Live Updates: Elections 2020 In Illinois

Workers in downtown Chicago this morning described constantly checking vote counts, leaving cable news on all evening and their rising frustration as they wait for a winner to be declared in the race between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Angela Wilkes, who lives on the South Side, said she’s been feeling high levels of anxiety waiting for a winner, but has been trying her best not to constantly keep checking for results.

“I just look. If nothing’s happened, I’m OK,” Wilkes said.

Wilkes is a Biden supporter. When asked if she believes the Democratic candidate will defeat Trump, she said “there’s always hope.”

Al Hunt, a lifelong Democrat who lives in the south suburbs, said he’s expecting not to know the winner until the end of the week, but he believes Biden will win the election “if they don’t steal it.”

Hunt said he “definitely” feels America is living through a unique moment in history, with the pending results and the coronavirus pandemic happening simultaneously. He said he is feeling “anxiety for it to be over” one way or another.

“I want Biden to win, but I’ve lived through a lot of presidents so … it won’t really change my life,” Hunt said.

Wilkes agreed, saying “even if Trump wins I’m just going to work with that.”

But Robert Benson expressed a good deal more fear and frustration about the possibilities of a Trump re-election.

Benson said he’s been constantly checking for results when he’s at home, and said he hasn’t been surprised at the president’s attempts to contest the vote count in some states.

“He ain’t doing no more than what we expected him to do,” Benson said. “He doesn’t follow the rule of the law but he preaches the law.”

Benson said he doesn’t believe the president has any basis for his claims that he already won, or that the election is being stolen. He said he worries the president and his supporters could foment violence if they keep making the claims.

“In the long run they’ll end up getting a lot of people hurt for nothing,” Benson said.