November 4, 2020
Neighbors,
I want to express my heartfelt thanks to each and every one
of you who voted in this election – no matter your party or your stance on
issues. By voting in record numbers, you have shown the world that we value our
democracy, now more than ever.
I also want to thank our election workers – from the poll
watchers to vote counters. Your tireless efforts in these unprecedented times
made this election possible.
While we have results on issues and some local elections, we
await the final tally that will decide our next president. And this is not
actually unusual: Every vote in a modern election being counted, tabulated,
finished by midnight is not possible and never has been. No state ever reports
final results on election night, and no state is legally expected to.
What we have become used to as Americans is news
organizations being able to project a winner by Election Night based on partial
counts and statistical likelihoods. Because of the huge number of mail-in ballots
and early votes this year, such a projection wasn’t possible.
That doesn’t mean the electoral system isn’t working. It
simply means we need to modify our expectations. Every vote will be counted and
a victor declared – and in the meantime, we must wait patiently for those
results.
During this time, I am calling on each of you to await the
results with civility and a measure of grace. It has been the most divisive
election in our lives, and now is the time to remember what unites us: a great
country that allows us to vote freely without fear of retribution. As poet Maya
Angelou said, “We are more alike, my friends, than unalike.”
We must now turn our attention to working together to fight
our greatest challenges: the global pandemic and the economic recession it has
left in its wake, the spike in violence across the country and right here in
Columbus, and the need for equity in everything we do.
I believe in the strength of this community because I have
seen what we can do when we work together. Our best days will be ahead of us if
we can harness the power of unity.