Neither candidate has reached the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House But Biden eclipsed Trump in Wisconsin and Michigan two crucial Midwestern battleground states overtook the president in Georgia early Friday and was inching closer to doing the same in Pennsylvania where votes were still be counted.US Election Results 2020 Live Updates: The election results may take more time than expected even as Americans wait with bated breath to find out who will lead their country for the next four years. The US state of Georgia will hold a vote recount due to a razor-thin margin of votes between the two candidates. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said “with a margin that small there will be a recount.” He said that 4,169 votes remain to be counted, and that some 8,000 military absentee ballots are still in the mail and will only be counted if they arrive by the end of the day.
Meanwhile, news agency Reuters reported that Republican National Committee is seeking to raise at least $60 million to fund Trump’s upcoming legal challenges.
In Georgia, after the latest round of counting results, Biden edged past Trump with a slender lead of 1096 votes, a remarkable development for the former vice president who until Wednesday night was trailing his Republican rival by more than 50,000 votes.
Also, Biden has increased his lead over President Donald Trump in Nevada to 20,137 votes. Results released Friday from Democrat-heavy Clark County, which includes Las Vegas and three-quarters of Nevada’s population, along with two rural counties, put Biden at 627,104 votes and Trump at 606,967.
At the moment, as per an AP tally, Biden has 264 Electoral College votes and Trump has 214.
Thousands of still uncounted ballots – many in counties where Democrat Joe Biden was in the lead – are what’s making the Georgia contest between President Donald Trump and Biden too early to call. It was unclear when a national winner would be determined after a long bitter campaign dominated by the coronavirus and its effects on Americans and the national economy.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is testing how far he can go in using the trappings of presidential power to undermine confidence in this weeks election against Joe Biden as he gained ground in tight contests in key battleground states. With his pathway to reelection appearing to shrink Trump on Thursday advanced unsupported accusations of voter fraud to falsely argue that his rival was trying to seize power. It amounted to an extraordinary effort by a sitting American president to sow doubt about the democratic process.
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. Both candidates spent months pressing dramatically different visions for the nations’ future, and voters responded in huge numbers with more than 100 million people casting votes ahead of Election Day. (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)
Democrat Joe Biden has increased his lead over President Donald Trump in Nevada to 20,137 votes. Results released Friday from Democrat-heavy Clark County, which includes Las Vegas and three-quarters of Nevada’s population, along with two rural counties, put Biden at 627,104 votes and Trump at 606,967.
Biden’s lead nearly doubled from Thursday, when he was leading Trump by about 11,000 votes.
The Associated Press has not called the presidential race. Votes are still being counted in several battleground states.
While Americans await the results of the agonisingly close presidential race between US President Donald Trump and his Democratic contender Joe Biden, another lesser-known candidate is on track to get 1.2 per cent of the national vote — pulling several thousands of crucial votes away from both the Democratic and Republican candidates in key battleground states.
With around 1.6 million overall votes, the Libertarian Party’s nominee Jo Jorgensen — the only female presidential candidate on the ballot in all 50 US states — has earned the second-highest number of votes in her party’s 49-year history.
Jorgensen has no viable chance of winning the election. Two days have passed since the US’ polling day, and she has not won a single electoral vote. But political analysts believe that the candidate may have a hand in determining the victor of this presidential race. READ MORE
The counting isn’t over yet, but Democrats in Congress are already asking what went wrong. That’s because it’s looking like their expected gains in the House aren’t happening. And while Democrats are likely to retain control for two more years, their current 232-197 majority could easily shrink.
WHAT’S THE PRACTICAL EFFECT?
Well, what it means is that Speaker Pelosi and her Democratic leadership team are going to have less of a margin of error to pass legislation. Pelosi likes to say that votes are the “currency of the realm,” and when you have less of them to spend it can make passing bills harder. You’re often likely to lose votes from your own side, especially on difficult issues, and Republicans often vote in lockstep against Democratic bills.
As Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden took the lead in two key battleground states of Georgia and Pennsylvania on Friday, that will put him way ahead of the magical figure of 270 electoral college votes needed to win the White House, the Trump Campaign refused to concede, asserting that the game is not over yet.
President Donald Trump won support from about 8 in 10 white evangelical Christian voters in his race for reelection, but Catholic voters split almost evenly between him and Democratic opponent Joe Biden, according to AP VoteCast.
Trump’s strong hold on white evangelical voters illustrates the GOP’s enduring success with a bloc of religious conservatives who have been a linchpin of the president’s political base since his 2016 victory. The president’s path to a second term has grown narrower, however, amid a divide among Catholics between Trump and Biden, a lifelong member of the faith.
AP VoteCast showed 50% of Catholics backing Trump and 49% favoring Biden, reflecting the faith’s longstanding role as a closely contested vote in presidential elections — particularly in Rust Belt battleground states such as Michigan and Wisconsin. Trump won both of those states by less than 1 percentage point in 2016, but Biden prevailed in both this year. The survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide was conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago.
Over 1,600 voters who cast ballots at one polling site in New York’s Hudson Valley on Election Day are being advised to get tested for the coronavirus after a poll worker tested positive. The worker was stationed at the East Fishkill Community Center in Hopewell Junction, the Dutchess County Health Department said in an advisory Thursday evening. Poll workers who had “sustained contact” with their infected colleague are quarantining and will be tested, the agency said.
Some 1,657 votes were cast there Tuesday, but only a fraction of the voters would have interacted with the infected poll worker, as voters were directed to different parts of the polling place according to their voting district, county spokesperson Colleen Pilius said Friday.
The Health Department said the risk to voters is “minimal” because the infected poll worker was wearing a mask, keeping physical distance and following other precautions. Still, Commissioner Dr. Anil Vaidian encouraged anyone who cast a ballot at the community center Tuesday to get tested and be alert for any signs of COVID-19 symptoms.
For the first time in decades, voters across Puerto Rico are still waiting for officials to confirm the winners of some of the most high-profile races days after the U.S. territory held its general election.
Traditionally, the government confirms final preliminary results the night of the election, but a record number of early and absentee votes cast this year has overwhelmed officials and raised questions about the capacity of an elections commission that only months ago fumbled a primary so badly it forced a second round of voting.
With nearly 98 per cent of precincts reporting on Friday, gubernatorial candidate Pedro Pierluisi of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party pulled ahead by more than 16,000 votes over opponent Carlos Delgado of the Popular Democratic Party, which supports the island's territorial status. Pierluisi claimed victory late Tuesday after polls closed, while Delgado has not conceded.
Jon Ralston, editor of Nevada Independent, thinks the race is still on...
More US Secret Service agents have been sent to Wilmington, Delaware, in anticipation of a potential Joe Biden presidential win after the Democratic Party nominee was leading in the vote count against incumbent President Donald Trump, a media report said on Friday.
The extra Secret Service agents were sent to Delaware on Thursday, CNN quoted two unnamed sources as saying. Upon a presidential win, the USSS detail for a president-elect would get larger and mirror the size and scope of a president's. Additional airspace security measures are also implemented, a source familiar with USSS protocols said.
A team for the 77-year-old former US vice president has been on standby since last week, the source said. According to latest US media projections, Biden pulled ahead of Trump in Georgia. He has also taken the lead over Trump in Pennsylvania. Biden has secured 253 electoral college votes out of at least 270 required for winning the 2020 presidential election against Trump, a Republican. Trump has received 213 electroral colleage votes out of the 538 up for grabs. (PTI)
House Speaker and top democrat Nancy Pelosi has called Joe Biden "president elect" even as winner is yet to be declared.
Georgia secretary of state has said he expects a recount due to the small margin in votes. “With a margin that small there will be a recount,” he said.
Philadelphia police said they arrested two men Thursday for not having permits to carry the guns they were armed with near the state convention center where vote counting is ongoing.
Police said they had received information earlier in the day that individuals armed with firearms were on their way to the convention center in Philadelphia in a Hummer truck. The two men arrested acknowledged that the Hummer spotted by officers near the center was their vehicle, police said Friday. (AP)
The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the battleground state of Pennsylvania because there are tens of thousands of votes left to count in the contest between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.
Pennsylvania is among a handful of battleground states Trump and Biden are narrowly contesting as they seek the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
Trump, who held a 675000 vote lead early Wednesday, prematurely declared victory in the state. "We're winning Pennsylvania by a tremendous amount. We're up 690000 votes in Pennsylvania. These aren't even close. It's not like Oh its close," Trump said during an appearance at the White House.
But by early Friday, Biden had taken a lead of about 6000 votes as mail-in ballots from across the state continued to be counted The late counted ballots were overwhelmingly in Bidens favour.
One reason the race tightened Under state law elections officials are not allowed to process mail-in ballots until Election Day. It's a form of voting that has skewed heavily in Bidens favour after Trump spent months claiming - without proof - that voting by mail would lead to widespread voter fraud. (AP)
Pennsylvania has 20 electoral votes and is among a handful of battleground states Trump and Biden are narrowly contesting as they seek the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. Trump, who held a 675000 vote lead early Wednesday, prematurely declared victory in the state.