US Election Results 2020 Live Updates: Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump and is projected to become the 46th president of the United States on Saturday, as per AP tally, positioning himself to lead a nation gripped by historic pandemic and a confluence of economic and social turmoil.
His victory came after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes that delayed the processing of some ballots. Biden crossed 270 Electoral College votes with a win in Pennsylvania.
Biden, 77, staked his candidacy less on any distinctive political ideology than on galvanizing a broad coalition of voters around the notion that Trump posed an existential threat to American democracy. The strategy proved effective, resulting in pivotal victories in Michigan and Wisconsin as well as Pennsylvania, onetime Democratic bastions that had flipped to Trump in 2016.
The high stakes election was held on November 3 against the backdrop of an unprecedented pandemic that has killed more than 2,30,000 Americans and wiped away millions of jobs. (An Expert Explains: Looking back and ahead in US elections — polls, courts, transition)
A demonstrator reads a banner on display at Black Lives Matter Plaza, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Biden: 'It’s time for America to unite'
President-elect Joe Biden has released a statement, thanking the American people for their support.
“I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect Harris,” Biden said.
“In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America.”
Echoing the themes of his campaign, Biden called on Americans to unite in this time of crisis.
“With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation,” Biden said.
“It’s time for America to unite. And to heal.
“We are the United States of America. And there’s nothing we can’t do, if we do it together.”
Earlier Saturday, Trump left the White House for his Virginia golf club dressed in golf shoes, a windbreaker and a white hat as the results gradually expanded Biden’s lead in Pennsylvania. Trump repeated his unsupported allegations of election fraud and illegal voting on Twitter, but they were quickly flagged as potentially misleading by the social media platform.
One of his erroneous tweets: “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!”
Kamala Harris also made history as the first Black woman to become vice president, an achievement that comes as the US faces a reckoning on racial justice.
The California senator who is also the first person of South Asian descent elected to the vice presidency will become the highestranking woman ever to serve in government four years after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton
Bidens victory came after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes that delayed the processing of some ballots.
Trump is the first incumbent president to lose reelection since Republican George HW Bush in 1992
Now that Joe Biden has won, it also makes Kamala Harris the first woman as well as the first person of colour to become vice president.
Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump and is projected to become the 46th president of the United States on Saturday, as per AP, positioning himself to lead a nation gripped by historic pandemic and a confluence of economic and social turmoil.
His victory came after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes that delayed the processing of some ballots. Biden crossed 270 Electoral College votes with a win in Pennsylvania. (AP)
The United States set a record of more than 126,400 confirmed cases in a single day on Friday.
The seven-day rolling average of new daily cases in the US is approaching 100,000 for the first time according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Total US cases since the start of the pandemic are nearing 10 million and confirmed cases globally are approaching 50 million.
Worldwide infection numbers are also setting records. The world reached 400000 daily confirmed cases on Oct 15 500000 on Oct 26 and 600000 on Friday.
TRUMP
"Pennsylvania Democrats have gone to the state Supreme Court to try and ban our election observers. They don't want anybody in there. They don't want anybody watching them while they are counting the ballots" - Thursday night
THE FACTS: That's false. He is wholly misrepresenting a court case in the state. No one tried to ban poll watchers representing each side in the election. Democrats did not try to stop Republican representatives from being able to observe the process. The main issue in the case was how close observers representing the parties could get to election workers who are processing mail-in ballots in Philadelphia. The Trump campaign sued to allow the observers to get closer than the guidelines had allowed. A court ruled in favor of that request
Since the tide turned after election night and Democrat Joe Biden gained strength in the counting, Trump lashed out at results he didn't like, often lapsing into all capital letters with his hectoring. Biden stayed low for several days after the vote making measured statements when he did appear. Here's a sampling of the rhetoric from a transformational week done by AP
HORRORS
Trump: "We're hearing stories that are horror stories. We think there is going to be a lot of litigation because we have so much evidence and so much proof."
THE FACTS: Trump produced no evidence of systematic problems in voting or counting In fact the ballotcounting process across the country has been running smoothly for the most part even with the US in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic. One of his main complaints that counting spilled over past Election Day is meritless. No presidential election has had all the votes counted the same day and there is no law or even expectation that that should be the case. The surge in mailed ballots and the high turnout have made the process slower than usual in some but not all cases.
PENNSYLVANIA
TRUMP: "In Pennsylvania partisan Democrats have allowed ballots in the state to be received three days after the election and we think much more than that and they are counting those without any postmarks or any identification whatsoever" - Thursday night
THE FACTS: Partisan Democrats didn't ordain this. It was the state Supreme Court that ruled ballots mailed before the end of Election Day could be received up to three days later and still be counted. Moreover, when Pennsylvania flipped and gave Biden the lead Friday that was on the basis of votes cast before the end of Election Day. Ballots received after Tuesday were held apart from the rest and not part of the tally when Trump made his complaint. The US Supreme Court examined the case and did not stand in the way of the threeday time frame It may review the matter again later. A number of other states have also made accommodations for the crush of mailed ballots. (AP)
The slow pace of this year’s U.S. election count is fueling a lot of criticism, but it’s mostly a reflection of laudable things: greater voter enthusiasm and steps that states took to protect their residents from COVID-19.
THE ENTHUSIASM FACTOR
Even though the count is not yet complete, President Donald Trump has easily surpassed the number of votes he got four years ago: more than 70 million so far, versus about 63 million in his victorious 2016 run. Meanwhile, Democrat Joe Biden has gained some 73.9 million votes, versus the 65.9 that Hillary Clinton got.
All in all, some 15 million more voters participated in this year’s presidential election than in the one four years ago. Congratulations, Americans.
THE PANDEMIC FACTOR
Hoping to prevent long lines of people having to gather during a pandemic, states decided to make it made it easier to vote by mail, and therefore safer for everyone.
U.S. states such as Minnesota, North Carolina and Nevada extended the deadlines for when ballots could be received. Nebraska and Iowa joined the ranks of states that send an absentee ballot application to every registered voter. New Jersey and California mailed ballots to every registered voter, whether they requested it or not.
Millions of voters took states up on the offer and chose to vote by mail rather than in person on election day. For some states, that has meant a slowdown in the tabulation of results because votes received by mail often take longer to process than ballots cast at polling places.
"Demands to stop the vote count", "Baseless accusations of fraud Claims" that the opposition is trying to steal the election.
Across the world many were scratching their heads Friday - especially in countries that have long been advised by Washington on how to run elections - wondering if those assertions could truly be coming from the president of the United States, the nation considered one of the world's most emblematic democracies.
"Who's the banana republic now," Colombian daily newspaper Publimetro chided on the front page with a photo of a man in a US flag print mask.
The irony of seeing US President Donald Trump cut off by major media networks Thursday as he launched unsubstantiated claims lambasting the US electoral system was not lost on many. The US has long been a vocal critic of strongman tactics around the world.
Now some of those same targets are turning around the finger. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro laughed as the vote dragged on past Tuesday briefly breaking into the hymn of his nations annual beauty contest on state TV singing "On a night like to night any of them could win".
In Africa - long the target of US election guidance - one Kenyan commentator spun out satiric tweets drawing freely from cliches that long have described troubled elections and questioning the strength of democracy in the US. (AP)