Adriaan Basson | A return to decency if Joe Biden wins the US presidency

US President Donald Trump has shown a complete disregard for facts and decency in the past 24 hours. Joe Biden has been presidential, writes Adriaan Basson.

Pro-Trump protesters chant 'Fox News sucks', try to get inside Arizona election HQ during vote count

Just outside of the building where thousands of votes are being counted in Arizona's most populous county, a crowd of around 200 people gathered late Thursday night as a tense situation unfolded.

The pro-Trump group chanted "Fox News sucks" to register their opposition to the network's early call for Arizona and its 11 electoral votes to go for Democratic nominee Joe Biden Tuesday night, well before other media outlets.

ANALYSIS | Trump or Biden, new US president faces troubled economy

It's still not clear yet if the next U.S. president will be incumbent Donald Trump or Democratic challenger Joe Biden, but whoever triumphs will face monumental challenges on the economic front.

The recession has been ugly. It has wiped away more than a year of economic output and more than five years of jobs growth.

The workforce is now smaller than it was a year before Trump first took office.

One bright spot - consumer spending - is stronger than it was right after the pandemic exploded in March, but still only back to where it was last June.

Rand at best level since March as Biden moves closer to victory

On Wednesday evening, the rand rallied to its strongest level since 11 March as Democratic contender Joe Biden took a narrow lead in key states. It was trading at R15.90/$ on Thursday morning as Biden was nearing the 270 electoral votes needed to win the US presidential election.

He currently has 253, compared to US president Donald Trump's 213.

Could courts again decide the US election?

Democrats and Republicans girded on Wednesday for a legal showdown to decide the winner of the tight presidential race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.

After Trump declared he was ready to go to the US Supreme Court to dispute the vote counting, his campaign announced a recount demand in Wisconsin and lawsuits in Michigan and Pennsylvania, three states critical to winning the presidency.

US networks have called Michigan and Wisconsin for Biden, while Pennsylvania remains a tossup.

Late Wednesday the Trump campaign filed suit in a fourth battleground, Georgia, as the president's lead there shrank to less than a percentage point.

Trump's behaviour raised the spectre of the election ultimately being decided, as in 2000, by a Supreme Court ruling on how states can tally votes.

Qaanitah Hunter | Why SA can teach the US a thing or two about elections

The vote counting process after citizens have voted in the United States has been an eye-opener for Qaanitah Hunter. She writes that South Africa could teach the US a thing or two. 

Biden takes big stride to winning presidency, Trump claims fraud

Joe Biden is currently leading the US presidential election after flipping the northern battlegrounds of Michigan and Wisconsin.

Arizona - another that Biden is projected to flip - will put the Democrat within arm's reach.

Trump has claimed victory unilaterally and made clear he would not accept the reported results, issuing unprecedented complaints - unsupported by any evidence - of fraud.

The latest 2020 Presidential Results via Business Insider

Last updated: 11/5/2020, 5:58:22 AM

Pieter du Toit | 12 years after seeing Obama in Chicago, Trump has destroyed US vibrancy, optimism

Almost exactly 12 years ago Pieter du Toit stood in Grant Park, in Chicago, on the shores of Lake Michigan when Barack Obama spoke in front of an estimated 800 000 people after winning the US presidential election against Republican John McCain. He writes there's nothing left of the optimism and vibrancy of those heady times.

How Trump's uphill legal battle against Biden over the election results could play out

US President Donald Trump and Republican officials are gearing up to mount a legal fight over the results of the 2020 election as it looks increasingly likely that the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, will win the race.

In a speech falsely declaring victory early Wednesday morning, Trump said he would take the issue all the way to the Supreme Court, though it was unclear why he would litigate the results of an election he believed he won.

6 records the 2020 US elections broke

A presidential election held in the middle of a pandemic was bound to have a few firsts, but the 2020 election is shaping up to set a slew of new records.

As in 2018, 2020 also carried with it a host of diverse candidates — from the youngest member of Congress in modern history to the first openly gay Black men elected to the US House of Representatives.

Here are just a few of the election cycle's record-shattering developments.

Republicans on track to dash Democratic hopes of US Senate majority

Republicans appeared poised to retain control of the US Senate on Wednesday, after Senator Susan Collins defied political odds to win re-election in Maine and other Republican incumbents led Democrats in a handful of undecided races. Democrats, who had been favoured to win the Senate majority heading into Tuesday's election, had a net gain of only one seat to show by Wednesday afternoon as their options for further increases dwindled, despite a huge Democratic money advantage going into the final weeks of the campaign.

Republicans currently hold a 53-47 seat Senate majority. To win control, Democrats would need to net three Republican-held seats if Democrat Joe Biden wins the White House and Senator Kamala Harris becomes vice president with the tie-breaking Senate vote. If Biden loses to Republican President Donald Trump, Democrats would need four seats. Of five Senate races still undecided, Republican incumbents led in Alaska, Georgia and North Carolina, while Democratic Senator Gary Peters led Republican John James by a slight margin in Michigan.

-Reuters

US sets new record for increase in Covid-19 cases day after election

The United States set a one-day record for new coronavirus cases on Wednesday with at least 102,591 new infections and as hospitals in several states reported a rising tide of patients, according to a Reuters tally. Nine states reported record one-day increases in cases on Wednesday: Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.

The previous US record for new cases in a day was 100,233 on October 30, the highest ever reported by any country in the world.

Michigan secretary of state calls Trump lawsuit 'frivolous'

Michigan's secretary of state said on Wednesday that a lawsuit by U.S. President Donald Trump seeking to halt counting of votes there was "frivolous."

CNN and NBC projected Democrat Joe Biden the winner of Michigan on Wednesday afternoon, giving him 16 electoral votes toward the 270 he needs to win the presidency as ballot counting goes on in several other key states. With 99% of votes counted, Biden led Trump with 50.3% to 48.1% of votes cast, or by nearly 120,000 votes – far more than the Republican president's margin of victory in Michigan in 2016, when he won the state by just over 10,000 votes.

Campaign officials for Trump have said that they filed lawsuits in Michigan to stop the counting there and gain greater access to the tabulation process.

"I do believe its frivolous," Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said of Trump's lawsuit at an afternoon news conference, adding that all valid ballots cast in the state had been tabulated ahead of schedule. Benson said the vote counting had been "efficient, transparent, secure and methodical" and that "anyone who tells you otherwise is unhappy about the result." She said the state would push back hard against any efforts to dispute the result or spread disinformation.

-Reuters

North Carolina election results won't change for a week - officials

North Carolina election officials said on Wednesday they did not expect vote totals reported by the state to change for more than a week, as the state remained undecided in both the US presidential race and a Senate seat. North Carolina has 15 electoral votes.

"With very few exceptions, North Carolina's election results will not change until November 12 or 13, when all mail-in ballots are received and counted by each county," Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the state Board of Elections, told a news conference.

State officials have been processing some 5.5 million ballots, but there are 117,000 outstanding mail-in ballots - many of which may not have been cast - and an undetermined number of provisional ballots still in the mix.

As of Wednesday, Republican President Donald Trump led his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, in North Carolina by 50.1% to 48.7% that left the race too close to call.

- Reuters

Democratic hopes to flip US Senate dim as Collins holds seat in Maine

The path for Democrats to flip control of the US Senate narrowed when Republican Susan Collins successfully defended her seat Wednesday, virtually assuring continued political polarisation in a divided Congress -- no matter who wins the White House.

As the presidential battle between Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden was coming down to the wire, the congressional balance of power became clearer, with Democrats holding the House of Representatives and their hopes of snatching the Senate hanging by a thread.

With Republicans fiercely defending their 53-47 majority, Democrats would need to gain three seats to seize Senate control if Biden wins the presidency, and four seats if Trump is re-elected. (A 50-50 tie is broken by the vice president.)

- AFP

'Sharpiegate' allegations fuel unproven claims of voter fraud in Arizona

Unsubstantiated claims alleging some votes cast for President Donald Trump were not counted in Maricopa County, Arizona - an important battleground in the 2020 U.S. election - because voters used Sharpie pens began spreading among right-wing social media accounts on Tuesday night as election results trickled in.

Dubbed “Sharpiegate” by conservatives on social media, the allegations could be used to try to undermine election results in the historically Republican state of Arizona, which the Associated Press called for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden with 51% of the vote.

Similar rumours about Sharpies or other writing tools and ballots have circulated in Chicago, Michigan, Massachusetts and Connecticut in recent days. Maricopa County officials were trying to inform voters that Sharpies did not interfere with ballots.

The county - which includes Arizona's biggest city, Phoenix - last year rolled out new tabulation equipment that made Sharpie pens the best option on Election Day because they have the fastest drying ink, said Megan Gilbertson, the Maricopa County Elections Department's communications director.

The department posted a video on Election Day clarifying that Sharpies would not interfere with ballots.

“The Sharpies are just fine to use," Gilbertson said in an interview. "They do not impact tabulation, and we encourage them on Election Day because of how fast the ink dries."

- Reuters

OSCE observer says Trump allegations on vote 'harm public trust'

The head of an international observer mission to the US elections on Wednesday criticized President Donald Trump's allegations of cheating, saying he undermined trust in democracy.

The mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which monitors elections throughout Western nations and the former Soviet Union, said there was no evidence of election fraud in Tuesday's vote which was "competitive and well managed."

"Baseless allegations of systematic deficiencies, notably by the incumbent president, including on election night, harm public trust in democratic institutions," Michael Georg Link, who led the mission, said in a statement.

In a preliminary report, the mission warned that statements by Trump during the campaign "were perceived by many as increasing the potential for politically motivated violence after the elections."

- AFP

Joe Biden: 'We believe we are winners'

Democrat Joe Biden said Wednesday he was confident of winning the presidency once all votes are counted, saying he was leading Donald Trump in the remaining swing states that will determine the election's outcome.

"When the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners," Biden said in his hometown of Wilmington, as he stressed that "every vote must be counted," contravening President Trump, whose campaign has asked a court to suspend the tabulation of votes in Michigan.

"We the people will not be silenced," Biden said, as his running mate Kamala Harris stood by his side.

- AFP

Trump campaign says suing to halt Pennsylvania vote count

President Donald Trump's campaign said Wednesday it was suing to halt the counting of votes in Pennsylvania, after mounting similar challenges in fellow crucial election sates of Michigan and Wisconsin.

The Trump campaign accused electoral officials of prohibiting its "observers" from approaching closer to 25 feet (7.6 meters) to vote counters in Pennsylvania.

"We are also suing to temporarily halt counting until there is meaningful transparency and Republicans can ensure all counting is done above board and by the law," deputy campaign manager Justin Clark said in a statement.

-AFP

Biden ‘has beaten Obama’s vote record’ - with many ballots yet to be announced

Democratic candidate Joe Biden has received more votes than any presidential nominee in the US’ history, with nearly 70 million votes being cast for him.

This comes as the race to the presidency intensifies, with many more ballots still to be counted.

The Guardian has reported that Biden has now eclipsed the 69 498 516 votes amassed by Barack Obama in 2008, which was the previous record. Biden has more than 70 million votes.

The publication also reports that Donald Trump’s total so far is more than he received in 2016.

Biden projected to win Wisconsin

CNN projects that Joe Biden will win Wisconsin.

There are a total of 10 electoral votes to be won in the battleground state.

It takes 270 electoral votes to win the 2020 presidential election.

At the moment, Biden is projected to have 237 electoral votes, and Trump 213.

Republican incumbent Senator Susan Collins claims victory in Maine

Republican Senator Susan Collins, an independent-minded moderate, won a surprise re-election victory in Maine on Wednesday, strengthening her party's chances of retaining control of the US.

Senate.Collins, 67, turned back one of the strongest challenges in her career as she defeated Democrat Susan Gideon, 48, the speaker of the Maine State House of Representatives.

Gideon said she called Collins to concede the race.

"Just now I spoke with Senator Collins. I congratulated her on winning this election, and I told her I would always be available to help serve the people," she said in a video broadcast on Facebook.

The result is a setback for Democrats, who hope to pick up at least three seats to win control of the 100-seat Senate. Collins had been viewed as one of the more vulnerable Republicans.

Gideon had led most opinion polls since July, as she argued that Collins had sacrificed her independence in support of Republican President Donald Trump, a divisive figure in the New England state.

But with 75% of expected votes counted, Collins led Gideon 49.8% to 43.4%, according to Edison Research. Collins voted with Trump two-thirds of the time, according to the FiveThirtyEight website, making her the Senate Republican who was least aligned with the president.

- Reuters

Sarah McBride is first trans person to win Senate Seat as LGBTI+ candidates score wins

LGBT+ candidates scored a series of historic wins in the US elections, including Sarah McBride becoming the first openly transgender person to win a State Senate seat.

At least 117 of a record 574 LGBTIQ+ candidates on the ballot had won at the time of publication, nine of them trans, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which backs LGBTIQ+ candidates.

"It's a huge milestone for members of the LGBTQ community," said Stephanie Byers, who became the country's first trans Native American state legislator in the Kansas House of Representatives.

"Gender is no longer the only thing that someone sees when we run for office ... they also realise that we run more broadly, not just on LGBT issues," the 57-year-old retired music teacher told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

While data on other LGBT+ candidates is still emerging, other victors included Ritchie Torres and Mondaire Jones, respectively the first out gay Afro-Latino and Black men elected to Congress.

JUST IN | Trump campaign will immediately request recount in Wisconsin

President Donald Trump's campaign will immediately request a recount of votes in Wisconsin, even though the state's presidential election results have yet to be finalised.

"There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results," campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a statement, without providing details of any reports.

"The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so.”

-REUTERS

TIMELINE | Which US states are still counting votes and when will they be done?

The outcome of the US presidential election hung in the balance on Wednesday as nine states continued to count ballots, including some of the most competitive battleground states where the tally could take days to complete.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden has a slight edge over incumbent Republican Donald Trump with 227 to 213 electoral votes. That leaves 98 electoral votes to be allocated, and possible paths to victory for both candidates. The winner needs to secure 270 votes.

Here is the state of play in the nine states. The vote counts are supplied by Edison Research.

Alaska

Trump has a wide lead and is broadly expected to carry the state. Still, just 36% of the expected vote has been counted, with Trump ahead by 61.4% to 34.7%.

Arizona

Biden has a significant lead, and the Associated Press and Fox News have already called the state for the Democrat. With 86% of the expected vote counted, Biden leads with 51.0% against 47.6% for Trump, according to Edison Research.

Michigan secretary of state says expects unofficial vote count by end of day

Michigan, a key battleground state that will help determine who wins the US presidential election, is still counting "tens of thousands" of ballots and expects to have an unofficial tally by the end of the day, the state's secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, told reporters.

"We know that tens of thousands of ballots are still outstanding and need to be tabulated," she said in a news conference, including in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Kalamazoo and other cities. Benson said she is optimistic the majority of ballots cast on or before Election Day will be tabulated in an unofficial count by the end of the day.

Democratic candidate Joe Biden is narrowly leading Republican President Donald Trump with about 96% of the votes tallied, according to the Detroit Free Press. Trump narrowly won Michigan in the 2016 election.

- Reuters

WATCH | What would a Biden win mean for Wall Street?

Brazil's Bolsonaro hopes Trump wins

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Wednesday he hoped Donald Trump would come out ahead in the down-to-the-wire US election, lashing out at Democratic contender Joe Biden's comments on protecting the Amazon rainforest.

The far-right leader, who has been dubbed a "Tropical Trump," has cultivated a close relationship with the Republican president, and has not been shy about endorsing his bid for re-election.

"You know where I stand, I've been clear. I have a good relationship with Trump. I hope he'll be reelected," Bolsonaro told supporters outside the presidential palace in Brasilia.

He denied backing Trump amounted to "interference" in US affairs, saying, "Who are we to interfere anyway?"

"How do you want me to interfere? Economically? Militarily? A cyber attack?" he joked. Turning to Biden, who is locked in a tight race with Trump that could stretch Tuesday's election into hours or days of vote-counting, Bolsonaro attacked the former vice president for urging Brazil to better preserve the Amazon.

"The Democratic candidate has spoken twice about the Amazon. Is that what you want for Brazil? Now that's what I call interference," he said. The Amazon has been a touchy subject for Bolsonaro since Biden said in September in his first debate against Trump that he planned to raise funds from the international community to offer Brazil $20 billion to "stop tearing down the forest."

"If you don't, then you're going to have significant economic consequences," Biden said. Bolsonaro, who has faced international condemnation for presiding over a surge in deforestation and wildfires since taking office in 2019, called the statement "disastrous and unnecessary" the following day.

-AFP

Brazil's Bolsonaro hopes Trump wins

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Wednesday he hoped Donald Trump would come out ahead in the down-to-the-wire US election, lashing out at Democratic contender Joe Biden's comments on protecting the Amazon rainforest.

The far-right leader, who has been dubbed a "Tropical Trump," has cultivated a close relationship with the Republican president, and has not been shy about endorsing his bid for re-election.

"You know where I stand, I've been clear. I have a good relationship with Trump. I hope he'll be reelected," Bolsonaro told supporters outside the presidential palace in Brasilia.

He denied backing Trump amounted to "interference" in US affairs, saying, "Who are we to interfere anyway?"

"How do you want me to interfere? Economically? Militarily? A cyber attack?" he joked. Turning to Biden, who is locked in a tight race with Trump that could stretch Tuesday's election into hours or days of vote-counting, Bolsonaro attacked the former vice president for urging Brazil to better preserve the Amazon.

"The Democratic candidate has spoken twice about the Amazon. Is that what you want for Brazil? Now that's what I call interference," he said. The Amazon has been a touchy subject for Bolsonaro since Biden said in September in his first debate against Trump that he planned to raise funds from the international community to offer Brazil $20 billion to "stop tearing down the forest."

"If you don't, then you're going to have significant economic consequences," Biden said. Bolsonaro, who has faced international condemnation for presiding over a surge in deforestation and wildfires since taking office in 2019, called the statement "disastrous and unnecessary" the following day.

-AFP

Biden to address the US today as bookies tip the Democrat to win

Joe Biden’s campaign team says the Democratic candidate is due to address the US today.

This as Biden's campaign also said the former US vice president was on track to win the 2020 election against President Donald Trump, with expected victories in the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Campaign manager Jennifer O'Malley Dillon said she expected Biden will have more than 270 electoral votes later on Wednesday. She told reporters she believed Biden has already won Wisconsin and was expected to win Nevada.

Biden was back as clear favorite to win the US presidential election in online betting markets on Wednesday, a reversal of fortune for President Donald Trump who had been favoured overnight.

The shift, according to data from three odds aggregators, came after Biden overtook Trump in the battleground state of Wisconsin, with an estimated 95% of the vote tallied there.

British-based Smarkets exchange was giving Biden an 82% chance, while New Zealand-based predictions market PredictIt had Biden at 80%. Trump's chances on Smarkets were sitting at 17% - a massive drop from nearly 80% overnight.

"Taking the lead in Wisconsin could be the turning point with the Democrat now also projected to win Nevada and Arizona, which would likely give him the 270 electoral college votes he needs for victory," Betfair spokesperson Sam Rosbottom said.

Bettors on Betfair were giving Biden a 78% chance to win - the highest ever - by late morning time on the US East Coast.

Meanwhile, Biden’s counterpart Donald Trump's campaign on Wednesday said it would forge ahead with legal efforts to ensure legally cast - and not illegally cast - votes were counted, and said it expected to win even as ballots in key states continued to be tallied.

"If we count all legal ballots, we win, the president wins," Bill Stepien told reporters on a conference call.

- Reuters, AFP

As Trump and Biden battle it out how did Kanye's run for president go?

Welp. Kanye West has conceded defeat in the 2020 US election. The rapper, who only made one campaign appearance, secured nearly 60 000 votes. 

Race for the White House | At 17:00, Joe Biden now leads in 3 key states Donald Trump won in 2016

Here’s the latest on the US presidential election between President Donald Trump and former vice-president Joe Biden right now:  

The country has seen unprecedented levels of mail-in ballot voting with 101 million people who voted early - equivalent to 73% of the total votes cast in the 2016 elections. According to the Guardian, experts were predicting a total voter turnout of 67% - the highest in more than a century. 

Race for the White House | At 16:00, Trump’s lead in battleground states narrowing

Here’s the latest on the US presidential election between President Donald Trump and former vice-president Joe Biden right now:  

While ballots are still being counted, exit polling has shown the role minorities play in elections increased from 30% in 2016 to 35% in this election, ABC News reported.