Daily Video
November 4, 2020What to discuss with your students on the day after Election Day
Directions: Watch the video above and read the NewsHour article, “Without a winner, Trump falsely claims victory while Biden urges patience” and answer the discussion questions.
Then, check out EXTRA’s lesson on how the AP counts the vote HERE. Important to know on November 4:
-
- Across many battleground states, more Democrats than Republicans took advantage of early voting, especially vote by mail. Republicans made up at least some of the gap in many states on Election Day.
- This difference in voting method by party may result in skewed early voting counts in some states, with a subsequent “blue shift” in some states, and winners of given states may not be announced for days after Election Day.
- It is possible that full results for some critical states like Pennsylvania will not be certain on November 4, and possibly not until later in the week.
Discussion:
Warm up questions: Have your students identify the 5Ws and an H:
-
- Who are the people involved in Election 2020?
- What are the main outstanding counts as of Nov. 4?
- When and where does the AP news service decide to call elections?
- Why have some states been called and others have not?
- How do state results determine the outcomes of national elections? (see this lesson Should the Electoral College stay or go?)
Then have students share with the class or through a Learning Management System (LMS).
Focus questions:
- Why are we still unsure who won the election? Why did certain states like Pennsylvania and Michigan not allow mail-in ballots to be counted until Election Day?
- Why would President Trump falsely claim victory in the election when there are several states who have not counted all their votes?
Media literacy: Why do the chances of misinformation spread increase around key events like a presidential race?
- If interested in a lesson exploring how to spot disinformation online, click here.
Dig deeper: As discussed in the article above, President Donald Trump has falsely claimed victory and called for the vote count to be halted, a move unprecedented in modern U.S. history. However, elections have been contested in the past. Use this lesson to explore how previous contested elections shaped history, including the contest of 2000.
Follow us:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PBSNewsHourExtra/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NewsHourExtra
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newshourextra/
Subscribe:
PBS NewsHour education stories newsletter
Updates for EXTRA’s Super Civics 2020 election teaching resources doc
Tags:
Related Stories
Tooltip of related stories
More Videos
Tooltip of more video block
Submit Your Student Voice
More Videos
-
Inauguration special: Gen Z discuss hopes for the future of democracy
DOWNLOAD VIDEO Directions: Read the summary, watch the videos and answer the discussion questions below.…
-
Brooks & Capehart classroom resource: A transformative two weeks for the U.S.
DOWNLOAD VIDEO Teachers: This past two weeks have been full of news that can be…
-
Daily News Lesson: Misty Copeland’s children’s book works to eliminate stereotypes about ballet
Why one artist wrote a children’s book to try to make dance more inclusive Continue reading
-
Daily News Lesson: The House impeaches President Trump for a second time
Discuss what’s expected from the second impeachment of President Trump. Continue reading
-
Daily News Lesson: Capitol attack forces reckoning with radical, right-wing political factions
Discuss why extremist violence is a threat and what’s being done to counter it. Continue reading