being delayed as the absentee ballots have not yet been tallied in full. Brian Bow, a political science professor at Dalhousie University, says that process could take days.
“One of the things that’s been a big issue is they haven’t started the count in a lot of these states until either (Tuesday) or (Monday),” said Bow. “And in some places they’ve had real technical problems.”
But Bow also says it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a winner has yet to be announced.
“It’s jarring for sure, but it’s in many ways not unexpected. We knew that it was quite likely that we would not have a clear result when we went to bed last night — if we went to bed last night,” said Bow.
“The results in many ways have played out almost exactly the way we expected they would.”