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As we’re writing this on Election Day, we have no idea what the final results will be from Tuesday night’s presidential election.

That’s one of the unique problems newspapers across the country have every election night. If you’re going to stretch your deadline as far as possible to get in every result possible, it means some pages actually have to be finished earlier in the day.

But the truth is, we don’t even need to know who the winners were Tuesday night. It’s possible, as you’re reading this on Wednesday, that we may still not know who won. But it doesn’t matter, at least not for our message below.

Writing this before any votes have been counted, we can say this with a strong conviction: it’s time for us all to come together in America.

Regardless of whether Donald Trump wins four more years or Joe Biden takes over as president, it’s time we move past this campaign season. Even if we’re still waiting Wednesday, the votes have already been cast, and there’s literally nothing that we can do as Americans.

Republican, Democrats, black, white, male, female — we need to come together to overcome this incredibly tough year and move our country forward.

If Trump wins another four years, we realize it’ll be tough for Democrats to hide their disappointment and rally behind a man who has been pretty polarizing. If Biden wins, we’re sure it’ll be a difficult loss for Republicans, who see him as one of the best presidents in history. At this moment, we’re not sure our country has ever been so divided politically.

When you throw in the COVID-19 pandemic, which has become a political topic too, it’s easy to remember just how rough this year continues to be.

But the truth is, regardless of whether there’s a democrat or a republican in the White House, we need both Democrats and Republicans working together to move this country forward. Independents too. That’s not just in the U.S. Senate or the House either. We need that in our local communities as well. We’re really not all that different.

Whether the result is known or not, we hope as you’re reading this that you’ll agree that it’s time to back whoever’s elected president, step across party lines, and move this country forward. Let’s do it in Troup County and show the world how it’s done.