WAPO: In a time of deep suspicion, Americans put their trust in the vote

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/scenes-from-election-day/2020/11/03/1ce42410-1d1b-11eb-b532-05c751cd5dc2_story.html

By Marc Fisher, Annie Gowen and Hannah Knowles November 3, 2020 at 3:06 p.m. EST

In the ninth month of spending way too much time at home — when for many millions there was no real school, no church to go to, no work — people were determined to vote, which they did in unimaginable, perhaps unprecedented, numbers.

As the nation’s unusually long and confusing election season ended Tuesday, with millions of votes pouring in by mail, in drop-boxes and in person, Americans — perhaps paradoxically — put their faith in the system. For all of this era’s unparalleled mistrust — of government, of institutions, of each other — voting is an intrinsically hopeful act, a statement that things can get better and that the leader of the country matters.