With Presidential Election results still undecided, Bostonians marched in solidarity with others across the country to ensure every vote is counted.
Hundreds of peaceful demonstrators gathered in the Boston Common Wednesday night, November 4, less than 24 hours after the polls for the general election had closed in Massachusetts to demand that every vote be counted.
As of the time of writing Joe Biden looks to be inching closer to the Whitehouse leading Donald Trump 264 to 214 but neither candidate has cleared the 270 Electoral College votes needed. Earlier on Wednesday, November 4, President Trump and his team announced lawsuits against the states of Michigan and Pennsylvania to require that they stop counting votes, votes that were from mail-in ballots and are completely legitimate. Americans then began gathering in cities like Philadelphia, Washington D.C., New York and Chicago to demand every vote be counted.
In Boston, protesters began gathering at the Common in the early hours of the afternoon.
“Count Every Vote” rally taking place at Boston Common #boston #protest #Election2020 pic.twitter.com/Ru77OZlO0Z
— Bailey Allen (@baileyaallen) November 4, 2020
The rally, which is part of a wider national effort called “Protect the Results” urging election officials to count all ballots, started off with a musical number. Protesters held up signs that read “Don’t Let Democracy Die,” “Respect Voting Results,” and “Wait! Finish the Count.”
Organizers framed the event as a nonpartisan event to defend voting rights. “Counting the votes that have been legally cast by Americans across this country is not a partisan issue,” Tanisha Sullivan, president of the Boston NAACP, told reporters like the Boston Globe before the rally began. “This is not about Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green Party or whatever, or no party. This is about our American democracy.”
About 200 people attending the “Count Every Vote” rally at the Parkman Bandstand in the Boston Common held flags and homemade signs. The crowd wore masks and maintained social distancing. pic.twitter.com/6ooBCRYY3A
— Janika Dillon (@JanikaDillon) November 5, 2020
Some Boston officials also took part in the Boston Common rally. Recently re-elected Senator Ed Markey spoke out against President Trump’s threat to fight the current election results.
Northeast voted for Biden in solid numbers – that doesn’t mean people stayed home. We hit the streets in Boston, NYC, Worcester, and Providence to say: count every vote, and get organized to guarantee Trump has no path to stealing the election. #CountEveryVote pic.twitter.com/UplP4e8LtV
— Socialist Alternative (@SocialistAlt) November 5, 2020
The afternoon rally was followed by another, unrelated protest later in the evening that saw Bostonians march from Roxbury to Copley Square. The event organized by the Freedom Fighters Coalition, Sunrise Movement Boston, and Boston Socialist Alternative stressed the need to protect democracy and strengthen communities.
[Featured image: Twitter / @anoushkd]