US Election 2020: live results as Donald Trump and Joe Biden battle for final key states
Counting in Georgia will continue through the night to seal a result, as President Trump’s lead slips there and in Pennsylvania.
- Trump’s lead narrows in key states
- All eyes on Georgia, Nevada
- How Trump could still win
- Biden within six votes of presidency
- Biden: We will emerge victorious
- Trump sues to stop counting in 2 states
Welcome to live coverage of the 2020 US Election battle between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Counting in key states Georgia and Pennsylvania are tightening as the Democrats close in on victory. All eyes are on Georgia and Nevada; a win in either state would give Joe Biden victory. A confident Joe Biden has addressed the nation, saying he was sure the Democrats would win. Mr Biden has taken a narrow lead in two key states but Mr Trump will request a recount in Wisconsin.
Cameron Stewart 11.45pm: Trump takes counting to court
Donald Trump’s campaign has launched a legal blitz across three states to challenge the election results as Joe Biden closes in on the 270 electoral college votes he needs for victory.
As counting on the second day swung the contest Mr Biden’s way, the Trump campaign initiated legal challenges in the key states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
It came after the President suggested fraud was behind Mr Biden catching up with him in swing states because of mail-in votes.
Adam Creighton 11.15pm: Democracy’s just fine, says former ambassador
Former ambassador to the US Michael Thawley has rejected “hysterical talk” of a crisis in American democracy, following an unexpectedly close and potentially contested US presidential election.
“Views have been heard and represented, rather than ¬ignored,” he said, suggesting that close elections were “not unique” and democracies everywhere were struggling with “economic -disruption and cultural disorient¬ation”.
Mr Thawley, now vice-chairman of US fund manager giant Capital Group, told investors on Thursday that Donald Trump would remain a powerful force in US politics, even if he was ultim¬ately defeated by Joe Biden, which seemed the most likely outcome after a late surge of Democrat votes in critical states.
Glenda Korporaal 10.45pm: New crew to tone it down with Xi
A Joe Biden presidency has the potential to provide a circuit breaker in the Trump administration’s Cold War on China.
While Australia-China ties have been seriously damaged, a change of administration in Washington could see a lessening of the influence of China hawks on rhetoric from Australia, particularly from Canberra.
A Biden administration could be expected to maintain a strong line — in trade and defence — but tone down the populist anti-China rhetoric which has spilled over into the debate in Australia.
Greg Brown 10.15pm: Biden ‘template for progressive centrists’
Senior Labor MPs say Joe Biden’s likely victory in the US presidential race shows centre-left parties must be “progressive but centrist”, with Anthony Albanese preparing to use a change in US leader to frame Scott Morrison as a global outlier on climate change action.
Joel Fitzgibbon, Don Farrell, Shayne Neumann, Murray Watt, Kimberley Kitching and Kim Carr told The Australian the key to Mr Biden’s success was winning over blue-collar communities that were lost by Hillary Clinton.
Senator Farrell, the opposition tourism spokesman and Right faction powerbroker, said federal Labor needed to replicate Mr Biden’s success in winning back blue-collar workers who had previously turned their backs on the Democrats.
Natasha Robinson 9.45pm: Did voters register pandemic handling?
Experts differ on whether COVID-19 will prove to be decisive in deciding the US election. But they’re united in one assessment: in the mind of many Americans, coronavirus is as much a political issue as a health issue. Trump has made it so, undermining his top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, sidelining the country’s central public health agency the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and when he contracted COVID-19 himself, telling Americans they had nothing to fear from the disease.
“It seems pretty straightforward to me, given how close it was, that Trump’s handling of COVID-19 was the key factor in Biden’s victory,” says Thomas Jessen Adams, a senior lecturer in American Studies at the University of Sydney. “The race would have just looked entirely different had COVID-19 not occurred or had Trump vaguely handled himself in a proper manner.
Alex Leary 9.15pm: Mission Latino strategy a game-changer
Donald Trump’s Florida victory was not declared officially until after midnight, but the outcome was clear hours earlier as he muscled through vote-rich Miami-Dade County with much higher support than he earned there four years ago.
Democrat Hillary Clinton won Miami-Dade by 30 percentage points in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden’s advantage fell to seven points, severely hampering his chances of winning the state. He was undercut by relentless attacks by Republicans who claimed Democrats would bring about socialism, a campaign aimed at Latinos who make up two-thirds of the population of Florida’s most populous county.
“It’s a failure of epic proportions,” said Florida-based Democrat consultant Kevin Cate, who added that Democrats had been warning about Mr Biden’s weakness with Latinos for months.
Overall, Mr Trump won Florida — and its 29 electoral votes — by three points, up from his 1.2-percentage-point margin in 2016.
Miami-Dade was responsible for 75 per cent of Mr Trump’s gain in net votes.
Mr Trump won 45 per cent of Florida Latino voters, better than the 35 per cent he earned nationally with that group, according to the AP VoteCast survey.
Amanda Hodge 8.45pm: Indo-Pacific holds its breath
American democratic prestige took a battering across the Indo Pacific on Thursday as the region dissected the US’s uncertain post-election landscape and Donald Trump’s premature victory declaration.
Governments largely stayed out of the fray beyond committing to work with the next US administration regardless of the outcome, though government spokesmen in South Korea and Japan hinted at concerns over the effect any prolonged uncertainty over the result could have on global financial markets.
“I’m hearing it may take some time before things are sorted out,” Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said when asked about the likely economic consequences of a deferred result. “I have no idea how it may affect us.”
There was less reticence among the commentariat, however, as calls echoed across the region for cool heads to prevail in the US amid deep divisions that many fear will have global repercussions.
On Japan’s NHK national broadcaster, Tokyo University international politics professor Fujiwara Kiichi predicted a “US power vacuum” potentially until January 20 if the Trump camp pushed ahead with its legal challenges to the vote in key battleground states. “This means the US will not be able to take leadership on key issues, and domestic politics will be even more divided than it has been. A sane foreign policy is based on the triumph of the moderates and that is what we do not see at this moment,” Professor Fujiwara said.
Troy Bramston 8.10pm: Democracy is on the ballot: let’s hope it prevails
The US election will be a tipping point for democracy.
The next few days will test whether the vision of the revolutionary generation of American patriots will prevail or be extinguished.
Donald Trump’s refusal to accept election results, filing lawsuits to stop votes being counted, alleging ballot fraud, encouraging protesters to intimidate election officials and falsely claiming victory are not just the threats of flailing candidate. They are a last-ditch attempt to thwart the will of the people.
Joe Biden is on the cusp of claiming the presidency in a remarkable election victory.
Biden has achieved more votes than any other presidential candidate in American history.
AFP 7.40pm: Kanye notches up 60,000 votes
The US was on knife’s edge on Thursday waiting for electoral results, but the fate of one candidate was clear: entertainer Kanye West will not win the 2020 presidential race — but he still has future aspirations.
The mercurial rapper, who decided to run for the nation’s highest office late in the game as an independent candidate under the Birthday Party, received approximately 60,000 votes from the 12 states where he managed to get on the ballot.
Staff reporter 7.15pm: Biden’s lead shrinks in key Arizona county
The biggest county in Arizona has released the second of two sets of new votes shrinking Joe Biden’s lead in the state by just over 10,000 votes.
Updated vote totals released by Maricopa County show Mr Biden with 912,585 votes and Trump with 838,071.
Previously, Maricopa, the state’s most populous county, was reporting 887,457 votes for Mr Biden and 802,160 for Mr Trump.
The release came as Maricopa County officials were forced to close the Phoenix election office building to the public due to growing pro-Trump protests outside.
Joe Lieberman 6.50pm: A disputed election: my lesson from 2000
It was Friday, December 8, 2000, when, after a month of turmoil, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a statewide recount of presidential votes, a ruling that might have meant Al Gore and I had been elected president and vice-president.
But then George W. Bush’s campaign appealed to the US Supreme Court, which shocked us by agreeing to hear the case. Oral arguments were made the following Monday, and the justices handed down a decision on Tuesday night, December 12.
Late that evening, vice-president Gore called me at my home to inform me that the court had just ruled in the Republicans’ favour, but that some on our legal team believed we could go back to Tallahassee for further litigation. Did I think we should keep fighting?
Caroline Overington 6.30pm: Trump’s disdain for McCain costs him
Donald Trump used to make jokes about the size of his hands. They’re small, he agreed, but the rest of him? Big!
And now his big mouth has gone and cost him if not the presidency, then at least the state of Arizona. How so?
Trump had a strange obsession, maybe even an irrational hatred, of one of Arizona’s favourite sons, John McCain.
Michael Mathes 5.55pm: Uncertain Senate mirrors nation
The path for Democrats to flip control of the US Senate narrowed when Republican Susan Collins successfully defended her seat, 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 Mr Biden wins the presidency, and four seats if Mr Trump is re-elected. (A 50-50 tie is broken by the vice-president.) Democrats flipped two Senate seats in western states Colorado and Arizona on Tuesday, but the blue wave that many Democrats predicted may have crested there.
Richard Ferguson 5.35pm: McCain’s widow takes revenge on Trump in Arizona
Arizona may seal the fate of Donald Trump, with Joe Biden winning the traditionally red state and getting a boost from the widow of former Republican nominee John McCain.
As of Thursday evening, Mr Biden was leading the Arizona count by more than 79,000 votes but Mr Trump had made significant gains in late ballots and might yet pull off a surprise win.
But Arizona has voted only for Republican presidents since 1996 —– and before Bill Clinton won that year, Democrats had not grabbed the state since 1952 — and some analysts like GOP strategist Mike Murphy have placed Mr Trump’s woes with his treatment of John McCain, one of his greatest political enemies.
Mr Trump during the 2016 presidential election disparaged McCain’s record as a war hero and mocked his capture by Vietcong forces in the Vietnam War.
“I like people who aren’t captured,” Mr Trump said at the time.
McCain was a constant critic of Mr Trump’s foreign policy and personal behaviour, and he went on to deliver one of Mr Trump’s first political defeats as President when he was the swing vote that prevented the repeal of Obamacare. When McCain died of a brain tumour in 2018, Mr Trump did not attend his state funeral with other presidents and reportedly resisted calls to fly the White House flag at half-mast.
AFP 5.15pm: Oregon police face off with anti-Trump protesters
Hundreds of police and left-wing protesters are locked in a tense standoff in downtown Portland after rampaging anti-Trump groups smashed shop windows a day after the election, prompting the state governor to activate the National Guard.
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s office declared a riot and made at least nine arrests, citing “widespread violence” in the city’s downtown area and repeatedly warning it could deploy munitions and tear gas.
Armed police advanced on demonstrators in unison but there were no clashes.
The protesters had earlier attended a peaceful rally in a downtown park hosted by a coalition of far-left, anti-capitalist groups featuring lectures and music.
“The mass gathering in downtown Portland is still declared a riot. Leave the area now,” the sheriff’s office posted on Twitter just before 8.30pm on Wednesday (3.30pm on Thursday, AEDT). It earlier said officers were being targeted with projectiles, such as glass bottles.
“In the interest of public safety, Governor Kate Brown, under advice of the Unified Command, has activated the use of the Oregon National Guard to assist local law enforcement,” it said.
Portland has been the scene of months of clashes between police and protesters, angered at the repeated killings of Black Americans by law enforcement officers across the country.
Protesters who had gathered by Portland’s river vowed to “protect the results” of te presidential election and held banners proclaiming “Count Every Vote” and “The Vote is Over. The Fight Goes On”.
“We want Trump out of office, that’s the main focus,” one protest leader told the crowd, to loud cheers.
But several of the demonstrators were openly carrying firearms, including rifles, and one anti-racism and anti-imperialism banner showed an image of an assault rifle, with the slogan “We Don’t Want Biden. We Want Revenge.”
Staff Reporters 4.45pm: First family in waiting hold their breath
Joe Biden’s family is a sprawling clan of children and grandchildren more than ready for the spotlight. Read more here
Staff Reporters 4.25pm: Georgia count set to be settled within hours
Electoral officials say they will continue to count through the night, “for as long as it takes”, to get a result in the crucial state.
In the latest count, President Trump has a lead of 28,827 votes with just under five per cent of votes left to count.
Staff Reporters 4.10pm: Why Trump could be in trouble in Pennsylvania
The President’s lead in this state has dwindled from more than 600,000 to 164,414. If the latest shift in the margin continues as it did in the last one per cent of votes counted (a 19,598 cut to Mr Trump’s lead) then it will spell good news for Joe Biden.
PENNSYLVANIA: 763,000 mail in ballots yet to be counted. Overwhelmingly Democratic.
— US Politics Polls (@USPoliticsPoll) November 5, 2020
Biden will win PA by a comfortable margin, and when he does, it’s over.
Staff Reporters 3.50pm: Trump protesters descend at Arizona count
Officials in Arizona expect to deliver an update at 4.30pm AEDT. Joe Biden has a lead of 79,173 votes with 16 per cent of ballots still to be counted.
Supporters of the President have gathered outside a voting centre in Arizona expressing anger at the pace of the vote count, and the fact that it has been called already as a Democratic Party win.
A look at the growing crowd of hundreds of protesters and Trump supporters outside the Maricopa County Elections Center.
— Briana Whitney (@BrianaWhitney) November 5, 2020
Sheriff’s deputies moved us media back inside for safety concerns. #azfamily #arizona pic.twitter.com/tFYb1cscdw
Staff Reporters 3.30pm: Gap narrows again in Pennsylvania
The latest update from the battleground state comes with 89 per cent of votes now counted.
Donald Trump’s lead now sits at 164,414 votes, down from 184,000 the last time we checked in (at 88 per cent counted).
There are still more than 760,000 mail-in votes to be counted, but these are expected to be tallied up by Thursday morning local time.
Biden trails in PA but a tick under 200k votes with about 580,000 votes to come from blue counties. I'd expect Biden to be leading by the end of the day.
— Jack the Insider (@JacktheInsider) November 5, 2020
Staff Reporters 3.10pm: How the race in Georgia has tightened
The count in the southern state of Georgia has been fascinating to watch. At midnight on election night President Trump held a commanding lead of 372,000 votes.
31,748 now separate Joe Biden and Donald Trump in Georgia. GA Secretary of State says 90,735 votes left to count.
— Brendan Keefe (@BrendanKeefe) November 5, 2020
The margin has steadily become closer as pre-poll votes are being counted. The areas with the most votes to be counted include Fulton, in metro Atlanta, Chatham in Savannah, and Houston south of Macon.
With five per cent of votes to be counted in Georgia, Mr Trump has 2,426,877 votes (49.7 per cent) to Mr Biden’s 2,395,129 (49.1 per cent)
Staff Reporters 2.50pm: The latest numbers in the states up for grabs
Donald Trump’s lead in Georgia continues to be whittled away, but can Joe Biden make up the difference?
With 95 per cent of votes counted in that state, Mr Trump has a lead of 31,748 votes over Mr Biden.
In Pennsylvania, the President leads by about 184,000 votes with 88 per cent of votes counted.
In Arizona, Mr Biden has an advantage of about 80,000 votes with 84 per cent accounted for.
In Nevada, the Democrat challenger leads by just 7600 votes with 86 per cent of votes counted.
Agencies 2.30pm: Biden vows to rejoin climate accord
Joe Biden pledged on Wednesday that the US would rejoin the Paris climate accord on his first day in the White House, hours after the withdrawal ordered by Donald Trump took effect, AFP reports.
Today, the Trump Administration officially left the Paris Climate Agreement. And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it. https://t.co/L8UJimS6v2
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 5, 2020
“Today, the Trump Administration officially left the Paris Climate Agreement. And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it,” Mr Biden tweeted as returns from Tuesday’s election showed him in a strong position to defeat Trump.
Mr Trump gave a one-year notice to leave the Paris accord on November 4, 2019. Mr Biden would need to officially notify the UN of US willingness to return.
Anne Barrowclough 2.05pm: ‘Difference between White House and outhouse’
All eyes are now on Georgia, where Donald Trump is leading by a razor thin margin of just 0.7 points, or 33,000 votes – down from 40,000 votes just an hour ago.
Mr Trump’s team has admitted that Georgia is the make or break state. An Adviser told CNN the state was “the difference between the White House and the outhouse.”
Georgia’s largest county, the Democrat leaning Fulton county which takes in most of Atlanta City, is still counting, with more than 122,000 ballots left. Fulton’s chief election official has said he hopes to have completed the vote by around 6pm (AEDT).
If Georgia, with 16 votes, swings to Mr Biden, he will easily cross the line to take the White House. If Mr Trump holds his lead, we will be waiting on Nevada, where Mr Biden is only just ahead by under 8000 votes. Nevada is still counting and won’t return its results until around 4am AEDT.
Agencies 1.50pm: Democrats’ hoped-for sweeping victory didn’t happen
Democrats went into Election Day hoping to reclaim the White House and majorities in both chambers of Congress in a victory that would demonstrate an unmistakeable repudiation of President Donald Trump and a Republican Party remade in his image.
It didn’t work out that way.
More than 12 hours after polls closed, Mr Biden held a narrow lead in some key states with hundreds of thousands of votes yet to be counted, and he has a comfortable advantage in the national popular vote. But as of midday Thursday (AEDT), there was no clear Democratic wave.
Republicans held key Senate seats that Democrats hoped to flip, and the GOP may ultimately shrink the Democrats’ House majority. And even if Mr Trump were to ultimately lose, the closeness of the presidential contest raised the prospect that a Biden presidency would have difficulty enacting progressive priorities or quickly move past the cultural and partisan fissures of the Trump era.
“The Trump coalition is more stubborn and resilient and capable than maybe we anticipated,” said Gerald Connolly, a six-term Democratic congressman from Virginia. “The country is even more polarised and divided.”
While MrbvTrump’s critics were deeply disappointed that the hoped-for blue wave never materialised, Mr Biden’s allies encouraged the political world to step back and see the big picture. Dan Pfeiffer, a former aide to President Barack Obama, posted a message to Democrats on Medium entitled, “Biden is winning, act like it.”
AP
Anne Barrowclough 1.30pm: 515,000 Arizona ballots still to count
While Joe Biden has won Arizona, his lead there has narrowed as hundreds of thousands of ballots are still being counted.
Associated Press called the state for Mr Biden last night after calculating that Mr Trump could not hold Arizona.
Mr Biden is now leading the state by just under 80,000 votes but there are still 515,000 ballots uncounted. CNN calculates that for Mr Trump to take the state back, he would have to win 55 to 57 per cent of these uncounted votes. Mr Biden would need to win 40 to 42 per cent of the votes to retain his lead.
Anne Barrowclough 1.15pm: How Trump could still win
Donald Trump needs 56 electoral votes to win the White House back. While it’s tight, it isn’t impossible. But he would need to win Nevada (6 votes), Georgia (16), North Carolina (15) and Pennsylvania (20) to make it over the line.
Fulton County is expected to report absentees tonight. Chatham County will not finish tonight. Gwinnett County will begin “adjudicating†ballots it has reported tomorrow and says this will take until Saturday. The secretary of state says that all counting will be done by Friday. https://t.co/JVonuU6l90
— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) November 5, 2020
Joe Biden, who needs just six votes, needs to win just one of the states.
We are expecting Georgia to announce its result early this evening. At present, Mr Trump is leading by fewer than 40,000 votes and there are still over 100,000 vote still to count. If Mr Biden wins, he will easily cross the threshold to take the White House and become the first Democrat to win the state since Bill Clinton in 1992.
If Mr Trump wins, we will be waiting on Nevada, where electoral officials say they won’t report a result until noon ET (4am AEDT). Mr Biden is leading in Nevada by just 0.6 per cent.
Pennsylvania is not expected to return a result until Friday local time and North Carolina may take even longer.
Anne Barrowclough 12.10pm: Tired Trump discouraged over lawsuits
Donald Trump seems tired and isn’t optimistic about his lawsuits to halt counts in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, according to US media.
Speaking to supporters at the White House, Mr Trump said he’d allow the legal moves to proceed but didn’t think they would be successful, CNN reports.
With Mr Biden fast catching up to Mr Trump in Georgia there is now a difference of fewer than 40,000 votes. Mr Trump’s team is in a state of high anxiety, after expecting an easy win in the state. One Adviser admitted that the president “can’t lose” the state; a loss would be the end of the race, he told CNN. There are still 122,535 votes to be counted, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has said.
As Mr Trump’s lead in Pennsylvania dropped from 600,000 to 200,000, a tweet suggested that he knew his attempt to halt the count would fail.
Our lawyers have asked for “meaningful accessâ€, but what good does that do? The damage has already been done to the integrity of our system, and to the Presidential Election itself. This is what should be discussed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
“Our lawyers have asked for ‘meaningful access’, but what good does that do?” he wrote from the White House. “The damage has already been done to the integrity of our system, and to the Presidential Election itself. This is what should be discussed!”
Anne Barrowclough 11.55am: When will remaining states call their count?
We are still waiting on four states to call their results: Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
In Nevada, where Joe Biden is leading by a tight margin, officials have said they won’t release results until 12pm ET (3pm AEDT).
In Arizona, the @AP declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner at 2:50 a.m. EST Wednesday, after an analysis of ballots cast statewide concluded there were not enough outstanding to allow Trump to catch up.https://t.co/mWUAWiD441
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 5, 2020
Georgia, where Mr Biden is gaining on Mr Trump, expects to release its results soon. Mr Trump is leading by just 0.9 per cent, with 97 per cent of the vote counted. But the state’s largest county, Fulton, which is firmly Democrat, still has 36,000 mail in ballots to be counted. In total, there are 122, 535 votes still to be counted, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. These ballots could swing the state to Mr Biden. With 16 electoral college votes, that would easily take Mr Biden over the line to win the presidency.
Arizona – which Mr Biden has officially won – will also release the results from its remaining 66,000 votes.
Pennsylvania is not expected to complete counting until Friday (AEDT) at least, while North Carolina count will also be delayed, possibly into next week.
Anne Barrowclough 11.40am: Pennsylvania governor: Our count is transparent
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has defended his state’s ballot counting process after Donald Trump sued to halt the count today.
Tom Wolf told reporters Philadelphia had been streaming ballot processing from the pre-canvassing period, he said.
“I think it’s being live streamed on their website, so I guess you can get it, anybody can get it anywhere in the world, so I’m not sure how that equals a lack of transparency. It seems to me it’s never been more transparent than it is right now,” Mr Wolf said.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said the state would “oppose every effort to at any point shut down the vote.”
Staff writers 11.20am: Sportsbet pays out early on Biden
Sportsbet is paying out early on Joe Biden to be elected president, despite the official result still unknown.
Mr Biden needs just six vote to get to the White House, while Mr Trump is 56 votes away from victory.
Sportsbet announced its decision today, saying: “After CNN projected the state of Michigan would go to the Democrats and holding the ascendancy in Nevada and Arizona, the online bookmaker has deemed the lead unassailable.
“In total, $23 million and over 100,000 bets was paid out to Sportsbet punters who backed Joe Biden to win the election.
“With postal votes and potential legal proceedings to play out, it could be weeks before an announcement is officially made. But we’ve seen enough, so why make the punters wait?”
WE'RE CALLING IT! We're paying out early on JOE BIDEN to win the US Election! #USElection2020 pic.twitter.com/EBcvLdsmyk
— Sportsbet.com.au (@sportsbetcomau) November 5, 2020
“In 2019, we made the call to pay out on Labor two days before the federal election, and we know how that panned out. However, we have supreme confidence that Biden will end up in the Oval Office,” said sportsbet.com.au’s Rich Hummerston.
Staff writers 11.15am: Trump team sues to halt Georgia count
The Trump campaign has filed a lawsuit in a third state, Georgia, seeking to pause the vote count in key battlegrounds, the Associated Press reports.
It came as Fulton County, the largest county in the state said it still had 36,000 postal ballots to be counted.
Mr Biden is leading in Fulton with 72 per cent of the vote and the Biden campaign is hoping that the uncounted mail in votes could take him across the line.
Staff writers 11.10am: Twitter flags more Trump tweets
Twitter has flagged and labelled a tweet from Donald Trump that prematurely claimed victory in Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania and added a “disputed” label to a follow-up tweet in which Mr Trump, without evidence, “a large number of secretly dumped ballots” in Michigan.
In a 16-hour period since the last polls closed, five out of nine tweets posted by the President have been flagged by Twitter.
Anne Barrowclough 10.55am: Why Georgia is still too close to call
While Donald Trump is still leading Georgia by more than 54,000 votes, the states’ Secretary of State says counts will continued possibly until late tonight (AEDT) despite 97 per cent of the vote already having been counted.
Brad Raffensperger said in a statement that around 185,000 ballots remained outstanding and officials in numerous counties were still counting ballots.
Those areas include a number of blue counties including those in Atlanta city, where Mr Biden is leading. Mr Biden halved Mr Trump’s lead overnight.
Strong security protocols are in place, Mr Raffensperger said, adding that the public may observe the process at any county.
“We’re well aware that with a close presidential election and the possibility of runoffs in some elections that the eyes of the state and the nation are upon Georgia at this time,” Mr Raffensperger said. “We’re as anxious as anyone to see the final results and to start work on certification and planning for our run-off elections.”
Officials from Fulton County, one of the largest – and a blue county – are about to hold a press conference.
Staff writers 10.45am: Biden team launches transition website
Joe Biden’s transition team is moving forward with efforts to plan for his possible presidency as the election results remain in limbo, with US media reporting the team has already launched its transition website.
The website, called BuildBackBetter, appears to have been launched but not yet populated.
Mr Biden’s transition team, a group of policy experts charged with implementing the former vice president’s policy agenda and filling thousands of jobs across the government, is forging ahead with plans to send staff into federal agencies once a winner is declared the WSJ reports.
The team has been planning for months for the possibility that the Trump administration would not co-operate with Mr Biden’s aides as they prepare for him to potentially take over the White House. The team has drawn up alternate plans in case the administration doesn’t share key information, provide financial resources or allow staff into agencies to begin planning Mr. Biden’s first term agenda, the WSJ reported.
In addition to discussing how to implement Mr. Biden’s policy agenda, transition officials have also discussed which jobs to fill first. Among the items under consideration is a coronavirus-focused task force made up of top health officials, some of the people said. That plan, which was first reported by Politico, has not been finalised.
Anne Barrowclough 10.05am: Biden takes Michigan
Joe Biden has won Michigan by 1.3 percentage points, putting a brick back in the “blue wall” of Democratic states that swung to Donald Trump in 2016, and taking Mr Biden within just six votes of winning the presidency.
Until 2016 Michigan, with 16 electoral votes, had reliably backed the party. The states had chosen the Democratic candidate in six consecutive presidential elections between 1992 and 2012. Mr. Biden campaigned with former President Barack Obama Saturday in Michigan.
Joe Biden wins Michigan, flipping a state that was key to President Trump’s 2016 victory and moving Biden within 6 electoral votes of winning the presidency. #APracecall #Election2020https://t.co/LQgKB3caLp
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 4, 2020
The mood in the White House is dark, US media is reporting, while Republican officials are unimpressed with Donald Trump’s baseless claims that he is being robbed of the presidency because of fraud.
A White House source told CNN Mr Trump was “bleeding GOP support,” and criticised Mr Trump’s team for claiming voter fraud in Pennsylvania.
The source described Mr Trump’s complaints as an “ambulance chasing routine.”
Staff writers 9.50am: Trump supporters storm Michigan ballot count
Trump supporters have stormed a convention centre in Michigan where votes are still being counted. Dozens of Republicans banged on the glass and shouted as election workers continued counting the last ballots.
Joe Biden is leading in Michigan by 1.3 percentage points, with 99 per cent of the vote counted.
#TCFCENTER: From the inside, the heavy thudding of rhythmic banging against the glass after the boxes were taken down.
— Steve Patterson (@PattersonNBC) November 4, 2020
Chanting is echoing in the hall.
Inside: Workers are quietly, diligently counting. @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/IQZd6wKWiF
In the meantime, Donald Trump has tweeted that he has won Michigan, Georgia North Carolina and Pennsylvania, despite votes still being counted in those states.
We have claimed, for Electoral Vote purposes, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (which won’t allow legal observers) the State of Georgia, and the State of North Carolina, each one of which has a BIG Trump lead. Additionally, we hereby claim the State of Michigan if, in fact,.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
Anne Barrowclough 9.20am: Why Michigan is still too close to call
You may be wondering why we are not saying that Joe Biden has won Michigan despite US news outlets including Fox and CNN calling it for the former Vice President.
We are waiting on Associated Press, which is the most credible news outlets on election counts, The AP has said this is why they still believe the state is too close to call:
“An estimated 4 per cent of the vote remains to be counted in Michigan, much of it from the Democratic stronghold of Detroit. That makes the race between Trump and Biden too early too call”.
The Associated Press is explaining all of our race calls and states that haven’t been called yet.Â
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 4, 2020
The @AP has not called the presidential race yet because neither candidate has secured the 270 electoral college votes needed for victory. https://t.co/i5lxt4C49Q
Anne Barrowclough 8.50am: Biden wins record 70.7 million votes
Joe Biden has so far won 70.7 million votes, according to the Associated Press tally, breaking the previous record held by Barack Obama in the 2008 election.
Why mail-in ballots in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania were counted so late https://t.co/isV91Yl2Sx pic.twitter.com/kvbCys7qDK
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 4, 2020
President Trump has so far won 67.7 million votes.
“Senator Harris and I are on track to win more votes than any ticket in the history of this country that ever won the presidency and vice presidency. Over 70 million votes,” Mr Biden said in a televised address from Wilmington, Delaware.
Mr. Biden’s vote count has also already substantially passed Hillary Clinton’s vote count in 2016, due partly to record levels of turnout in this election.
Mrs. Clinton won the popular vote in 2016 – 65.8 million votes to Mr. Trump’s 62.9 million, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report’s analysis of official results. In 2008, Mr. Obama won 69.5 million votes.
Trump Campaign Hosts a Press Conference in #Philadelphia, PA with Eric Trump, Lara Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Pam Bondi, and Corey Lewandowskihttps://t.co/LZ1KfnQRA8
— Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022) (@TeamTrump) November 4, 2020
Cameron Stewart 8.40am: Why Biden is on track to win
Joe Biden is now the clear favourite to be the 46th president of the United States.
There are still pathways for Donald Trump to win but they are fast disappearing.
Let’s look at the scenarios.
As Australia slept, Biden crept past Trump in the two crucial Midwest states of Michigan and Wisconsin thanks to late counting of mail-in votes which favoured Biden.
Biden has since won Wisconsin.
This means that Biden just needs to win just Michigan and Nevada in order to reach the 270 electoral college votes needed to become president.
In Michigan he holds a narrow lead of 49.5 per cent to 48.8 per cent with 94 per cent of the vote counted.
In Nevada Biden holds a thin 49.3 per cent to 48.7 per cent lead with 86 per cent of the vote counted.
READ Cameron’s full article here
David Rogers 8.30am: ASX set to open higher
Australian stocks are set to open higher after global markets surged despite US election uncertainty. The Dow added 1.3 per cent, the S & P 500 gained 2.2 per cent and the Nasdaq jumped 3.9 per cent. Locally, National Australia Bank handed down its annual result and a number of companies are holding AGMs.
READ our Trading Day live blog here
With 97% of the expected vote reporting, Biden leads Trump 50% to 49% in Michigan. https://t.co/0aVg9RCNWH
— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) November 4, 2020
Tom Crystal 8.20am: Bookies make Biden favourite to win
The odds-makers have reacted to Joe Biden’s late surge, installing him as a $1.22 favourite to win the US election, with Donald Trump drifting to $4.30
It comes off the back of Wisconsin being declared for Biden, who also holds a slender lead in the key battleground state of Michigan.
At one stage on election day, Trump was reeled in to $1.22 from $2.65 by Sportsbet, and former favourite Biden unwanted at $4, after starting the day at $1.50 to claim the presidency.
Anne Barrowclough 8.15am: Confident Biden: We will be victorious
Joe Biden says he is confident that when all the votes are counted, he will have won the presidential election.
Mr Biden, who is now the clear favourite to be the 46th president of the US, said in a televised address: “I’m not here to declare we have won, but when all the votes are counted I believe we will be the winners.”
He said he was leading the popular vote by three million votes and with 70 million votes in total, he had won more votes than any ticket “in the history of the country.”
In a unifying speech, Mr Biden said his victory “will be a victory for the American people. “There will be no blue states, no red states, just the United States of America.
“It’s clear that we’re winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency,” Mr Biden said.
“Senator Harris and I are on track to win more votes than any ticket in the history of this country,” he said.
“More Americans voted this election than ever before in American history. Over 150 million people cast their votes. I think that is just extraordinary. And if we had any doubts, we shouldn’t have any longer about a government of, by and for the people. It is very much alive, very much alive in America,” he said
“Now every vote must be counted. No one is going to take our democracy away from us. Not now, not ever,” Mr. Biden said. He added: “We the people will not be silenced. We the people will not be bullied. We the people will not surrender.”
Anne Barrowclough 8.05am: Trump team claims victory in Pennsylvania
After calling for a halt on vote counting in Pennsylvania, the Trump team has prematurely called the state for the president, although vote counting is expected to continue for at least another day.
President @realDonaldTrump wins #Pennsylvania! pic.twitter.com/5BUwYMxaby
— Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022) (@TeamTrump) November 4, 2020
On a call with reporters, campaign manager Bill Stepien said the campaign’s analysis of the state showed that the president will win enough of the outstanding vote to hold the state and its 20 electoral college votes, the Wall St Journal reports.
“We are declaring a victory in Pennsylvania. This is not based on gut or feel, this is based on math,” he said.
In a statement released earlier, deputy campaign manager Justin Clark said the campaign was “suing to stop Democrat election officials from hiding the ballot counting and processing from our Republican poll observers.”
He also said the campaign is looking to “temporarily halt counting until there is meaningful transparency and Republicans can ensure all counting is done above board and by the law.”
The Trump campaign also continues to express confidence in Arizona, which the AP has called for Joe Biden.
Agencies 7.50am: Trump sues to stop Pennsylvania count
Donald Trump’s campaign has now said it would sue to temporarily stop the vote count in Pennsylvania, claiming lack of “transparency.”
Trump campaign advisers Jason Miller says "soon as Friday President Trump will be declared the winner"
— Shannon Pettypiece (@spettypi) November 4, 2020
Justin Clark, Trump’s deputy campaign manager, said in a statement that the campaign was “suing to stop Democrat election officials from hiding the ballot counting and processing from our Republican poll observers.” He said the campaign wants “to temporarily halt counting until there is meaningful transparency and Republicans can ensure all counting is done above board and by the law.”
Mr Clark also said the campaign would seek to intervene in an ongoing Supreme Court case involving the deadline for receiving mail-in ballots.
“The time has come. Given last night’s results, the vote in Pennsylvania may well determine the next President of the United States,” Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for the President, said in the new filing.
“And this Court, not the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, should have the final say on the relevant and dispositive legal questions,” he said.
There have been no reports by law enforcement of fraud or any type of ballot concerns out of Pennsylvania. The state had 3.1 million ballots mailed out that take time to count, and an order allows them to be counted up until Friday if they are postmarked by November 3.
CNN reports that the justices refused to expedite the appeal before the election, but are still considering whether to take up the case.
Agencies 7.30am: Senate control hinges on five results
It is looking increasingly difficult for the Democrats to take the Senate, where the Republicans have a 53-47 majority. Democrats need to flip four seats to take the majority if Donald Trump is re-elected, or three if Joe Biden wins the presidency and his vice president casts tiebreaking votes. Since Tuesday’s voting, Democrats have only gained one seat on a net basis, with five Senate races yet to be called.
In Alaska, Republican Dan Sullivan is ahead and expected to win, although the state’s schedule for counting absentee ballots could delay the result. Democrats are fighting to hold a seat in Michigan, and three GOP-held seats, one in North Carolina and another in Georgia, remain uncalled.
The fight for the Senate will be an extended one as Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler fell well short of the 50 per cent threshold needed to hold her seat in Georgia and is now headed into a Jan. 5 run-off election against Democrat Raphael Warnock, according to the AP projections.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) struck an optimistic note, saying that he had a chance at maintaining his status as majority leader.
“We are in a pretty good position in North Carolina and Maine,” Mr. McConnell said. “If we win in North Carolina and Maine, I’m still the offensive co-ordinator, so we may know by the end of the day.” He said other races still have to play out, particularly in Georgia and Michigan, adding that Republican John James has got “a real shot” at unseating Sen. Gary Peters (D., Mich.) with a narrow lead on Wednesday.
Democrats cautioned against reaching premature conclusions.
“While we live in an instant-gratification society, that’s not how democracy works. Democracy often takes time to make sure that you have an accurate count ” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) “It’s important for us also to count the votes for congressional races,” he said, noting the possibility for runoffs in Georgia that would require a new round of voting.
In North Carolina, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis was ahead of Democrat Cal Cunningham with all precincts reporting. But the deadline for accepting mail-in ballots is Nov. 12, making the final tally uncertain. About 117,000 voters who requested an absentee ballot haven’t voted, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, though that number doesn’t yet account for voters who cast their ballot on Tuesday.
In Georgia, votes are still being counted in areas including the Atlanta suburbs. Republican Sen. David Perdue was only narrowly above the 50% threshold to avoid a run-off on Wednesday morning in his race against Democrat Jon Ossoff, making it possible that both Georgia Senate seats would remain unsettled until runoffs in early January.
Mr. Perdue was first elected to the Senate in 2014. Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in December appointed Ms. Loeffler, a wealthy businesswoman and GOP donor, to finish the term of retiring GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson.
Under state law, the newly appointed senator must run in the next general election and the election is to complete the existing term. Whoever wins the special election will have to run
As of Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump led Mr. Biden in Georgia by about 100,000 votes, with outstanding votes in the blue-leaning counties around Atlanta.
Dow Jones
Anne Barrowclough 7.20am: Trump sues to halt counting in Michigan
The Trump team have said it will sue to “temporarily halt counting” in Michigan “until there is meaningful transparency.”
Mr Trump is leading in Pennsylvania but Mr Biden has a narrow lead in Michigan with 99 per cent of the vote counted.
The campaign team said it had filed a lawsuit in the Michigan Court of Claims to halt counting “until meaningful access is granted.”
Trump campaign statement on #Michigan lawsuit pic.twitter.com/T7FSfp3MVA
— Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022) (@TeamTrump) November 4, 2020
“We also demand to review those ballots which were opened and counted while we did not have meaningful access,” the team said in a statement.
However the docket clerk for the Court of Claims told CNN that the court hasdnot received the filing.
Agencies 7.10am: Collins win closes Senate to Democrats
Embattled Republican incumbent US Senator Susan Collins of Maine has scored a come-from-behind election victory as her challenger conceded, virtually closing Democrats’ pathway to regaining control of the Senate.
Democrats saw the moderate Ms Collins as being on the chopping block in part because of her support for President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, and they invested heavily in her challenger Sara Gideon, who is Maine’s speaker of the House.
But Ms Collins weathered the storm, dealing a severe blow to Democratic efforts to end the 53-47 Republican majority and take back the Senate.
“I just received a very gracious call from Sara Gideon conceding the race,” said Ms Collins, who had trailed for months in polling against her Democratic rival.
“I feel this is an affirmation of the work that I’m doing in Washington to fight hard every day for the people of Maine.” Ms Collins, 67, has occasionally clashed with the president. Mr Trump tweeted last month that there was a “nasty rumour” that Ms Collins would not vote for his latest Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, and that supporting the senator’s re-election effort was “not worth the work.”
Anne Barrowclough 6.55am: How key states are playing
Joe Biden has taken Wisconsin and needs only Michigan and Nevada to win outright. Here’s how the key battleground states are playing at the moment.
Here’s what we know about the outstanding vote in each still-to-be-decided battleground state: https://t.co/bl34GGQxyU pic.twitter.com/DStegkeUZO
— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) November 4, 2020
Michigan: Joe Biden leads by a narrow 0.3 per cent with 96 per cent of the votes counted. But the county with the most outstanding votes, Wayne County in Detroit, is heavily Democratic, making it likely his lead will widen further.
Pennsylvania: Donald Trump is ahead here by eight points but with just 64 per cent of the vote counted, the Secretary of State for Pennsylvania says there are still “millions” of ballots left to count. This includes half its mail in ballots, which election workers could only start counting after polling stations closed. Many of these mail0in ballots come from Democratic leading areas. But it’s possible we won’t know the results until Friday.
North Carolina: Donald Trump is leading here by 51.4 per cent to Joe Biden’s 48.7 per cent. With 94 per cent of the vote counted, we may be waiting only on mail-in ballots which have until November 12 to arrive. So we may not know the result here for some days.
Nevada: Joe Biden is leading here by just 0.6 per cent with 67 per cent of the vote counted. But mail in ballots are still to arrive and may turn the state blue.
Anne Barrowclough 6.40am: Biden wins Wisconsin
Joe Biden has won Wisconsin by a tight margin – 49.6 per cent to Mr Trump’s 48.9, with 95 per cent of the vote counted. Mr Trump’s team has said he will demand a recount here and the state is in the margin of one per cent or less needed to request a recount
The @AP called Wisconsin for Joe Biden after election officials in the state said all outstanding ballots had been counted, save for a few hundred in one township and an expected small number of provisional ballots.
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 4, 2020
President Trump’s campaign has requested a recount.
Before 2016, Wisconsin was a reliably Democratic state in presidential election years, having last picked a Republican, Ronald Reagan in 1984.
Cameron Stewart 6.30am: Biden takes lead in two key states
Joe Biden has improved his chances of winning the US election after taking a narrow lead in the two key states of Michigan and Wisconsin.
If Mr Biden holds those two states, and wins in Nevada, where he also holds a narrow lead, he will reach the 270 electoral college votes needed to become president.
But the result still remains uncertain with the Trump campaign flagging that they will demand a recount in Wisconsin and possible Supreme Court action over the voting process in Pennsylvania.
Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key States, in almost all instances Democrat run & controlled. Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted. VERY STRANGE, and the “pollsters†got it completely & historically wrong!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
The president appeared to be frustrated by the trend against him overnight, doubling down on his complaints about the legality of the count.
“Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key States, in almost all instances Democrat run & controlled,” Mr Trump tweeted. “Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted. VERY STRANGE, and the ‘pollsters’ got it completely & historically wrong!”
They are finding Biden votes all over the place — in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. So bad for our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
In another tweet he said; “They are finding votes all over the place – in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. So bad for our country.’
But the Trump campaign maintained that it could still win the election.
Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said the president remained in
a “very, very, very good position.”
“We are confident in our pathway. We are confident in our math. We said all along we are viewing some of these races as math equations.”
“If we count all legal ballots, the president wins,” he said.
However the White House is worried that the majority of votes yet to be counted in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Georgia are mail-in votes which will heavily favour Democrats.
READ the full story here
Anne Barrowclough 6.10am: Trump picks up vote in Maine
Michigan has swung to Joe Biden, ho is leading by another tiny margin – 49.7 per cent to 48.8 for Donald Trump.
President Trump wins Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, picking up the district’s single Electoral College vote over Joe Biden. Biden won the statewide vote.
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
Full #Election2020 coverage: https://t.co/Ygrm6VvWYIhttps://t.co/SnZtJZuPaG
Meanwhile Mr Trump has added another vote in Maine, Where he won the Second Congressional District, picking up the district’s single Electoral College vote. Mr Biden still holds Maine, though, with a nine-point lead over Mr Trump.
Staff writers 5.50am: Trump to request recount in Wisconsin
Donald Trump will ask for a recount in Wisconsin, where Joe Biden is leading by a tiny margin of just 0.7 per cent – 49.6 per cent to 48.9 per cent, with 95 per cent of the vote counted.
They are finding Biden votes all over the place — in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. So bad for our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
Confirming the request for a recount, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien described the race as “razor thin”.
The margin to request a recount in the state is one per cent or less and Mr Trump is currently within that margin, but the state has not finished counting.
Agencies 5am: Six key states will decide US Election
The outcome of the White House race appears to hinge on the results from six states where a winner has not yet been declared — Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
As of 3am AEDT, Joe Biden had slim leads in Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin while Donald Trump was ahead in Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
But state election officials cautioned that with tens of thousands of ballots outstanding in some states — millions in others — the leaderboard could shift.
We won't rest until everyone's vote is counted. Tune in as my campaign manager @jomalleydillon and campaign adviser Bob Bauer give an update on where the race stands. https://t.co/Rwz4iR25B3
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 4, 2020
Mr Trump had a roughly 500,000 vote lead in Pennsylvania with an estimated 78 per cent of the vote counted but votes were awaited from heavily Democratic parts of the state.
“We have to be patient,” Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf said.
“We may not know the results today. There are millions of mail-in ballots. They’re going to be counted accurately and they will be counted fully.”
Here's the latest look at the numbers from @AP_Politics. We're closely watching five key states: PA, WI, GA, NC and MI. You can see how they're trending right now on this map, but many votes still need to be counted. @news4buffalo pic.twitter.com/Fn9jJ6QZUi
— Kelsey Anderson (@4KelseyAnderson) November 4, 2020
The Democratic governor shrugged off criticism from the White House over the slow vote count and said “our democracy is being tested in this election”.
“Pennsylvania will have a fair election,” he said. “And that election will be free of outside influences.”
Mr Biden vowed on Wednesday to ensure that no American was disenfranchised.
“We won’t rest until everyone’s vote is counted,” the 77-year-old former vice president said on Twitter.
Thank you voters and #PAproud election workers for doing your part in our democracy during the general election.
— Pennsylvania (@PennsylvaniaGov) November 4, 2020
County officials are carefully counting your votes to ensure we have an accurate result.
You can follow the count at https://t.co/PTy5zOwIEW. pic.twitter.com/5wceemmj8U
READ MORE: Greg Sheridan — Pitchforks in hand, Deplorables dig deep for Trump
Agencies 4.45am: Trump alleges ‘surprise ballot dumps’
US President Donald Trump alleged there had been “surprise ballot dumps” in states where he had been leading Democrat Joe Biden in the race for the White House.
“Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key States, in almost all instances Democrat run & controlled,” Mr Trump tweeted.
“Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted.”
Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key States, in almost all instances Democrat run & controlled. Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted. VERY STRANGE, and the “pollsters†got it completely & historically wrong!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
Mr Trump did not offer any evidence for his allegation of “ballot dumps” and there have been no reports of any irregularities.
The leads in numerous states have shifted back-and-forth between the candidates as votes are counted.
Mr Trump, who overnight prematurely declared himself the winner of Tuesday’s election, has spent months denouncing mail-in ballots, making unsubstantiated claims that they are liable to fraud.
“How come every time they count Mail-In ballot dumps they are so devastating in their percentage and power of destruction?” he tweeted on Wednesday.
How come every time they count Mail-In ballot dumps they are so devastating in their percentage and power of destruction?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
The usage of mail-in ballots soared this election amid the coronavirus pandemic and the US Elections Project said a record 65.2 million Americans voted by mail.
Cameron Stewart 4.30am: Trump threat to take result to Supreme Court
Donald Trump says he will go to the US Supreme Court to ensure that he is the winner of an epic knife-edge struggle for the presidency, after accusing Democrats of trying to steal the election.
In a stunning postscript to a deadlocked election result, the President held a news conference to say a fraud was being committed on the American people with the continued counting of votes in undecided states.
“This is a fraud on the American public, this is an embarrassment to our country, we were getting ready to win this election, frankly we did win this election,” he said at the White House.
“This is a very big moment … we will be going to the US Supreme Court … we want all voting to stop … it’s a very sad moment.”
Joe Biden’s White House campaign attacked Mr Trump’s threat to try to stop the election vote count as “outrageous”, saying its legal team was ready to prevent such an “unprecedented” act.
“The President’s statement tonight about trying to shut down the counting of duly cast ballots was outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect,” Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said.
“We have legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist … and they will prevail.”
"Keep the faith, guys. We're going to win this." --@JoeBiden
— Jen O'Malley Dillon (@jomalleydillon) November 4, 2020
Read the full story here.
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