US Election 2020: Donald Trump and Joe Biden fight for 46th Presidency

Donald Trump says he wants to stop postal votes being counted after accusing Joe Biden of “trying to steal the election”. It comes as the US President gets a warning from Twitter about spreading “misleading” information. 

RECAP: This has been our rolling coverage of one of America’s most historic elections to elect its 46th President.

Donald Trump gave an explosive address to the nation, speaking from a podium in the East Room of the White House shortly after 2.20am local time where he declared the election a fraud.

He thanked Americans for their support, declared being on the road to victory then moved quickly into accusing the Democrats of attempting a “major fraud” on the public to try to steal the election from him.

“We won’t stand for it,” he said, adding he was going to the US Supreme Court to seek “all voting to stop”.

He said he did not want the Biden camp to suddenly find ballots at 4am and add them to the Democrat count.

Trump listed all the states he had “won”, most of which had not been declared including Pennsylvania where counting is not expected to finish for another 48 hours, and it was up to him to ensure the integrity of the voting process through the courts.

Trump tweeted not long after Joe Biden gave a late-night statement. The Democratic contender said he was on track to win and urged supporters to "keep the faith". 

“We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election,” President Trump tweeted.

“We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Poles are closed!”

Joe Biden told supporters he was "optimistic" about the election outcome as he urged his supporters to "keep the faith".

His comments about "feeling good about where we are" comes  after Trump won the state Florida, his richest early prize in what has become an increasingly tight contest.

As it stands, Biden has won 238 electoral votes and Trump a maximum of 213, based on the states they’ve so far won.

That leaves the battlegrounds Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin still up in the air -- as well as the easier to predict states of Alaska (Republican) and Nevada (Democratic).

Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin, have all indicated a final picture could emerge Thursday, Pennsylvania has said it could take up to November 6, while in North Carolina mail ballots postmarked election day are accepted until November 12.

WATCH A LIVE STREAM ABOVE & SEE THE LEADERS' WINS CALLED BELOW.

Many states are putting National Guard troops on standby to deal with any unrest ignited by the presidential election. Massachusetts and Texas have activated as many as 1000 National Guard members, while Arizona and Alabama had 300 troops on standby, and Florida, Illinois, and Texas also had troops on alert.

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Originally published as US Election 2020: Donald Trump and Joe Biden fight for 46th Presidency