Biden nears 270 electoral votes, Trump stands still

2020 US Presidential Election Results

+Donald Trump:214 electoral votes

+Joe Biden:264 electoral votes

Updated vote count of candidates (according to Fox News):

- The states that Mr. Donald Trump won:Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, West Virginia, Indiana, Missouri, South Carolina, Louisiana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Utah, Idaho, Florida, Ohio, Texas

- States that Joe Biden won:Illinois, New Jersey, Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Washington DC, Delaware, Vermont, New York, Colorado, New Hampshire, Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Michigan

9:00

Biden continues to close the gap with Trump in Pennsylvania

On the morning of November 4 (US time), Mr. Trump led Mr. Biden by more than 600,000 popular votes. However, by 8:00 p.m., this gap had narrowed to less than 200,000 votes.

There are still many votes left to be counted in the state. Key areas such as Philadelphia, Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh, and Montgomery County all show Biden leading, while Trump leads in Luzerne County.

8:50

Trump now leads Biden by only 40,000 votes in Georgia

Georgia state official Brad Raffenssperger said the gap between President Trump and candidate Biden had narrowed to just 40,000 votes as of the evening of November 4 (US time) while more than 122,000 absentee ballots had yet to be counted.

8:33

Biden has vowed to rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change once elected. “Today the Trump administration officially withdrew from the Paris Agreement on climate change. In exactly 77 days, the Biden administration will rejoin the agreement,” Biden said on Twitter.

8:27

Nevada will announce more results at noon on November 5.

State Communications Director Jennifer Russell confirmed to CNN that officials will provide updated election results at 12 p.m. on November 5. These results will include additional votes from the state's two most populous counties.

In Nevada, Democratic candidate Joe Biden currently has a small lead over President Trump. However, thousands of remaining mail-in ballots could decide the final outcome in this state.

Asked whether mail-in ballots could change the outcome, Clark County Recorder Joe Gloria said “it depends on the margin, but it certainly has the potential.” In Washoe County, Nevada’s second-most populous county, the registrar of voters said both in-person and Election Day ballots were being processed.

7:41

A source close to Biden said there was no formal interaction between Biden and Trump today. Biden did not mention the president in his comments, but he struck a conciliatory tone toward Trump supporters and pledged to be a president for all Americans, whether they voted for him or not.

Biden has also not attacked President Trump, despite Trump’s allegations of election fraud and vote counting. The Democratic candidate has maintained a positive attitude and has even hired a team of lawyers to prepare to deal with Trump’s lawsuits.

If tradition continues, the two candidates will have some sort of conversation when the winner is announced. Biden’s campaign says when that moment comes, they know how to reach out to Trump because they still have some people in the White House.

7:29

President Trump’s campaign has filed a lawsuit to stop the vote count in Georgia as officials there continue to count tens of thousands of ballots. The Trump campaign’s lawsuit says a Republican observer saw an election worker take absentee ballots from a waiting room and mix them with valid absentee ballots waiting to be counted.

"We're trying to make sure every single ballot is counted. We anticipate this will be finished around midnight or thereabouts. We'll be done tonight," said Fulton County Elections Director Rick Barron.

Many of the uncounted ballots are absentee ballots in large counties like Fulton, Chatham, Cobb and DeKalb. In Fulton, the count of 50,000 ballots was delayed yesterday. Biden is closing the gap with Trump in Georgia as more absentee ballots are counted.

7:20

Can Joe Biden "come back" in the battleground state of Georgia?

As Trump's lead in Georgia narrows, CNN analyst John King said "there are still enough votes left for Joe Biden to close that gap." "Biden needs about two-thirds of the remaining votes. Again, if you look at the numbers across the state, you'd think there's no way he's going to get two-thirds. But then you'd think, where are they now? We all know they're going to have some more votes."

CNN analyst David Chalian said there are an estimated 185,000 votes left to count in Georgia. "Joe Biden would need about 65 to 67 percent of the remaining 185,000 votes to take the lead over President Trump and really flip Georgia," Chalian said.

"In contrast, Mr. Trump only needs about 31-33% of the remaining 185,000 votes to win Georgia. This is not a large percentage because he generally receives about 50% of the votes." Georgia is an important battleground state with 16 electoral votes.

6:54

President Trump has claimed that the integrity of the system and the election has been undermined as his campaign mounts legal challenges in several states where ballots are still being counted.

"My lawyers have asked for 'full access' but how is this done? The integrity of our system has been destroyed and so has the Presidential Election itself. That is what should be discussed!", Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter on October 4 (US time).

6:31

Biden has not declared victory, but he is expressing confidence in his ability to do so by launching a transition website at buildbackbetter.com.

"Americans will decide who will be the next President of the United States. Ballots are still being counted in several states across the country," the website's homepage states. "The crises facing the country are serious, from the Covid-19 pandemic to the economic downturn, climate change and racial inequality. This transition team will continue to prepare the Biden-Harris administration to begin addressing these challenges on Day One."

Although the Democratic candidate stressed that every valid vote needed to be counted, Mr. Biden's decision to launch the transfer website was a clear sign that he considered it a declaration of victory.

6:21

Joe Biden is now very close to winning the 2020 US presidential election, needing to win just one more state. The Democratic candidate is currently leading by a narrow margin over Trump in the state of Nevada.

6:15

Democratic candidate Joe Biden won more popular votes than any other presidential candidate in US history, even surpassing President Barack Obama's record in 2008. Accordingly, Mr. Biden received more than 71 million votes, more than the 69.5 million votes Mr. Obama received 12 years ago.

As of the evening of November 4 (US time), Mr. Biden led Mr. Trump by 3 million popular votes. However, with millions of votes still to be counted, Mr. Trump's final vote total may also surpass Mr. Obama's record.