Biden`s lead widens in Pennsylvania
BI Report || BusinessInsider
Former vice president Joe Biden is inches away from victory and becoming the next president of the United States of America.
So far now, he is leading in Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and Pennysylvania. With the 253 electoral votes he already has, winning only Pennysylvania will be enough for him to come out as the winner.
Meanwhile, election results are still coming in, with Trump making serious accusations like "stealing votes".
"Millions and millions of people voted for us," Trump said in the East Room the night after election day. "A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people.
"We were getting ready for a big celebration. We were winning everything. And all of a sudden it was just called off," he said, adding that he was preparing to declare victory earlier in the evening.
"This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country," Trump claimed.
"Frankly we did win this election," he said, despite millions of votes still outstanding, adding that he would go to the US Supreme Court,
According to CNN electoral map, Democrat candidate Joe Biden has won 253 electoral votes and the current US President Donald Trump has won 213 so far.
The final result may not be known for days as postal votes are tallied.
More than 100 million people cast their ballots in early voting before election day on Tuesday — setting the US on course for its highest voter turnout in a century.
::Here are the latest updates on the US election::
20 elctoral votes in Pennsylvania could go in Biden's favour
Joe Biden's lead in Pennsylvania continues to grow, and he now has approximately 28,833 more votes than President Trump in the state.
CNN has yet to project a winner in Pennsylvania. If Biden wins Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes, he will reach the 270 needed to win the presidency.
Biden currently holds 253 electoral votes, while Trump has 213.
The presidential hopeful said on Friday night that while he is waiting for the final election results, he is “not waiting to get the work done" on important issues facing the country.
“Yesterday, Senator Harris and I held meetings with groups of experts on public health and the economic crisis this country is facing," Biden said. "The pandemic, as you also know, is getting more worrisome all across the country. Cases are skyrocketing. It’s believed we could see as many as 200,000 cases a day, and the death toll is approaching 240,000 lives lost. 240,000 empty chairs across America."
Biden's speech came as the United States set a new record when it surpassed 125,000 daily coronavirus infections.
"We both know tensions are high," Biden said. "They can be high after a tough election. One like we’ve had. But we need to remember, we have to remain calm. Patient. Let the process work out as we count all the votes."
Georgia will hold a vote recount
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger has announced that the state's presidential contest will go to a recount, reports BBC.
He says 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.
"Right now Georgia remains too close to call," he says, adding: "With a margin that small there will be a recount in Georgia."
"Interest in our election obviously goes far beyond Georgia's borders. The final tally in Georgia at this point has huge implications for the entire country."
"We are looking at a margin less than a large high school," Raffensberger's aide Gabriel Sterling added after the Republican official left without taking questions.
Sterling, who oversees voting for the state, added that the reason for the recount is due to how close the race is, and that they have not seen "any widespread irregularities" that would indicate foul play.
Where does the US election stands now?
- In Pennsylvania, Biden has now gained an edge over Trump by 5,587 votes. 95% of the state's precincts have reported results. Analysts believe the remaining mail ballots to be counted could favour Biden - and if Biden wins the state, he gets the 270 votes needed to win the presidency.
- Biden has also taken the lead in Georgia with 99% of votes counted. There are approximately 8,197 ballots outstanding, as well as military and overseas ballots.
- Biden has a slender lead in Nevada, with 89% of votes counted. Election officials say that, as of Thursday evening, they still have about 190,000 ballots outstanding.
- In Arizona, Biden leads by 1.6%, with 90% of votes counted. As of Thursday night, there were approximately 300,000 ballots outstanding.
- Vote counting is still ongoing in North Carolina, where Trump leads by 1.4%, with 95% of expected votes counted, and Alaska, where Trump has 62.9% of the vote with 56% of votes counted. But if Biden wins either Pennsylvania, or Georgia, Nevada and Arizona, he would win the presidency.
Trump’s vote count lawsuits thrown out of courts
The flood of lawsuits unleashed by President Donald Trump over vote counts in battleground states struggled to gain traction , with three cases thrown out and other rulings in his favour failing to alter the race’s trajectory toward Joe Biden.
A Michigan judge rejected the campaign’s request to halt the count of mail-in ballots, ruling the claims were pointless because the tally was almost over in a state where Biden has already been declared the winner. In Georgia, a judge dismissed another suit, saying there was no evidence to back the Trump campaign’s claims.
In Pennsylvania, a federal judge has refused the Trump campaign's request to have the counting stopped.
Judge Paul Diamond also addressed complaints by the Trump campaign that their observers had not been given equal access to the venue. He said both Republicans and Democrats were now allowed to send 60 representatives each to monitor the count.
"I don't understand entirely why this couldn't have been agreed to, absent judicial intervention," Diamond added.
State officials said Republicans had not been barred from observing the count, but that one Republican representative had earlier been for refusing to stick to social distancing rules.
Biden: 'We need to fight Trump vote count claims'
In a series of tweets, Joe Biden has called for every vote to be counted — a rebuttal to Donald Trump's attempts to halt the counting of ballots in key states through legal action.
In his latest tweet, Biden says they have "assembled the largest election protection effort in history to fight back".
As votes continue to be counted, Trump's lead over Biden is rapidly shrinking in a number of battleground states, including Pennsylvania and Georgia, according to a BBC report.
Protesters out as poll count tensions rise
Protests have sprung up in some cities amid rising tensions over the knife-edge counts in battleground states, reports BBC.
In Detroit, pro-Trump supporters gathered outside a vote-counting centre, banging on windows and shouting: “Stop the count.” A small anti-count protest was also reported in Phoenix, Arizona.
In Portland, Oregon, the national guard was activated after an anti-Trump protest calling for every vote to be counted turned violent.
Witnesses said some people broke away from the main group and broke shop windows in the city centre. Police called the incidents a riot.
Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, police arrested around 200 demonstrators after they blocked the main road. The US media said the group had been protesting against Donald Trump and his call to stop the counting of votes.
Similar protests were also reported in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago.
Pennsylvania governor defies Trump's call to stop count
Pennsylvania's governor, Tom Wolf, says the vote count there will continue, despite efforts by President Trump's campaign team to stop it, reports BBC.
Trump's campaign claimed that Democrats are trying to hijack the vote in Pennsylvania. Deputy campaign manager Justin Clark said Democrats were “scheming to disenfranchise and dilute Republican votes”. However, there have been no reports of fraud or irregularities.
"These attempts to subvert the democratic process are simply disgraceful," Wolf said, a Democrat. "I'm going to fight like hell to protect the vote of every Pennsylvanian. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that every vote counts."
Trump's campaign considering legal action in Arizona and Nevada
As Trump’s path to victory has narrowed dramatically, the campaign pursued a tactic the President has often relied on throughout his life; litigation, reports CNN.
The campaign has launched legal fights in several battlegrounds, called for a recount in Wisconsin and is now weighing further lawsuits.
Not only are officials laying the groundwork to contest the outcome, but they’re also trying to buy themselves time to slow the counting in states where he could ultimately lose, according to the sources.
Biden wins at least 3 of 4 of Maine's electoral votes
Joe Biden will win at least three of Maine's electoral votes, CNN projects.
There are four electoral votes at stake in Maine. It takes 270 electoral votes to win the 2020 presidential election.
Biden takes lead in tight Michigan race
Biden just took lead in the US state of Michigan, at least for the time being. Donald Trump kept the lead from the beginning.
Michigan has 16 electoral votes out of the total 538.
No-one can claim to be winner yet: EU's chief diplomat
Although European leaders have largely remained tight-lipped, waiting for the result, the EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell offered his personal view on the US President Donald Trump's remark of being the "clear winner".
"No one can claim to be the winner yet because there is no data to support that,” he said, reports BBC.
A European Commission spokesperson echoed that it was an ongoing process: “We will abide by whatever announcement is forthcoming officially from the relevant US authorities and we feel that everyone should do likewise.”
States that have not been called in CNN projection yet
Even in the morning after the election day, CNN still couldn't project a winner in nine states across the US.
As of now, Joe Biden has 224 electoral votes, and President Trump has 213. It takes 270 votes to win the presidential election.
The nine states that have not yet been called are - Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Maine, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Biden takes the lead in Wisconsin
After President Trump successfully keeping the lead to himself in the US state of Wisconsin from the beginning, Joe Biden has suddenly taken the lead. He currently has 49.3% of the votes with Donald Trump having 49% votes, according to the CNN projection.
Securing a win in Wisconsin can have a major impact in the election result because it alone holds 10 electoral votes out of 538 total votes.
CNN projects Biden wins Hawaii
CNN projects that Joe Biden will win Hawaii. There are four electoral votes at stake in Hawaii. Former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton carried the state.
Biden campaign manager calls Trump speech "outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect"
Jen O’Malley Dillon, Campaign manager of Joe Biden, issued a strongly worded statement following President Trump's White House speech, calling it "outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect."
Her statement is as follows -
“The president’s statement tonight about trying to shut down the counting of duly cast ballots was outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect. It was outrageous because it is a naked effort to take away the democratic rights of American citizens."
O’Malley Dillon further said that "the counting will not stop.”
Vote counting still underway in key states
Votes are still being counted in several key states across the US, and no winner has been determined in the presidential election.
-
All eyes on the Midwest: The election is far from over with millions of votes outstanding in key states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan — ballots that were cast before Election Day that have yet to be counted. Pennsylvania has counted 39% of the mail-in ballots it has received, according to the state.
-
Counting underway in Arizona and Georgia: Joe Biden appears to have made significant gains in Arizona, a state which Trump won in 2016. Georgia appeared at a standstill as officials in Fulton County, which includes Atlanta and its populous suburbs, said they would resume counting at resume at 7pm (Bangladesh time).
Facebook and Twitter flag Trump's election posts
Facebook and Twitter faced tests of the rules they announced to handle premature claims of victory in the US election as they flagged some of President Donald Trump’s comments on the vote.
Twitter hid a Trump tweet that said “we are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election” behind a label that said it was potentially misleading and restricted users’ ability to share the post.
Facebook also added a label to the same post that said “final results may be different from initial vote counts as ballot counting will continue for days or weeks.”
Claiming fraud, Trump attacks vote-counting efforts, wants 'all voting to stop'
US President Donald Trump took the podium in the White House's East Room on Wednesday noon (Bangladesh time).
"Millions and millions of people voted for us," Trump said in the East Room. "A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people.
"We were getting ready for a big celebration. We were winning everything. And all of a sudden it was just called off," he said, adding that he was preparing to declare victory earlier in the evening.
"This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country," Trump claimed.
"Frankly we did win this election," he said, despite millions of votes still outstanding, adding that he would go to the US Supreme Court,
Trump said he wanted "all voting to stop."
Benjamin L Ginsberg, a longtime Republican election lawyer who co-chaired the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, said on Wednesday that President Trump should “let all the votes be counted,” following his attacks on the vote counting efforts.
“If you have objections to either the particular ballots or to the process, then you have remedies after the fact from each state individual contests laws or recount laws if the margins are close enough,” Ginsberg told CNN.
Biden says it is voters who will declare the winner
Earlier in the day presidential candidate Joe Biden tweeted: "It's not my place or Donald Trump's place to declare the winner of this election. It's the voters' place.
"We feel good about where we are. We believe we are on track to win this election," he added.
