Democratic candidate Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., was elected the 46th President of the United States on November 7, beating incumbent U.S. President Donald Trump, by securing more than the required 270 of 538 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.
( Head over here for our live coverage of developments after Biden's win.)
Mr. Biden’s running mate, Kamala Devi Harris , a U.S. Senator from California, will become the first woman and first Indian- and African-American Vice-President of the country. Mr. Biden will inherit, from President Trump, a deeply divided country, battered by the coronavirus pandemic , facing high levels of unemployment and fraying race relations.
As news outlets — such as CNN, the Associated Press, and the New York Times — started projecting Mr. Biden as the winner, celebratory shouts, car horns and festive music was heard on the streets of Washington D.C. as Americans had waited more than three full days to hear who their next President would be. Similar celebrations were reported in other cities across the country including New York.
The win came as Mr. Biden, who was at 253 electoral college votes going into November 7, as per most news agencies, was projected to win Pennsylvania — a gain of 20 electoral votes. The Democratic candidate was ahead by over 34,000 votes in Pennsylvania on November 7 morning — too large a gap for Mr. Trump to bridge, based on the fact that the majority of mail-in ballots tend to be Democratic and based on the number of ballots Republican and Democratic counties had left to count.
Mr. Biden was also leading Mr. Trump, who had 214 electoral votes going into November 7, in other key swing States. Mr. Biden led Arizona (11 electoral votes) by more than 20,000 votes; Nevada (6) by over 25,000 votes; Georgia — which is likely heading for a recount — by over 7,000 votes. Mr. Trump led in North Carolina by over 76,000 votes.
“America, I’m honoured that you have chosen me to lead our great country. The work ahead of us will be hard, but I promise you this: I will be a President for all Americans — whether you voted for me or not. I will keep the faith that you have placed in me,” Mr. Biden said on Twitter, in his first public reaction to the news.
Mr. Biden, 77, is the oldest candidate ever elected to the White House. Trump, 74, has made as yet unsubstantiated claims of massive voter fraud, and his campaign has launched legal challenges in several states.
Mr. Biden spent eight years as vice president to Barack Obama. His victory comes in his third run for the nation's highest office.
Mr. Trump’s timeline on Twitter had a series of tweets covered by Twitter labels saying the tweets might be misleading with regard to the electoral process.
“I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” Mr. Trump tweeted on November 7 before the news agencies had publicly called the results.
Track live trends and results at our interactive map here.
Here are the election updates (all times IST). More updates after Biden's victory here.
Trump says 'this election is far from over'
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that his campaign would begin challenging U.S. election results in court next week after media outlets called the race for Democrat Joe Biden, saying “this election is far from over.”
“We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him. They dont want the truth to be exposed,” he said in a statement. “The simple fact is this election is far from over.”
Mr. Trump has repeatedly made unfounded claims of fraud in the election. - Reuters
Kamala Harris becomes first Black woman, South Asian to be elected as Vice President
Kamala Harris made history Saturday as the first Black woman elected as vice president of the United States, shattering barriers that have kept men - almost all of them white - entrenched at the highest levels of American politics for more than two centuries.
The 56-year-old California senator, also the first person of South Asian descent elected to the vice presidency, represents the multiculturalism that defines America but is largely absent from Washington’s power centers.
Trump advisers must tell him when it's time to go, says OSCE election observer
The head of the mission sent by the main European security and rights organisation to monitor the U.S. presidential election said Donald Trump's advisers must make clear to him he has lost in the likely event that this result is confirmed.
German politician Michael Link told the Funke newspaper group that Mr. Trump's allegations of fraud and cheating in the vote-counting process were unfounded and risked undermining confidence in the U.S. democratic system.
Mr. Trump, 74, has been defiant as his chances fade for securing a second four-year term. He has made repeated and unfounded claims of electoral fraud, while his campaign pursues lawsuits that legal experts say are unlikely to alter the election outcome.
“The American President has a great responsibility for preserving calm in the U.S.,” Mr. Link was quoted as saying. “I'm not sure this is clear to him.”
“I can only hope that Trump has well-intentioned advisers who will tell him if he has lost. All indications are that that is the result which we will soon see,” he added. - Reuters
Three states pass amendments that 'only citizens' can vote
Voters in Colorado, Florida and Alabama passed ballot measures Tuesday that codify what is already law- That only U.S. citizens 18 and older can vote. The passage of the largely-symbolic measures has triggered questions about why the pro-Trump group behind them spent time and money on the effort.
The amendments passed overwhelmingly in all three states, including by a nearly 8-to-1 ratio in Alabama and Florida. Before the 2020 election, North Dakota and Arizona were the only state constitutions that specified non-citizens could not vote in state or local elections.
A former GOP state legislator from Missouri who led the effort said the ballot measures were needed to combat recent changes that allow non-U.S. citizens to vote in some local elections.
Opponents counter that the measures are unnecessary and fuel anti-immigrant sentiment. - AP
Donald Trump faces tough road in getting Supreme Court to intervene
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said there’s one place he wants to determine the outcome of the presidential election- the U.S. Supreme Court. But he may have a difficult time ever getting there.
Over the last two days, Mr. Trump has leaned in to the idea that the high court should get involved in the election as it did in 2000. Then, the court effectively settled the contested election for President George W. Bush in a 5-4 decision that split the court’s liberals and conservatives.
Today, six members of the court are conservatives, including three nominated by Mr. Trump. But the outcome of this year’s election seemed to be shaping up very differently from 2000, when Florida’s electoral votes delivered the presidency to Mr. Bush.
Then, Mr. Bush led in Florida and went to court to stop a recount. Mr. Trump has suggested a strategy that would focus on multiple states where the winning margins appear to be slim. But he might have to persuade the Supreme Court to set aside votes in two or more states to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president. - AP
For Senate Democrats, campaign money couldn't buy happiness
South Carolina Democrat Jaime Harrison shattered U.S. Senate campaign fundraising records this year, as he amassed a stunning $109 million war chest for an election drive intended to unseat three-term Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.
That financial firepower failed to deliver when Mr. Harrison, like Senate Democratic hopefuls in five other states, met a surge of voter support for Republicans.
For Mr. Harrison, 44, it meant a loss by more than 10 percentage points after largely running neck and neck with Mr. Graham in pre-election polls. Other Democrats lost in Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Montana and Texas.
“We just got completely slaughtered on Election Day. There truly was a red surge,” said a Democratic operative who worked closely with the Harrison campaign. “Turnout was just incredible, which isn't necessarily a good thing for us, in red states.”
Democrats who had hoped to easily oust the 53-47 Republican Senate majority have instead won a net gain of only one seat so far. They could reach a majority, if they win two Georgia Senate seat runoffs on January 5. Such a result would give them a 50-50 split, if Democrat Joe Biden is declared president and Kamala Harris vice president, allowing her to cast a tie-breaking vote.
Senate Democrats are already calling on supporters to send campaign contributions to Georgia candidate Raphael Warnock.
Democratic candidates raised a whopping $626 million in 14 highly competitive races, vastly overshadowing Republican collections of $386 million in the same contests, according to FEC filings. - Reuters
Explainer: Why ballot-counting in Nevada is dragging on
The pace of vote-counting in Nevada is being criticised for taking too long and it’s even become fodder for online jokes. But government officials say they are emphasising accuracy over speed in a year when processing an unprecedented flood of mail-in ballots under extended deadlines is taking more time.
“We told everyone early on that results would take at least ten days,” Secretary of State spokeswoman Jennifer A Russell said in an email. - AP
Explainer: Most service members abroad rely on mail ballots
As the vote counting continues to determine the next United States president, attention is turning to the role that military and overseas absentee ballots will play in the final result. In razor-close states, it could be a significant one.
The country has a long history of making sure active duty military personnel can vote regardless of where they are stationed.
President Abraham Lincoln issued an order during the Civil War allowing troops to return home to cast a ballot if they could not vote absentee.
States set up remote voting at military encampments, and some allowed troops to designate a proxy who could vote on their behalf, the Congressional Research Service reports.
In 1942, Congress passed the first law that guaranteed the right to vote in federal elections to members of the Armed Forces who were away during wartime.
Fast forward to 2009, when Congress passed a bill requiring states to set up a system to transmit absentee ballots to military and civilian voters who were overseas during federal elections. -- AP
Trump, GOP test out rallying cry: Count the ‘legal’ votes
President Donald Trump and some of his Republican supporters are testing out a rallying cry for his uphill fight to reverse the lead that Joe Biden holds in key battleground states: count all legal votes.
The language is freighted with a clear implication, namely that Democrats want illegal votes counted, a claim for which there is no evidence.
But it underscores Mr. Trump’s strategic imperatives as Biden closes in on securing the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency, tactics that are rooted more in political messaging than legal precedent.
It’s not the use of the word ‘legal’ vote, it’s the constant insinuation that there are so many illegal or fraudulent votes out there,” said Rick Hasen, a professor of law and political science at the University of California Irvine and author of the Election Law blog.
“There’s no evidence produced by the campaign to support there has been a lot of fraud.” Even Mr. Trump’s own administration has pushed back at the claims of widespread voter fraud and illegal voting — though it didn’t mention Mr. Trump was the one making the allegations. - AP
Iran urges next US administration to learn from sanctions
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday he hoped the next US administration will have learnt that sanctions cannot make Tehran bow to American policy.
US President Donald Trump, who appears to be on the verge of having lost Tuesday's election to challenger Joe Biden, has applied a “maximum pressure” policy and punishing sanctions against Iran since his 2018 withdrawal from a landmark nuclear agreement with Iran.
“We hope the three-year experience will be a lesson for America's next administration to abide by laws and regulations and return to its commitments,” Rouhani said in a televised speech.
“Our people have faced economic terrorism for the past three years and shown unparallelled resistance and patience.”
Mr. Rouhani said Iran would “continue its resistance and patience until the other side bows before laws and regulations”.
The Islamic republic hoped that “those imposing sanctions realise their path was wrong and that they will not achieve their goals in any way”. -- AFP
Assured of victory, Biden-Harris start focusing on public health and economy
Confident of their victory in the U.S. presidential election, Democratic candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Senator Kamala Harris have begun working on the task ahead by focusing on two critical areas of public health and economy, both battered by the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
"While we’re waiting for the final results, I want people to know we are not waiting to get to work," Biden said.
"I want everyone to know that on Day One, we are going to put our plan to control this virus into action. That can’t save any of the lives that have been lost, but it will save a lot of lives in the months ahead," the 77-year-old former U.S. Vice President said.
A day earlier, he and Harris held meetings with a group of experts on the public health and economic crises the country is facing.
“Senator Harris and I also heard yesterday about how the recovery is slowing because of the failure to get the pandemic under control,” he said. “More than 20 million people are on unemployment. Millions are worried about making rent and putting food on the table. Our economic plan will put a focus on a path to a strong recovery."
Noting that the pandemic is getting significantly more worrisome all across the country, Biden said that daily cases are skyrocketing, and it is now believed that they could see spikes as high as 200,000 cases in a single day. - PTI
Nations long targeted by U.S. chide Trump’s claims of fraud
Across the world, many were scratching their heads on Friday — especially in countries that have long been advised by Washington on how to run elections — wondering if those assertions could truly be coming from the President of the U.S., the nation considered one of the world’s most emblematic democracies.
Who’s the banana republic now? Colombian daily newspaper Publimetro chided on the front page with a photo of a man in a U.S. flag print mask.
The irony of seeing U.S. President Donald Trump cut off by major media networks on Thursday as he launched unsubstantiated claims lambasting the U.S. electoral system was not lost on many. The U.S. has long been a vocal critic of strongman tactics around the world. Now, some of those same targets are turning around the finger.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro laughed as the vote dragged on past Tuesday, briefly breaking into the hymn of his nation’s annual beauty contest on state TV, singing, "On a night like tonight, any of them could win."
In Africa — long the target of U.S. election guidance — one Kenyan commentator spun out satiric tweets, drawing freely from cliches that long have described troubled elections and questioning the strength of democracy in the U.S. Kenyan cartoonist Patrick Gathara tweeted that Trump has barricaded himself inside the presidential palace vowing not to leave unless he is declared the winner, with a mediator currently trying to coax him out with promises of fast food. - AP
Georgia poll worker in hiding after false claims online
With all eyes on Georgia’s razor-thin presidential vote margin, falsehoods are swirling on social media about supposed ballot counting irregularities there.
Among the most widely shared examples is a video that has racked up millions of views on Twitter. It claims to show a poll worker crumpling up an absentee ballot.
As it turns out, it shows no such thing. Richard Barron, the Fulton County elections director, said late on Friday that the poll worker seen in the video was discarding paper instructions, not a ballot, which would have been much larger than the paper seen in the video.
Barron also said the worker was in hiding after being harassed online due to the false claims. - AP
White House chief of staff Meadows has COVID-19
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who has frequently appeared at public events without wearing a mask, has been diagnosed with COVID-19, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Friday.
It was not immediately clear when or how he was infected.
Another top campaign aide, Nick Trainer, has also tested positive for the virus, according to the source.
Meadows, Trump's top adviser and a former North Carolina lawmaker, regularly accompanied U.S. President Donald Trump on the final frenzied days of the campaign rallies leading up to the presidential election on Tuesday. He was at a White House election night party attended by dozens of Trump loyalists, and is the latest official within Trump's close circle to have contracted COVID-19.
Biden vows presidential vote count will continue
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden vowed the vote count would continue as he took the lead in several battleground States and appeared poised to win the White House in the election, even as U.S. President Donald Trump remained defiant about the results.
“Your vote will be counted. I don't care how hard people try to stop it. I will not let it happen,” Biden told reporters and aides. He added that he would try to bridge the country's partisan divide and attack major issues like the coronavirus pandemic. - Reuters
Will win this race with clear majority, says Joe Biden
Democrat Joe Biden said that he was going to win the U.S. presidency as his lead grew over President Donald Trump in battleground States, although television networks held off from declaring him the victor as officials continued to count votes.
“The numbers tell us ... it's a clear and convincing story: We're going to win this race,” Biden said, adding that he and his running mate Kamala Harris were already meeting with experts as they prepare for the White House.
Biden's speech was originally planned as a victory celebration, but he changed his approach in the absence of an official call from television networks and other election forecasters.
Leading Trump by 4.1 million votes nationwide out of a record 147 million cast, Biden said Americans had given him a mandate to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, the struggling economy, climate change and systemic racism.
“They made it clear they want the country to come together, not continue to pull apart,” Biden said. He said he hoped to address Americans again on Saturday.
Biden should not ‘wrongfully’ claim President’s office: Trump
U.S. President Donald Trump has warned his Democratic challenger Joe Biden against "wrongfully” claiming the presidency.
“Joe Biden should not wrongfully claim the office of the President. I could make that claim also. Legal proceedings are just now beginning! Trump said in a tweet Friday.
As the counting of votes in key battleground states continued, Trump did not make a public appearance but remained active on Twitter. - PTI
Supreme Court denies immediate halt of Pennsylvania count
A U.S. Supreme Court justice has denied a request by Pennsylvania's Republicans to immediately halt the counting of ballots arriving after Election Day — referring the challenge to the full court for a ruling on Saturday.
Samuel Alito ordered Pennsylvania in the meantime to continue keeping the late-arriving ballots separate, affirming a decision already made by the State's top elections official.
The last-ditch petition for an emergency injunction — filed as Democrat Joe Biden solidified his lead and was poised to defeat President Donald Trump — targeted thousands of ballots.
Most are believed to favour Biden, and Republicans say they should be disqualified under Pennsylvania State law. - AFP
Armed men arrested near Philadelphia vote counting location
Two men armed with loaded handguns were arrested on Thursday near the Philadelphia convention center where an ongoing vote count could decide the presidential election, police said.
Joshua Macias, 42, and Antonio LaMotta, 61, traveled from the Virginia Beach, Virginia, area in a Hummer and did not have permits to carry the weapons in Pennsylvania, police said.
They were arrested after the FBI in Virginia relayed a tip about their plans to Philadelphia police. Officers stopped the men about a block from the vehicle, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said.
Macias had a .40-caliber Beretta handgun inside his jacket, LaMotta had a 9mm Beretta in a holster and an AR-style rifle and ammunition were found inside the vehicle, Outlaw said. Authorities initially said that the rifle did not have a serial number but later said that it did. - AP
Be prepared: Biden transition team at work amid limbo
Joe Biden’s transition team isn’t waiting for a verdict in the presidential race before getting to work.
As officials continue to count ballots in several undecided States, longtime Biden aide Ted Kaufman is leading efforts to ensure the former Vice President can begin building out a government in anticipation of a victory.
While Biden’s campaign has refused to comment on the transition process, his closest advisers say the top priority will be announcing a White House chief of staff, then assembling the pieces needed to tackle the coronavirus. A President gets 4,000 appointees, and more than 1,200 of them must be confirmed by the Senate.
The transition process formally starts once the General Service Administration determines the winner based on all available facts. That’s vague enough guidance that Trump could pressure the agency’s director to stall. It’s also unclear if the President would meet personally Biden. - AP
Why ballot-counting in Nevada is dragging on
The pace of vote-counting in Nevada is being criticised for taking too long and it’s even become fodder for online jokes. But government officials say they are emphasising accuracy over speed in a year when processing an unprecedented flood of mail-in ballots under extended deadlines is taking more time.
“We told everyone early on that results would take at least ten days," Secretary of State spokesperson Jennifer A. Russell said in an email.
Clark County Registrar Joe Gloria said he expected the majority of the remaining ballots to be counted by Sunday. The Legislature gave election officials until November 12 to finish counting votes, and Gloria said staff intended to work until then to resolve ballot issues. - AP
Evangelicals stick with Trump, see upside even if he loses
The conservative evangelical Christians who helped send Donald Trump to the White House four years ago stuck by him in 2020. But even if Trump doesn’t get a second term, some conservative Christians see reasons to celebrate in this year’s election results.
White evangelical voters made up 23% of the vote nationwide and overwhelmingly favored Trump this fall, with about 8 in 10 backing him, according to AP VoteCast . Their support may not have been enough to re-elect the president - with Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the lead as states continued to count votes Friday - yet evangelicals still took heart in their strong presence at the polls and the GOP’s success in down-ballot races.
"There’s no question that we did our job,” Ralph Reed, the veteran GOP activist who founded the Faith and Freedom Coalition nonprofit, said of his fellow conservative Christians.
— AP
Trump's attacks on mail-in ballots rankle some military vets
President Donald Trump has held himself up as a champion of U.S. troops without rival. Now, with his presidency on the line, he’s casting suspicion on a tool of participatory democracy - the mail-in ballot - that has allowed U.S. military personnel to vote while serving far from home since the War of 1812.
The President has shouted from Twitter to “STOP THE COUNT” and leveled unsubstantiated charges that “surprise ballot dumps” after election night are helping rival Democrat Joe Biden “steal” the election.
All the while, Mr. Trump insists that military voters’ mail-in ballots must be counted. He even suggested on Friday — without presenting evidence — that some troops’ mail-in ballots have gone “missing.”
In his dizzying effort to sow doubt about the integrity of the vote, Mr. Trump has been all over the map on mail-in voting. The broadsides have unsettled many veterans and former military brass who saw voting by mail as a tether to their civic duty when serving abroad.
— AP
Kamala Harris expected to deliver remarks alongside Joe Biden today
Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris is expected to deliver remarks on Saturday alongside Joe Biden.
Mr. Biden has scheduled a prime-time address on the presidential contest as votes continue to be counted in several battleground states. Mr. Biden is on the cusp of victory as he opened narrow leads over President Donald Trump in Georgia and Pennsylvania.
The California senator has been at a hotel in Wilmington, Delaware, with her family since Tuesday night.
AP has not yet declared a winner in Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Alaska.
— AP
Trump's wild claims test limits of Republican loyalty
President Donald Trump’s wild and unsupported claims of voter fraud have emerged as a high-stakes Republican loyalty test that illustrates the tug of war likely to define the future of the GOP whether he wins or loses the presidency.
There is a pervasive sense among current and former GOP officials that the president’s behavior is irresponsible if not dangerous, but a divide has emerged between those influential Republicans willing to call him out publicly and those who aren’t.
Driving their calculus is an open acknowledgement that Trump’s better-than-expected showing on Election Day ensures that he will remain the Republican Party’s most powerful voice for years to come even if he loses.
— AP
When will the states that could tip the U.S. election be done counting?
PENNSYLVANIA (20 electoral votes)
Joe Biden has a lead of 14,716 votes, or a 0.2 percentage point margin, as of 2:30 a.m. (IST) on Saturday, with 96% of the estimated vote counted. Under Pennsylvania law, a recount is automatic if the margin of victory is less than or equal to 0.5 percentage point of the total vote. There are still ballots to be counted from Philadelphia, the state's largest city, and Allegheny county, home to Pittsburgh.
GEORGIA (16 electoral votes)
Mr. Biden is ahead of Trump by 1,564 votes as of 2:30 a.m. (IST) on Saturday, with 99% of votes counted. Donald Trump needs both Pennsylvania and Georgia to win a second term. A recount must wait until Georgia's results are certified, expected on or before Nov. 20.
ARIZONA (11 electoral votes)
Mr. Biden has 49.9% versus Mr. Trump at 48.6%, a lead of 39,769 votes, with 94% of the expected vote tallied as of 42:30 a.m. (IST) on Saturday.
The state has about 250,000 to 270,000 ballots left to count and will give an update at around 7.30 a.m. (IST) on Saturday, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs told CNN .
NEVADA (6 electoral votes)
Mr. Biden led Trump by 20,137 votes, or 1.6 percentage points, with about 92% of the vote counted.
The state's biggest county, Clark, which includes Las Vegas, has 63,000 ballots remaining to be counted. The next update of the vote count is expected at around 5:30 a.m. IST and the majority of mail-in ballots is expected to be counted by Sunday.
NORTH CAROLINA (15 electoral votes)
Mr. Trump led by 76,737 votes, or 1.4 points, with about 95% of the estimated vote counted.
— Reuters
Twitter flags 'president-elect Biden' posts as premature
Twitter on Friday flagged as premature posts referring to Joe Biden as “president-elect,” as the vote count continued in the knife-edge US election with the Democrat leading Donald Trump in several key states.
Tweets referring to the former vice president with the victor's title and his running mate Kamala Harris as “vice president-elect” were tagged with messages saying counts were not yet final.
“Official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted,” read a Twitter message below a post from Democratic Coalition co-founder and podcaster Scott Dworkin using the two titles for Biden and Harris.
— AFP
3rd court blocks Trump’s order on congressional seat count
A panel of three judges on Friday became the third federal court to rule that President Donald Trump’s effort to exclude people in the country illegally from the numbers used for dividing up congressional seats is unlawful.
The federal court in Maryland prohibited the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, from sending to the president any figures that include the number of people in the country illegally in each state when transmitting the apportionment count at the end of the year.
Federal courts in New York and California already have issued similar orders. The Trump administration has appealed the New York case, and the Supreme Court is hearing arguments on it at the end of the month.
— AP
Republicans ask Supreme Court to halt Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Republican Party asked the US Supreme Court Friday to halt the counting of late-arriving ballots in the state, as Democrat Joe Biden took a lead in the tally and was poised to defeat President Donald Trump.
If Mr, Biden wins Pennsylvania he wins the presidency.
The last-ditch appeal for an emergency injunction asked the court to freeze the handling of thousands of mailed ballots — most believed favoring Mr. Biden — that arrived after election day on Tuesday, which Republicans say should be disqualified.
— AFP
Republicans seeking to raise at least $60 million to fund Trump's legal challenges, say sources
President Donald Trump's campaign and Republicans have reached out to donors as they seek to raise at least $60 million to fund legal challenges brought by him over the U.S. presidential election's results, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The Trump campaign has filed lawsuits in several states following Tuesday's election pitting the president against Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden.
They want $60 million, said a Republican donor who received solicitations from the campaign and the Republican National Committee.
— Reuters
Young voters made all the difference in this election: Bernie Sanders
"The youth of this country are leading the fight for economic, social, racial and environmental justice. And they made all the difference in this election by voting in huge numbers, " tweeted Bernie Sanders early on Saturday. "Yes. When we stand together we can create a nation based on justice, not greed and bigotry," he added.
Secretary of State will ensure that ballots are properly counted: Georgia's top Republican officials
Top Republican officials in Georgia say they are confident the Secretary of State will ensure that ballots are properly counted.
The statement Friday from GOP Gov. Brian Kemp and others came a day after President Donald Trump alleged without any details or evidence that election officials are trying to “steal the election” from him.
Mr. Trump said Thursday that the “election apparatus in Georgia is run by Democrats,” even though the top election official is a Republican whom he endorsed.
Democrat Joe Biden was leading Trump in Georgia by about 1,500 votes midday Friday. has not called the race for either candidate yet.
— AP
Federal agency overseeing U.S. election security rubbish claims of voter fraud
The federal agency that oversees U.S. election security is pushing back at unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud without mentioning that President Donald Trump is making unfounded allegations about the vote count.
A new statement from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency notes that local election offices have detection measures that “make it highly difficult to commit fraud through counterfeit ballots.”
CISA, a component of the Department of Homeland Security, published the statement Friday on a section of its website devoted to dispelling rumors. It said it was countering a rumor about the role of DHS and CISA in the printing of ballots and auditing of results. Neither agency has a role in printing or auditing ballots. CISA principally helps local and state election departments protect themselves against cyberattacks.
CISA also put out a statement noting that the systems and processes used to tabulate votes and certify results “are protected by various safeguards that help ensure the accuracy of election results.”
— AP
Protesters crying foul over vote counts stir safety concerns
Protesters crying foul over closely watched vote counts rallied outside tabulation centers in Phoenix and Detroit Friday, responding to President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of widespread fraud in the race for the White House.
The protests came as elections officials in several states where counts show Democrat Joe Biden ahead said the anger vented outside their doors had left them worried about the safety of their workers.
Roughly 200 Trump supporters gathered for a third straight day Friday in front of the elections center in downtown Phoenix, where hundreds of workers are still processing and counting ballots.
— AP
Pennsylvania appellate court judge dismisses request from Republicans to halt counting of votes in counties
A statewide appellate court judge in Pennsylvania has dismissed a request from Republicans to stop the state or counties from counting provisional ballots that were cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were disqualified by a technicality.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s state elections bureau last month gave guidance to counties that a voter could use a provisional ballot if they “did not successfully vote” with the mail-in or absentee ballot they were issued, or if their ballot was rejected and they believe they are eligible to vote.
The Democratic National Committee, which had sought to oppose the case in court, said Republicans wanted to “throw out lawfully cast provisional ballots.”
— AP
Trump faces tough road in getting Supreme Court to intervene
Facing the potential for narrow losses in multiple battlegrounds, President Donald Trump might have a tough time persuading the Supreme Court to take up his call to intervene and prevent Joe Biden from becoming president.
Mr. Trump could need the court’s help in two or more states, an unlikely scenario that is far different from what took place in 2000, the only time the court has effectively settled a presidential election. Twenty years ago, the entire fight was over Florida’s electoral votes and involved a recount as opposed to trying to halt the initial counting of ballots.
Mr. Trump’s campaign and Republicans already are mounting legal challenges in several states, although most are small-scale lawsuits that do not appear to affect many votes.
— AP
Which states could tip U.S. election and when will they report results?
PENNSYLVANIA (20 electoral votes)
Biden has a lead of 13,558 votes, or a 0.2 percentage point margin, as of 12:30 a.m. (IST) on Friday, with 96% of the estimated vote counted. Under Pennsylvania law, a recount is automatic if the margin of victory is less than or equal to 0.5 percentage point of the total vote.
GEORGIA (16 electoral votes)
Joe Biden is ahead of Trump by 1,554 votes as of 12:30 a.m. (IST) Saturday, with 99% of votes counted according to Edison. Donald Trump needs both Pennsylvania and Georgia to win a second term.
ARIZONA (11 electoral votes)
Mr. Biden has 50.0% versus Trump at 48.6%, a lead of 43,779 votes, with 93.0% of the expected vote tallied as of 12:30 a.m.
Maricopa County, which includes heavily populated Phoenix, has 142,000 early ballots left to count, as well as some provisional ballots. Biden has a 3.2 percentage point lead in the county, with 92.2% of the estimated vote counte
NEVADA (6 electoral votes)
Biden led Trump by 20,137 votes, or 1.6 percentage points, with about 8% of the vote left to be counted.
The state's biggest county, Clark, which includes Las Vegas, has 63,000 ballots remaining to be counted. The next update of the vote count is expected at around 5:30 a.m. on Saturday and the majority of mail-in ballots is expected to be counted by Sunday.
NORTH CAROLINA (15 electoral votes)
Trump led by 76,737 votes, or 1.4 points, with about 5% of the vote left to counted.
State officials have said a full result would not be known until next week. The state allows mail-in ballots postmarked by Tuesday to be counted if they are received by Nov. 12.
— Reuters
Advocates race to find Georgia voters who cast bad ballots
Advocates for both presidential candidates raced Friday to find every person in Georgia who submitted a flawed ballot before time ran out to fix the paperwork in a race that could be decided by only a few thousand votes.
They walked past rose bushes to knock on the door of a home in Lilburn where they were looking for a 19-year-old voter. Her dad answered and promised to call her at college.
Other problem ballots were cast by people not listed on the voter rolls who will need to explain why. They must correct, or “cure,” their ballots by 5 p.m. Friday for the votes to count.
— AP
Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in Nevada by 20,137 votes
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.
has not called the presidential race. Votes are still being counted in several battleground states.
— AP
Trump vows to keep fighting, press ahead with legal challenges
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday vowed to continue his legal fight, as his Democratic rival Joe Biden edged closer to securing enough votes to win the presidency and was expected to give a prime-time televised address Friday night.
“We will pursue this process through every aspect of the law to guarantee that the American people have confidence in our government. I will never give up fighting for you and our nation,” Mr. Trump said in a statement released by the White House.
— Reuters
Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in Pennsylvania by more than 12,000 votes, Georgia by 1,500 votes
Pennsylvania, and its 20 electoral votes, would be enough to vault the 77-year-old Joe Biden past the magic number of 270 votes in the Electoral College, which determines the presidency.
With some 40,000 votes remaining to be counted in Pennsylvania, many from heavily Democratic areas, Mr. Biden opened up a 12,400-vote lead over the Republican incumbent, according to real-time state election results.
Mr. Biden currently has at least 253 electoral votes and is leading in three other states — Arizona, Georgia and Nevada — where ballots from Tuesday's election continue to be counted.
Besides Pennsylvania, Mr. Biden has also pulled ahead of Mr. Trump in the once reliably Republican state of Georgia, taking a lead of about 1,500 votes.
Mr. Biden has a 43,700 vote lead in Arizona, which Trump won in 2016, and a 20,500 vote lead in Nevada.
— AFP
Republican Romney blasts Trump for claiming election
Republican US Senator Mitt Romney said Friday it was wrong for Donald Trump — on the verge of losing the presidency to Joe Biden — to claim that the election was “rigged, corrupt and stolen” by Democratic rivals.
While the president is “within his rights” to request recounts and seek investigations into alleged voting irregularities, as his supporters claim occurred, “he is wrong to say that the election was rigged, corrupt and stolen,” said Romney, an occasional Trump critic.
— AP
Joe Biden’s campaign says he will give a speech early on Saturday
The Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign announced that he would be making an address but did not say where or what he plans to say.
Mr. Biden is on the cusp of winning the presidency as he opens up narrow leads over President Donald Trump in several critical backgrounds.
Votes are still being counted in states including Pennsylvania and Georgia.
A stage set up since election night for a victory party outside the city’s convention center remained intact and has been secured for days by security personnel using high fencing and car barriers.
— AP
Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in Pennsylvania by more than 9,000 votes
Democrat Joe Biden is leading President Donald Trump in the battleground State of Pennsylvania by more than 9,000 votes.
By Friday morning, Mr. Biden overtook Mr. Trump in the number of ballots counted in the State, which Mr. Trump must win to have a shot at reelection. Mr. Biden leads by more than 9,000 votes. The contest is still too early for to call. Votes in the state are still being counted.
Mr. Trump’s lead dwindled after Election Day when state officials began processing mail-in ballots, a form of voting that has skewed heavily in Biden’s favor. Trump spent months claiming - without proof - that voting by mail would lead to widespread voter fraud.
— AP
White House in reach as Biden takes leads in Pennsylvania, Georgia
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden took the lead over President Donald Trump in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Georgia for the first time on Friday, putting him on the verge of winning the White House.
Also read:News Analysis: Donald Trump’s vote diatribe both shocking, unsurprising
Three days after polls closed, Mr. Biden has a 253 to 214 lead in the state-by-state Electoral College vote that determines the winner, according to Edison Research. Winning Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes would put the former Vice-President over the 270 he needs to secure the presidency.
Mr. Biden would also win the election if he prevails in two of the three other key states where he held narrow leads on Friday — Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. Like Pennsylvania, all three were still processing ballots on Friday.
In both Pennsylvania and Georgia, Mr. Biden overtook Mr. Trump on the strength of mail-in ballots that were cast in urban Democratic strongholds like Philadelphia and Atlanta.
— Reuters
Ex-Trump aide Bannon sanctioned by platforms over violence call
Twitter said Friday it permanently banned an account created by former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon which had called for the execution of federal officials during this week's post-election social media turmoil.
The @WarRoomPandemic account was “permanently suspended for violating the Twitter Rules, specifically our policy on the glorification of violence,” a statement from the social media platform said.
Before the account was blocked, it included a call by Mr. Bannon to cut off the heads of FBI director Christopher Wray and top pandemic official Anthony Fauci.
Mr. Bannon tweeted that he would “put the heads on pikes” of the officials, in a reference to Tudor-era England as “a warning to federal bureaucrats.”
— AFP
Georgia to recount razor-thin vote
The US state of Georgia said on Friday it will recount votes from the election in which Joe Biden has eked out a razor-thin lead over President Donald Trump.
“With a margin that small, there will be a recount in Georgia,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told reporters in Atlanta.
Raffensperger, the top elected official overseeing elections, said that the presidential contest in the state “remains too close to call.”
Almost complete results as of Friday morning showed Biden leading by just over 1,500 votes in Georgia, where changing demographics and strong turnout from African-Americans have put in play a Southern state once seen as reliably backing Trump's Republicans.
Georgia is equally critical as it is the only state holding elections for both its Senate seats this year, meaning it will determine which party is in control.
Under Georgia's system, Senate races go to a runoff if no candidate receives 50% in the first round.
“The final tally in Georgia at this point has huge implications for the entire country,” Raffensperger said.
“The stakes are high and emotions are high on all sides. We will not let those debates distract us from our work. We'll get it right and we'll defend the integrity of our elections.”
He said that Georgia was letting observers from both campaigns watch the counting after Trump, with no evidence, alleged widespread fraud nationwide.
- AFP
Some Republican lawmakers break with Trump over baseless vote-fraud claims
Some Republican lawmakers are criticizing President Donald Trump’s unsupported claim that Democrats are trying to “steal” the election, saying Mr Trump’s comments undermine the U.S. political process and the bedrock notion that all Americans should have their vote counted.
Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, whose state is a key battleground in the presidential election, said Friday he had seen no evidence to support Mr Trump’s claim Thursday evening of fraud in balloting.
"The president’s speech last night was very disturbing to me because he made very, very serious allegations without any evidence to support it,” Mr Toomey told “CBS This Morning.”
Mr Trump, who has complained for weeks about mail-in ballots, escalated his allegations late Thursday, saying at the White House that the ballot-counting process is unfair and corrupt. Mr Trump did not back up his claims with any details or evidence, and state and federal officials have not reported any instances of widespread voter fraud.
- AP
Biden takes lead in Pennsylvania: US media
Joe Biden has taken the lead in key battleground state Pennsylvania, where a victory for the former vice president would push him past the threshold of electoral votes needed to win the White House, US media said on Thursday.
More ballots are yet to be counted, but shortly before 1400 GMT, CNN and The New York Times reported that Mr Biden had moved ahead of incumbent President Donald Trump by more than 5,500 votes.
Mr Biden currently has at least 253 electoral votes. The magic number is 270. If he wins Pennsylvania -- a state won by Trump in 2016 -- and its 20 electoral votes, he would pass that threshold.
Mr Biden is also currently in the lead in key states Georgia and Nevada.
- AFP
Biden gets more security as he edges toward win
The US Secret Service has increased its protective bubble around Joe Biden as chances increased that he will be the next US president, the Washington Post reported Friday.
The Secret Service sent an extra squad of agents to Biden's campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware as expectations rose that the Democratic candidate would be able to declare victory over President Donald Trump as early as Friday, the Post reported.
The Secret Service, an agency under the Department of Homeland Security, is in charge or protecting the White House and senior government officials, visiting high officials, and others.
It had already deployed some agents to protect Mr Biden around early July after he triumphed in the Democratic Party's presidential primaries.
As a former vice president, Mr Biden could have requested Secret Service protection before then, but reportedly did not.
If Mr Biden becomes president-elect, Secret Service protection is expected to ramp up to a higher level.
- AFP
Greta Thunberg recycles Donald Trump’s jibe as he tries to ‘stop’ vote counting
Swedish teen environmental activist Greta Thunberg on Friday mocked Donald Trump in his own words, and urged him to “chill” after the U.S. president, trailing behind his Democratic rival Joe Biden in the election, demanded that the counting of votes must “stop”.
When she was named as the Time magazine’s Person of the Year in December 2019, Mr. Trump told Ms. Thunberg, a global icon of the youth climate movement, to work on her anger management problem and “go an old fashioned movie with a friend.”
“Chill Greta, chill!” Mr. Trump said in his tweet on December 12 in which he described her Time award as “so ridiculous”.
Mr. Trump was raging on Twitter on Thursday and posted a number of tweets alleging unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud during the presidential election, the results of which are yet to be announced. Mr. Trump with 213 electoral votes was trailing behind Mr. Biden, who had secured 253 votes. The winner must get at least 270 votes out of the 538 electoral college votes.
The 17-year-old used the president’s own words to mock him when he tweeted “STOP THE COUNT!”
“So ridiculous,” Ms. Thunberg tweeted in reply to Mr. Trump’s post.
“Donald must work on his Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Donald, Chill! she wrote, in a perfect riposte, which has received some 1.2 million likes.
- PTI
False claims of Wisconsin voter fraud rely on wrong numbers
Posts shared thousands of times on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are falsely claiming that the number of people who cast ballots in Wisconsin exceeds the number of registered voters in the state.
A variety of misleading claims about voter turnout in Wisconsin gained traction, generating likes, shares or comments by the hundreds of thousands, after Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden pulled off a narrow win Wednesday in the battleground state.
The posts fuelled charges that the vote had been mismanaged in a crucial swing state in the US election.
Looks like fraud! Eric Trump, President Donald Trump’s son, wrote in a post shared to his Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts.
The image Eric Trump shared in his post claimed that there was a huge, inexplicable increase in voter turnout in Wisconsin this year. The image showed voter turnout percentages during presidential elections over the last 20 years in Wisconsin, with voter turnout hitting 89.25% this year. But in previous years, the post claimed incorrectly, turnout had only hovered between 67% to 73%.
The image is based on faulty accounting of voter turnout in the state. -- AP
In battleground state of Georgia, Biden overtakes Trump by 917 votes
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden pulled ahead in the battleground state of Georgia by 917 votes, CNN reported on Friday, as the tallying of votes continues in the state.
Mr Biden is locked in a tight election race with President Donald Trump in which no candidate currently has enough Electoral College votes to be declared the winner.
The shift in Georgia came hours after Trump appeared at the White House to falsely claim the election was being “stolen” from him.
Mr. Trump had seen his lead steadily shrink in Georgia, a Southern state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since 1992, as officials worked through tens of thousands of uncounted votes, many from Democratic strongholds such as Atlanta.
The Georgia secretary of state reported late on Thursday there were about 14,000 ballots still to count in the state.
The state also will have to sift through votes from military personnel and overseas residents as well as provisional ballots cast on Election Day by voters who had problems with their registration or identification. -- Reuters
Judge denies Trump campaign bid to halt Philadelphia count
A federal judge denied an emergency request from U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign on Thursday to stop ballot counting in Philadelphia so long as Republican observers were not present.
Mr. Trump's campaign had sued Philadelphia County's Board of Elections earlier in the day to seek an emergency injunction.
The campaign said election officials were “intentionally refusing to allow any representatives and poll watchers for President Trump and the Republican Party”. The lawsuit was filed with the federal court in Philadelphia.
“As stated during today's emergency injunction hearing, in light of the parties' agreement, plaintiff's motion is denied without prejudice,” U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond said in a one-sentence order late on Thursday.
A state appellate court ruled earlier in the day that more Republican observers could enter the building in Philadelphia where poll workers were counting ballots.
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) said about 1,700 ballots had been identified in Pennsylvania at processing facilities during two sweeps late on Thursday and were in the process of being delivered to election officials.
Trump has repeatedly said without evidence that mail-in votes were prone to fraud, although election experts say that is rare in U.S. elections.
His campaign also lost court rulings in the closely contested states of Georgia and Michigan on Thursday. -- Reuters
News Analysis: Donald Trump’s vote diatribe both shocking, unsurprising
It was at the same time shocking and utterly to be expected.
As the nation held its collective breath and awaited the result of the 2020 presidential election, President Donald Trump stepped to the podium in the White House on Thursday and made a full-frontal attempt to undermine the integrity of the vote, which was leaning in the direction of Democrat Joe Biden.
The President had spent months laying the groundwork for such a moment. He had repeatedly questioned the validity of mail-in ballots. He had dismissed election officials from Democratic states and cities as political hacks. And he had demanded in advance that the results be known on Election Day, which is never a given.
All of this has circulated through the conservative echo chamber for months. And it belies the truth about how elections are conducted in America, where voter fraud is extremely rare.
Trump Jr criticises Nikki Haley for ‘sitting on the sidelines’
In an apparent attack on popular Indian-American Republican politician Nikki Haley, Donald Trump Jr has accused that “2024 GOP hopefuls” are “sitting on the sidelines” and not speaking out against the “fraud” in counting of votes as claimed by his father Donald Trump.
Haley, who had campaigned for Trump during the just concluded presidential election, later tweeted, "We all owe @realDonaldTrump for his leadership of conservative victories for Senate, House, & State legislatures.”
“He (President Trump) and the American people deserve transparency & fairness as the votes are counted. The law must be followed. We have to keep the faith that the truth will prevail,” she added.
In an apparent reaction to this, Trump Jr wrote: "Everyone should be watching who is actually fighting this flagrant nonsense and who is sitting on the sidelines. Republicans have been weak for decades which has allowed for the left to do these things. Let’s end that trend once and for all."
In a series of tweets later, Trump Jr said, “The total lack of action from virtually all of the ‘2024 GOP hopefuls’ is pretty amazing. They have a perfect platform to show that they’re willing & able to fight but they will cower to the media mob instead. Don’t worry @realDonaldTrump will fight & they can watch as usual!” - PTI
Twin Senate runoffs in Georgia could shape Biden presidency
The outcome in several contested states will determine whether Joe Biden defeats President Donald Trump. But if the Democratic challenger wins, the ambitions of a Biden presidency could well come down to Georgia.
Georgia, long a Republican stronghold - but one with rapidly changing demographics - could be the site of two runoffs on Jan. 5 to settle which party would control the Senate.
Should Democrats win them, Mr. Biden would be dealing with a majority in the Senate, increasing his chances for passing legislation and securing major appointment confirmations. Otherwise, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, could wield the power to block Biden.
Other races in North Carolina and Alaska also hold the potential to reshape the balance of power, but Georgia offers the more likely prospect.
In Georgia, two runoff elections would mean a campaign on an almost national scale, with tens of millions of dollars spent by both sides.
Confounding Democrats, Trump makes inroads with Latinos
President Donald Trump and his Republican allies made significant inroads with Latino voters in Tuesday’s election, alarming some Democrats who warned that immigration politics alone was not enough to hold their edge with the nation’s largest minority group.
Trump’s strong performance with Cuban Americans in South Florida narrowed the traditional Democratic edge in Miami-Dade County and helped put Florida in Trump’s column early Tuesday. In Texas, Trump won tens of thousands of new supporters in predominantly Mexican American communities along the border.
A GOP win in a heavily Latino New Mexico congressional district suggested a surge of Republican-leaning support there. And even in Nevada, where Democrats’ strength among Latinos had powered the party to dominance, there were some signs of new Trump support among Latinos frustrated at the economic toll of coronavirus-related shutdowns. Democrat Joe Biden and Trump were still locked in a tight race there as officials counted the vote.
Philadelphia police probe alleged plot to attack vote counting venue
Philadelphia police said on Friday they are investigating an alleged plot to attack the city's Pennsylvania Convention Center, where votes from the hotly contested presidential election are being counted.
Local police received a tip about a Hummer with armed people driving up from Virginia with plans to attack the convention center, a police representative said.
Police took at least one man into custody and seized a weapon as well as the Hummer about which they had received a tip. No injuries were reported and no further details about the alleged plot were disclosed.
The news was reported earlier by Action News, an ABC affiliate. Video footage broadcast by the outlet showed a number of police officials at the scene.
Senate control hangs in balance with a few races undecided
Control of the Senate hangs in the balance after Republicans trounced Democratic challengers in crucial States but failed to lock down the seats needed to retain their tenuous majority.
One race in Georgia is headed to a January runoff. A second contest in Georgia and races in North Carolina and Alaska remain undecided, leaving the chamber now deadlocked 48-48 (The Senate has 100 seats in total, two for each State). An outcome may not be known until the new year.
The counting continued in Georgia, where GOP Senator David Perdue is trying to hold off Democrat Jon Ossoff in a multi-candidate race that could also go to a runoff if neither candidate clears the 50% threshold to win. - AP
Fact Check: Donald Trump makes series of inaccurate comments on polls
As the tortuous U.S. presidential election appeared headed to a conclusion, Donald Trump addressed the nation on Thursday and claimed without evidence that he was being robbed of a second term.
The White House press conference was the President’s first public appearance in more than 36 hours, and came after a day punctuated by tweets that showed his displeasure as his Democratic rival Joe Biden moved closer to victory.
In his 17-minute presentation, Trump made a series of inaccurate comments about the election and its conduct. He left without taking questions. Here is a breakdown of the accuracy of his statements.
2020 election generated highest voter turnout rate in 120 years
The 2020 U.S. presidential election has recorded the highest voter turnout in 120 years, a prominent electoral expert has said.
According to preliminary estimates of the U.S. Election project, a nonpartisan site that tracks voting, an estimated 239 million people were eligible to vote this year, of which nearly 160 million exercised their right to franchise. The figure is likely to be updated in the coming weeks.
The November 3 election saw a record voter turnout of 66.9%, which is the highest turnout rate since 1900. The 1900 election had recorded 73.7% voter turnout, it said.
Race tightens in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona
Here is a look at the latest updates from the three crucial States:
Arizona: AP has called Arizona, a traditional Republican stronghold, for Joe Biden. State officials say there are about 250,000 votes still to be counted in the State. The vast majority of the ballots still being counted are from Maricopa County, the most populous area of the State. The next update from elections officials there is expected at around 9.30 p.m. on Friday.
Georgia: Tens of thousands of still-uncounted ballots, many in counties where Biden was in the lead, is what’s making the Georgia contest too early to call. With an estimated 99% of the vote counted there, Trump’s lead over Biden has shrunk to about 18,000 votes. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said on Thursday night that there were approximately 61,000 ballots still outstanding.
Pennsylvania: It is among a handful of battleground States Trump and Biden are narrowly contesting. Trump, who held a 675,000-vote lead early Wednesday, prematurely declared victory in the State. But by Thursday evening his lead had slipped to about 53,000 votes, as mail in ballots from across the State continued to be counted. The late counted ballots were overwhelming in Biden’s favour. One reason for the tightening race is that under State law, elections officials are not allowed to process mail-in ballots until Election Day. There’s a possibility the race won’t be decided for days. - AP
In America, President doesn’t choose his or her voters: New York Attorney General slams Trump
New York Attorney General Letitia James has slammed President Donald Trump for raising doubts around the integrity of the 2020 election, saying in America it’s the people who choose their President and the will of the people will be heard.
Regardless of Trump’s inflammatory, misleading, and divisive rhetoric, Americans across the country should be assured that this election was administered fairly and securely by State officials of both major political parties. Election workers around the nation are hard at work counting all legal votes, just as they have done in every election before, she said.
James added that in America, the people choose their President; the President doesn’t choose his or her voters. - PTI
Networks cut away from Trump’s White House address
American television networks ABC, CBS and NBC all cut away from President Donald Trump as he spoke from the White House to make an unfounded accusation that the presidential election was being stolen from him.
Trump tried to commandeer the nation’s airwaves at a time when the evening newscasts are shown on the East Coast, after a day when the slow drip of vote counting revealed his leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia dwindling.
"We have to interrupt here, because the president has made a number of false statements, including the notion that there has been fraudulent voting," said NBC’s Lester Holt. "There has been no evidence of that."
Network personalities had sharply criticised Trump after his angry, middle-of-the-night speech following Election Day but aired that talk in full. Trump was more subdued on Thursday, yet offered a litany of complaints about suppression polls, mail-in voting and fraud that he never specified. - PTI
Steve Bannon's Twitter account suspended for glorifying violence
Twitter suspended an account used by former Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon after he recorded a video in which he called for beheading FBI Director Christopher Wray as well as government infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci for being disloyal to Trump. A Twitter spokesman cited the company policy against glorifying violence.
Elsewhere, Snap Inc's Snapchat removed a video from Trump's account in which Biden said he has an extensive “voter fraud organization.” Biden's statement came during an interview in which he was discussing his team fighting voter suppression efforts, and Snap determined that Trump's use out of context violated its policy against undermining the integrity of civic processes.
Trump campaign social media manager Ryann McEnany decried Snap's action in a tweet, saying in all caps, “Why won't they let the American people see this!?” - Reuters
House Democrats blame losses on polls, message, even Trump
Their majority shrunk, House Democrats cast blame on their election message, ground game and leadership under Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s team after expectations for big wins came crashing down by a stark reversal in Trump country.
They focused too narrowly on health care, when voters were also worried about the economy. They failed to fight back when Republicans labeled them “socialists” aligned with the party’s most liberal firebrands. They didn’t knock on doors to meet voters, focusing instead on phone calls, digital outreach and TV ads, due to the health risks of campaigning during the pandemic. They lost Latino voters in some places, and white, working class men in others. They did not pass more COVID aid through Congress when Americans needed help most.
And perhaps most importantly, Democrats are coming to grips with the fact that whether President Donald Trump is e-elected or defeated by rival Joe Biden, they still have a problem understanding and winning over Trump voters. - AP
'Worrying calls for violence' prompt Facebook to remove rapidly growing pro-Trump group
Facebook Inc said it had taken down a rapidly growing group where some supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump posted violent rhetoric and baseless claims that Democrats were stealing the election.
On Thursday afternoon, the “Stop the Steal” group, which called for “boots on the ground to protect the integrity of the vote,” was adding 1,000 new members every 10 seconds and had grown to 365,000 members in a single day.
“The group was organised around the delegitimisation of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. She said the move was in line with the “exceptional measures” Facebook was taking during “this period of heightened tension.”
The group's backers decried the deletion, saying they were organising peaceful protests, that they had been working hard to police the comments, and that Facebook had given then no advance warning. — Reuters
Trump, without evidence, says 'if you count the legal votes I easily win'
With his re-election chances fading as more votes are counted in a handful of battleground states, U.S. President Donald Trump launched an extraordinary assault on the country's democratic process from the White House, falsely claiming the election was being “stolen” from him.
Offering no evidence, Mr. Trump lambasted election workers and alleged fraud in the states where results from a dwindling set of uncounted votes are pushing Democrat Joe Biden nearer to victory.
“This is a case where they're trying to steal an election,” Mr. Trump said.
— Reuters
Election officials worried by threats and protesters
Election officials in several states said Thursday they are worried about the safety of their staffs amid a stream of threats and gatherings of angry protesters outside their doors, drawn by President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of widespread fraud in the race for the White House.
"I can tell you that my wife and my mother are very concerned for me,” said Joe Gloria, the registrar in Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas. He said his staff was bolstering security and tracking vehicles coming and going from the election offices.
But he added that he and others would not be stopped from “doing what our duty is and counting ballots.”
— AP
Trump campaign, Republican National Committee ask court to let them participate in lawsuit over sharpie
The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee have asked an Arizona judge to let them join a lawsuit that alleges vote tabulation equipment in metro Phoenix was unable to record a voter’s ballot because she completed it with a county-issued Sharpie pen.
They argued that anecdotal accounts of potential tabulation errors resulting from Sharpies demands further review and that they should be allowed to participate in the lawsuit because it will likely affect their interests in the tabulation of votes.
The lawsuit seeks a court order for all Maricopa County voters whose ballots were rejected as a result of using a Sharpie to be given a chance to fix their ballots. It also asks for such voters to be able to be present while election officials count their ballots.
— AP
Trump to deliver statement from White House at 5 a.m.
President Donald Trump will deliver remarks from the White House on Thursday evening, a spokesman said, in what would be the US leader's first televised appearance since election night.
Mr. Trump's statement is scheduled for 5 a.m. (IST), and comes as the president and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden await results from the remaining undecided states including Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada that will determine the election winner.
— AP
Republicans break with Trump over push to halt vote count
Some Republicans are breaking with President Donald Trump’s attempts to falsely declare victory in the election and halt vote counting in Pennsylvania and other states, leaving him without key voices of support as he continues to trail Democrat Joe Biden in his bid for reelection.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Trump ally who won reelection Tuesday in Kentucky, told reporters that “claiming you’ve won the election is different from finishing the counting.” Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who spoke at a recent Trump campaign rally, said in a tweet that “taking days to count legally cast votes is NOT fraud.” And Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, urged “everyone to be patient” as results come in. “It is critical that we give election officials time to complete their jobs, and that we ensure all lawfully cast ballots are allowed and counted,” she said in a statement.
— AP
Trump tweets his outrage in all caps as votes are counted
President Donald Trump spent a second day in the White House on Thursday stewing over election results that suggested a path to victory was slipping from his grasp, even as his campaign projected confidence.
"STOP THE COUNT!” he proclaimed on Twitter. But the president has no authority over election counting and halting the count at that moment would have resulted in a swift victory for his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.
"ANY VOTE THAT CAME IN AFTER ELECTION DAY WILL NOT BE COUNTED!” he later wrote. That seemed to advocate tossing out untold legally cast votes, including those from service members stationed overseas. Many states accept mail-in ballots after Election Day as long as they were postmarked by Nov. 3.
— AP
Donald Trump's children blame Republicans of inaction
"The total lack of action from virtually all of the “2024 GOP hopefuls” is pretty amazing," said Donald Trump jr. on Friday. "They have a perfect platform to show that they’re willing & able to fight but they will cower to the media mob instead," he added.
"Where are Republicans! Have some backbone. Fight against this fraud. Our voters will never forget you if your sheep," tweeted Eric Trump.
Arrests mount as marchers demand vote count, others cry foul
Police arrested dozens of people in New York, Portland, Oregon, and other cities overnight at protests demanding all votes be counted in the race for the White House, while smaller groups backing President Donald Trump returned to tabulation sites in closely contested states to cry foul over the election.
In Minneapolis, police cited more than 600 demonstrators who marched onto a highway Wednesday night protesting Mr. Trump’s threats to challenge the election results, as well as a variety of social injustices, authorities said Thursday.
The protests came as the Trump campaign insisted, without evidence, that there were major problems with the voting and the counting of ballots.
— AFP
Biden says has 'no doubt' he will win U.S. election
Democrat Joe Biden said Thursday he has “no doubt” he will defeat President Donald Trump and be declared winner of the US election, insisting that voters remain patient and that the result will be known “very soon”.
“We continue to feel very good about where things stand. We have no doubt that when the count is finished, Senator (Kamala) Harris and I will be declared the winners,” Mr. Biden told reporters in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
— AFP
Counties with worst virus surges overwhelmingly voted Trump
U.S. voters went to the polls starkly divided on how they see President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, with a surprising twist- In places where the virus is most rampant now, Mr. Trump enjoyed enormous support.
An Associated Press analysis reveals that in 376 counties with the highest number of new cases per capita, the overwhelming majority - 93% of those counties - went for Trump, a rate above other less severely hit areas. Most were rural areas in the Dakotas, Montana, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Iowa.
Taking note of the contrast, state health officials are pausing for a moment of introspection. Even as they worry about rising numbers of hospitalizations and deaths, they hope to reframe their messages and aim for a reset on public sentiment now that the election is over.
"Public health officials need to step back, listen to and understand the people who aren’t taking the same stance” on mask-wearing and other control measures, said Dr. Marcus Plescia of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
— AP
Election splits Congress, GOP bolstered as Democrats falter
The election scrambled seats in the House and Senate but ultimately left Congress much like it began, deeply split as voters resisted big changes despite the heated race at the top of the ticket for the White House.
It’s an outcome that dampens Democratic demands for a bold new agenda, emboldens Republicans and almost ensures partisan gridlock regardless of who wins the presidency. Or perhaps, as some say, it provides a rare opening for modest across-the-aisle cooperation.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on track to keep control of the Democratic House, but saw her majority shrinking and her leadership called into question. Control of the Senate tilted Republicans’ way as they fended off an onslaught of energized challengers, though a few races remained undecided Wednesday.
— AP
Federal judge in Washington, D.C. orders U.S. Postal Service to perform daily sweeps of processing centers
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered the U.S. Postal Service to perform twice daily sweeps of processing centers in states with extended ballot receipt deadlines to check for mail-in votes and to expedite them for delivery.
Thursday’s order will remain in place until the end of states’ windows for accepting ballots.
According to court records, a similar order by the same judge earlier this week found just 13 ballots in a search of 27 processing hubs in several battleground areas.
Elections officials in key battleground states are continuing presidential vote counting. Democrat Joe Biden is urging patience, while President Donald Trump is pursuing his legal options.
— AP
Biden cuts into Trump's leads in Pennsylvania, Georgia; maintains slim margins in Nevada, Arizona
Joe Biden, the former U.S. vice president, was continuing to cut into Trump's leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia while retaining slim margins in Nevada and Arizona.
Ballot counting dragged on in those battleground States two days after polls closed, with protesters from both sides staging street demonstrations in major cities over the vote counting.
In Georgia, officials expressed hope that they would have a result by the end of Thursday. Mr. Trump's eroding lead stood at around 13,500, with about 2% of the ballots remaining to be tallied. Mr. Trump's lead was about 114,000 votes in Pennsylvania, with about 8 percent of the ballots left to be counted.
Mr. Trump has to win the States where he is still ahead, including North Carolina, plus either Arizona or Nevada to triumph and avoid becoming the first incumbent U.S. president to lose a re-election bid since fellow Republican George H.W. Bush in 1992. Biden led in Nevada by about 11,400 votes and in Arizona by about 68,400 votes.
— Reuters
Joe Biden attends virtual briefings on coronavirus pandemic from panels of experts
Joe Biden is getting virtual briefings on the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout from panels of experts, sticking to a routine he’s had since March, even as the outcome of the presidential race remains in doubt.
The former vice president traveled Thursday afternoon to a theater in downtown Wilmington, Delaware, where his campaign has set up a makeshift studio. He and his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, often sit facing large screens while experts participate by video conference.
Biden has held similar public health and economic briefings about once a week since March while criticizing President Donald Trump’s administration for the federal government’s response to a pandemic that has killed more than 230,000 Americans.
— AP
Arizona Democratic Party asks court to let it participate in lawsuit over sharpie
The Arizona Democratic Party has asked a court to let it participate in a lawsuit that alleges vote tabulation equipment in metro Phoenix was unable to record a voter’s ballot because she completed it with a county-issued Sharpie pen.
A judge is holding a hearing Thursday in Phoenix in the lawsuit by voter Laurie Aguilera, who also alleged that ink from the marker bled through the back side of her ballot and that poll workers refused her request for a new ballot.
Ms. Aguilera is seeking a court order for all Maricopa County voters whose ballots were rejected as a result of using a Sharpie to be given a chance to fix their ballots. She also is asking for such voters to be able to be present while election officials count their ballots.
— AP
Nevada's Clark County may take until Saturday or Sunday to finish tallying mail-in ballot
As the nation awaits results from Nevada, Clark County Registrar Joe Gloria says it could take until Saturday or Sunday before the State’s largest county finishes tallying mail-in ballots that have been returned.
Mr. Gloria said Thursday at a press conference- “Our goal here in Clark County is not to count fast. We want to make sure that we’re being accurate.”
Mr. Gloria says Clark County has at least 63,262 ballots left to count, including 34,743 returned in drop boxes on Election Day and 4,208 returned via the U.S. Postal Service. But as mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day continue to trickle in, Mr. Gloria said he had no way of knowing the total number of outstanding ballots.
— AP
Michigan judge dismisses lawsuit by Trump campaign
A Michigan judge has dismissed a lawsuit by President Donald Trump’s campaign in a dispute over whether Republican challengers had access to the handling of absentee ballots.
Judge Cynthia Stephens noted that the lawsuit was filed late Wednesday afternoon, just hours before the last ballots were counted. She also said the defendant, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, was the wrong person to sue because she doesn’t control the logistics of local ballot counting, even if she is the state’s chief election officer.
— AP
Trump campaign files electoral malpractice lawsuit in Nevada
The Trump Campaign on Thursday filed a lawsuit in the battleground State of Nevada, alleging mass level electoral malpractice.
Nevada is the fourth State where the Trump Campaign has filed a lawsuit. U.S. President Donald Trump, who has 214 votes so far, has filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and demanded recounting of votes in Wisconsin.
Mr. Trump in a tweet, threatened to file lawsuits in all States where his rival and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has claimed victory.
— PTI
Senate control hangs in balance with a few races undecided
Control of the Senate hung in balance Thursday, a cliffhanger after Republicans trounced Democratic challengers in crucial states but failed to lock down the seats needed to retain their tenuous majority.
At least one race in Georgia is headed to a January runoff. Contests in three other states remain undecided, leaving the chamber now deadlocked 48-48. An outcome may not be known until the new year.
With the presidential race between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden also undecided, the Senate is in limbo because the vice president of the eventual winner’s party would serve as a tie-breaker in a split chamber.
— AP
Judge James Bass dismisses lawsuit by Republican Party in Georgia, Trump campaign
A judge in Georgia has dismissed a lawsuit by the State Republican Party and President Donald Trump’s campaign that asked him to ensure a coastal county was following State laws on processing absentee ballots.
Chatham County Superior Court Judge James Bass did not provide an explanation for his decision Thursday at the close of a roughly one-hour hearing. The county includes Gerogia's heavily Democratic city of Savannah.
The suit had raised concerns about 53 absentee ballots that poll observers said were not part of an original batch of ballots. County elections officials testified that all 53 ballots had been received on time.
— AP
Stay patient and stay calm: Biden camp
Joe Biden’s campaign is expressing optimism at the ultimate result of the election but warning supporters to “stay patient and stay calm” as vote counting continues.
Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said Thursday on a briefing call with reporters that “the story of today is going to be a very positive story” for their campaign, but cautioned that as the counting continues, “we need to allow it to get done and get done well.”
She says the campaign expects their lead to fluctuate in some states as more votes come in.
— AP
450,000 ballots still to be counted: Arizona State officials
Arizona State officials say there are about 450,000 ballots still to be counted in the Western battleground.
The Associated Press says it is monitoring that vote count as it comes in. The AP has called the presidential race in Arizona for Democrat Joe Biden.
AP executive editor Sally Buzbee says- “continues to watch and analyze vote count results from Arizona. We will follow the facts in all cases.”
— AP
Stop the count, says Donald Trump as Joe Biden inches closer towards White House
With Joe Biden edging closer to unseating him from the White House, President Donald Trump says he wants to put a halt to vote counting.
The extraordinary statement by an incumbent president to voice support for ceasing the count of legally cast votes came in a Thursday morning tweet, saying only- “STOP THE COUNT!”
Elections are run by individual state, county and local governments. Mr. Trump’s public comments have no impact on the tallying of votes across the country.
So far, the vote count across the country has been conducted efficiently and without evidence of any misconduct, despite Mr. Trump's public complaints.
— AP
Biden at 253/264 electoral votes, Trump at 214: U.S. media
Joe Biden on Thursday edged toward the magic number of 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House, but several battleground States were still in play, as incumbent President Donald Trump cried foul over the ongoing vote count.
As it stands, there are five States still left uncalled, including major prizes such as Pennsylvania, and key small state Nevada — meaning both Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden still have a path to victory.
U.S. media outlets have projected wins for the Republican incumbent in 23 States including big prizes Florida and Texas, as well as Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Ohio — all States he won in 2016.
Mr. Biden has captured 22 States including his home state Delaware and big prizes California and New York, as well as the U.S. capital.
The former Vice-President has flipped three States won by Mr. Trump in 2016 — Michigan, Wisconsin and, according to two sources, Arizona.
In the case of Arizona, Fox News and the Associated Press have already called the race in Mr. Biden's favour, putting him at 264 electoral votes. Politico and The Wall Street Journal are also using this figure.
But other networks including CNN and NBC News have held back thus far from calling Arizona, giving him a total of 253.
Nebraska split its electoral votes between the two candidates — four for Mr. Trump and one for Mr. Biden. Maine was won by Mr. Biden, but he seized only three of the four electoral votes on offer, with the last allocated to Mr. Trump.
So far, that gives Mr. Biden 264 electoral votes (or 253 without Arizona) and Mr. Trump 214.
If Mr. Biden holds on in Arizona, and wins Nevada, he would reach 270.
Election moves to the courts
A list of the cases that will play out in the coming days and possibly weeks:
Michigan ballot-counting fight
The Trump campaign said on Wednesday it had filed a lawsuit in Michigan to stop state officials from counting ballots.
The campaign said the case in the Michigan Court of Claims seeks to halt counting until it has an election inspector at each absentee-voter counting board. The campaign also wanted to review ballots that were opened and counted before an inspector from its campaign was present.
Mr. Biden was projected to win the State with 50.4% of the vote, with 99% of the expected vote in, according to Edison Research.
Pennsylvania court battles
Republican officials on Tuesday sued election officials in Montgomery County, which borders Philadelphia, accusing them of illegally counting mail-in ballots early and giving voters who submitted defective ballots a chance to re-vote.
At a hearing on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Timothy Savage in Philadelphia appeared skeptical of their allegations and how the integrity of the election might be affected.
In a separate lawsuit, the Trump campaign asked a judge to halt ballot counting in Pennsylvania, claiming that Republicans had been unlawfully denied access to observe the process.
Meanwhile, Republicans in Pennsylvania have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision from the State's highest court that allowed election officials to count mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrived through Friday.
On Wednesday, the Trump campaign filed a motion to intervene in the case.
U.S. Supreme Court justices said last week there was not enough time to decide the merits of the case before Election Day but indicated they might revisit it afterwards.
Justice Samuel Alito, joined by fellow conservatives Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, said in a written opinion that there is a “strong likelihood” the Pennsylvania court's decision violated the U.S. Constitution.
Pennsylvania election officials said they will segregate properly postmarked ballots that arrived after Election Day.
With about 89% of the vote counted, Mr. Trump led Mr. Biden in Pennsylvania with 50.7% of the vote to 48.1%, according to Edison Research.
U.S. Postal service litigation
A U.S. judge on Wednesday said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy must answer questions about why the U.S. Postal Service failed to complete a court-ordered sweep for undelivered ballots in about a dozen states before a Tuesday afternoon deadline.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan is overseeing a lawsuit by Vote Forward, the NAACP, and Latino community advocates who have been demanding the postal service deliver mail-in ballots in time to be counted in the election.
Georgia ballot fight
The Trump campaign on Wednesday evening filed a lawsuit in state court in Chatham County, Georgia. Unlike the Pennsylvania and Michigan actions, that lawsuit is not asking a judge to halt ballot counting. Instead, the campaign said it received information that late-arriving ballots were improperly mingled with valid ballots, and asked a judge to enter an order making sure late-arriving ballots were separated so they would not be counted. — Reuters
International election observer says no evidence for Trump's fraud claims
The head of an international delegation monitoring the U.S. election says his team has no evidence to support President Donald Trump’s claims about alleged fraud involving mail-in absentee ballots.
Michael Georg Link, a German lawmaker who heads an observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, told German public broadcaster on Thursday that “on the election day itself, we couldn’t see any violations” at the U.S. polling places they visited.
Mr. Link said he was “very surprised” by Mr. Trump’s claims about postal ballot fraud because the United States has a long history of this method of voting going back to the 19th century. - AP
Biden needs one more battleground state to win the White House
Democrat Joe Biden was pushing closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to carry the White House, securing victories in the “blue wall” battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan and narrowing President Donald Trump’s path.
With just a handful of states still up for grabs, Mr. Trump tried to press his case in court in some key swing states. It was unclear if any of his campaign’s legal maneuvering over balloting would succeed in shifting the race in his favor.
Two days after Election Day, neither candidate had amassed the votes needed to win the White House. But Biden’s victories in the Great Lakes states left him at 264, meaning he was one battleground state away - any would do - from becoming president-elect. - AP
Anti-Trump protesters demand to continue voting
Anti-Trump protesters in some cities demanded that vote counting continue. Police arrested 11 people and seized weapons in Portland, Oregon after reports of rioting, while arrests were also made in New York, Denver and Minneapolis. - Reuters
Wary China hopes for smooth ending amid grim forecast of ties
A wary China on Thursday hoped the presidential poll process in the U.S. would end smoothly and successfully and said that there is a room for cooperation between the two nations despite “some differences,” as observers forecast heightening of the rivalry between the top two economies no matter whoever emerges victorious.
The U.S. presidential election remains undecided, turning the nation’s attention to a handful of battleground states that continue to tabulate the crush of mail-in ballots that will decide whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden will be victorious.
"People are following closely, me included but it seems that the votes are still being counted and results have not come yet," China’s Vice-Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said at a media conference when asked to comment.
"We hope the election will proceed smoothly and successfully,” Le, a former Ambassador to India said, adding that there is a room for cooperation despite some differences . - PTI
Senate drive: Democrats spared a loss with Gary Peters' win
Democrats faced increasingly long odds as the the battle for Senate control hangs in balance, and Republicans brushed back multiple challengers to protect their majority. Still, it was too soon for the GOP to declare victory.
In Michigan, Democrats were spared a loss late on Wednesday when Sen. Gary Peters beat back a tough challenge from Republican John James. But Republicans held on to Susan Collins in Maine and other key seats across the map.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Donald Trump’s campaign helped his GOP allies, but that State election officials were still counting ballots. Key Senate races in North Carolina, Alaska and Georgia remained undecided. - PTI
Twitter, Facebook fail to corral Trump’s misinformation about U.S. vote count
As U.S. President Donald Trump and his allies flooded social media on Wednesday with false claims of victory and unsupported allegations of voter fraud, social media companies warned users that the presidential election had yet to be decided.
The posts on Twitter, Facebook and other sites are imposing a real-time test of Silicon Valley's much-touted rules on handling election misinformation and premature claims of victory.
But it is not clear whether the disclaimers and fact-checks, which often occur well after posts have been shared tens of thousands of times, are curbing the circulation of baseless claims. And in the case of Facebook, staff rewrote the rules regarding state victories on the fly.
Critics say that, in environments explicitly built to promote instant sharing and viral posts, bland disclaimers do not cut it.
Watch: Bernie Sanders predicts Trump's Election Day reaction
Almost two weeks after it was recorded, a video of Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders explaining how Donald Trump will react on Election Day has gone viral for it's eerily accurate prediction of the events unfolding now.
In an interview with comedian Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon , Sanders said that Trump is likely to claim victory before the counting of votes is complete.
"It could well be that at 10 o'clock on election night, Trump is winning in Michigan, he's winning in Pennsylvania, he's winning in Wisconsin, and he gets on the television, he says, 'Thank you, Americans, for re-electing me, it's all over, have a good day.' But then the next day, and the day following, all those mail-in ballots start getting counted, and it turns out Biden has won those States. At which point Trump says: 'See, I told you the whole thing was fraudulent, I told you those mail-in ballots were crooked. And I got — you know, we're not going to leave office'," he said.
Trump backers converge on vote centers in Michigan, Arizona
Dozens of angry supporters of President Donald Trump converged on vote-counting centers in Detroit and Phoenix as the returns went against him in the two key States, while thousands of anti-Trump protesters demanding a complete tally of the ballots in the still-undecided election took to the streets in cities across the U.S.
"Stop the count!” the Trump supporters chanted in Detroit. “"Stop the Steal,” they chanted in Phoenix.
The protests came as the President insisted without evidence that there were major problems with the voting and the ballot counting, especially with mail-in votes, and as Republicans filed suit in various States over the election.
The Phoenix protesters filled much of the parking lot at the Maricopa County election center, where sheriff’s deputies were guarding both the outside of the building and the counting inside.
Wearing Trump gear, members of the crowd chanted, “ Fox News sucks,” in anger over the network declaring Joe Biden the winner in Arizona. - AP
Which States are still counting votes and when will they be done?
Here is the state of play in five states. The vote counts are supplied by Edison Research.
Alaska: Trump has a wide lead and is broadly expected to carry the State, which offers 3 electoral votes.
Georgia: Trump is holding on to a narrow lead, but several of the large counties around Atlanta that lean Democratic have substantial numbers of ballots still to count. With 95% of the expected vote counted, Trump is ahead. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he hoped to have a result by the end of Wednesday.
Nevada: Long seen as a solid Biden-leaning state, Nevada now appears in play. State officials expect the remaining votes — largely mail-in ballots — to be counted by 10.30 p.m. on Thursday. Clark County, the state's largest and home to Las Vegas, has tallied nearly 84% of expected votes so far and Biden is ahead there.
North Carolina: The margin between Trump and Biden is less than 2 percentage points. The state allows mail-in ballots postmarked by Tuesday to be counted if they are received by November 12. On Wednesday morning, the Biden campaign said it expected a final result to take several days, and state officials said later on Wednesday that a full result would not be known until next week.
Pennsylvania: Of the battleground states, Pennsylvania has the furthest to go in counting votes, and Trump so far maintains a lead. Officials there can accept mailed-in ballots up to three days after the election if they are postmarked by Tuesday. About 1 million votes remain to be counted, Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, said on Wednesday.
Biden has won more votes than any other presidential candidate in U.S. history, says report
Democratic nominee Joe Biden has won more votes than any other presidential candidate in the U.S. history, shattering a record set by former President Barack Obama, according to a media report.
As of November 4, Biden had got over 70.7 million votes, more than anyone who has ever run for President, the National Public Radio reported.
This count includes 300,000 more votes than what Obama got in 2008, which was the previous record. Biden surpassed the popular vote record of 69,498,516 set by Obama in 2008.
Biden, in a tight electoral vote fight to the White House against incumbent President Donald Trump, is 2.7 million votes ahead of the Republican leader in the popular vote. - PTI
Why did Florida Latinos turn up for Trump?
A wave of support from Hispanic voters gave President Donald Trump a narrow but decisive victory in Florida on Tuesday night, helping him secure the state that has long been seen as a bellwether battleground. A lot of the swing came in Miami-Dade, the county that contains Florida's largest Cuban and Venezuelan communities.
Many Americans of Cuban and Venezuelan backgrounds left countries that they considered were ruined by socialist policies. So when Trump and his allies painted opponent Joe Biden, a moderate Democrat, as either a socialist himself, or in hock to the “radical left,” that struck home, some Miami voters told Reuters .
Some election observers had thought that Trump's harsh stance on immigration, and his administration's treatment of asylum-seekers would hurt him more among those of Hispanic background.
But Latinos are a widely disparate group, and many hold religious or conservative views that chime with those of Trump. -Reuters
U.S. sets new record for increase in COVID-19 cases day after election
The United States set a one-day record for new coronavirus cases on Wednesday with at least 102,591 new infections and as hospitals in several states reported a rising tide of patients, according to a Reuters tally.
Nine States reported record one-day increases in cases on Wednesday: Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.
The pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of American life, including a record number of voters mailing in their ballots in Tuesday's presidential election, whose outcome has yet to be decided.
Over dozen Indian Americans win State polls; another 4 re-elected to Congress
More than a dozen Indian Americans, including five women, have won State-level elections, marking a first for the community in many instances.
This is in addition to the four Indian Americans elected to the U.S. House of Representatives: Dr. Ami Bera, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna and Raja Krishnamoorthi. At least three other races, including one for the U.S. House of Representatives, are yet undecided.
The five women elected to State legislatures are Jenifer Rajkumar to the New York State Assembly, Nima Kulkarni to the Kentucky State House, Kesha Ram to the Vermont State Senate, Vandana Slatter to the Washington State House and Padma Kuppa to the Michigan State House. - PTI
U.S. presidential election moves to the courts
With the U.S. presidential election between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden too close to call, Trump turned to the courts to try to invalidate votes in Pennsylvania and block Michigan officials from counting ballots.
Here is a short summary of the cases that will play out in the coming days and possibly weeks.
Michigan ballot counting fight:
Trump's campaign said it has filed a lawsuit in Michigan to stop State officials from counting ballots until it has an election inspector at each absentee voter counting board. The campaign also wanted to review ballots which were opened and counted before an inspector from its campaign was present.
Pennsylvania court battles:
Republican officials sued election officials in Montgomery County, which borders Philadelphia, accusing them of illegally counting mail-in ballots early and giving voters who submitted defective ballots a chance to re-vote. In a separate lawsuit, the Trump campaign asked a judge to halt ballot counting in Pennsylvania, claiming that Republicans had been unlawfully denied access to observe the process.
U.S. Postal service litigation:
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said Postmaster General must answer questions about why the U.S. Postal Service failed to complete a court-ordered sweep for undelivered ballots in about a dozen States before a Tuesday afternoon deadline. The federal judge is overseeing a lawsuit by Vote Forward, civil rights organisation NAACP, and Latino community advocates who have been demanding the postal service deliver mail-in ballots in time to be counted in the election.
Georgia ballot fight:
The Trump campaign has filed a lawsuit in State court in Chatham County, Georgia. Unlike the Pennsylvania and Michigan actions, that lawsuit it not asking a judge to halt ballot counting. Instead, the campaign said it received information that late-arriving ballots were improperly mingled with valid ballots, and asked a judge to enter an order making sure late-arriving ballots were separated so they would not be counted.
Biden promises to rejoin Paris agreement in "77 days"
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who looks close to becoming the next U.S. President, promised to rejoin the Paris climate agreement in 77 days.
"Today, the Trump Administration officially left the Paris Climate Agreement. And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it," he wrote on Twitter. Biden had previously pledged the same , if elected to power.
The United States formally exited the Paris Agreement on Wednesday, fulfilling an old promise by President Donald Trump to withdraw the world's second-largest greenhouse gas emitter from the global pact to fight climate change.
Also read: Is the Paris Agreement necessary? Experts weigh in
Count every vote, says protestors in Chicago
As Trump's legal team persisted with efforts to block the counting of votes in at least three States, parts of America saw protests in the form of peaceful rallies. In Chicago, protestors armed with mobile phone torch lights and handheld signs of 'Count Every Vote' took to the streets.
Republicans on track to dash Democratic hopes of U.S. Senate majority
Republicans appeared poised to retain control of the U.S. Senate, after Senator Susan Collins defied political odds to win re-election in Maine and other Republican incumbents led Democrats in a handful of undecided races.
Democrats, who had been favoured to win the Senate majority heading into the election, had a net gain of only one seat to show as their options for further increases dwindled, despite a huge Democratic money advantage going into the final weeks of the campaign.
Republicans currently hold a 53-47 seat Senate majority. To win control, Democrats would need to net three Republican-held seats if Democrat Joe Biden wins the White House and Senator Kamala Harris becomes vice president with the tie-breaking Senate vote. If Biden loses to Republican President Donald Trump, Democrats would need four seats. - Reuters
'Sharpiegate' allegations fuel unproven claims of voter fraud in Arizona
Unsubstantiated claims alleging some votes cast for President Donald Trump were not counted in Maricopa County, Arizona — an important battleground in the 2020 U.S. election — because voters used Sharpie pens began spreading among right-wing social media accounts as election results trickled in.
CLAIM: Votes were eliminated in Arizona because people were made to use Sharpie pens to mark their ballots. This caused the tabulation machine to cancel the vote.
THE FACTS: As Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was declared the winner of the presidential vote in the Republican stronghold of Arizona, social media posts circulated falsely suggesting that votes for Trump were canceled because people were told to use Sharpies to fill out their ballots.
Arizona election officials confirmed that Sharpies were used in voting, but they said that would not invalidate a ballot. The Maricopa County Elections Department tweeted on Election Day that voting centers use Sharpies so that ink does not smudge when ballots are counted.
Win or lose, Trump's movement stronger and bigger than ever
The U.S. presidential election is still up in the air, but one thing is for certain: the movement created by Donald Trump is alive and well, and more solid than pundits expected.
No matter if he wins or loses, Trumpism looks set to live on.
Republican political pundit Sophia A. Nelson summed it up quickly: “The Trump movement is real. And it's here to stay.”
Despite being repeatedly — and wrongly — described as only older, white and rural, Trump's base will help deliver the third highest vote total in American political history — behind only Joe Biden, and Barack Obama in 2008. Hispanic voters, often expected to lean left, turned to Trump this time around — their turnout in Florida helped him easily defeat Biden in the Sunshine State in Tuesday's nailbiter of an election. - AFP
Judge pushes U.S. Postal Service to ensure all remaining election ballots delivered
A judge on Wednesday said he wants to ensure all remaining ballots for the closely contested U.S. election are delivered, demanding that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy answer questions about why the postal service failed to complete a court-ordered sweep for undelivered ballots.
“The pressing issues are where are the ballots and how do we get them delivered so they can be counted,” U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said in concluding a hearing that included testimony from U.S. Postal Service (USPS) official Kevin Bray who answered questions about ballot deliveries.
Many states are accepting ballots for up to a week after Election Day Tuesday as long as they were postmarked by then. Ballots are still being counted by election officials in battleground states in the contest between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden. - Reuters
Nevada to release more results on Friday
The top elections official in Nevada’s most populous county says more results will be released on Friday that include mail-in ballots received on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon that he did not yet know how many ballots had been received but uncounted in the Las Vegas area.
Early results showed Democrat Joe Biden with a slim lead over President Donald Trump in Nevada, but it was too early to declare a winner in the race Wednesday with a large number of ballots yet to be counted.
— AP
Trump prematurely claims he has won Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina
President Donald Trump has prematurely declared that he has won in the States of Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina
Mr. Trump tweeted on Thursday that he has “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.”
— AP
Angry poll watchers barred in Detroit
Emotions were running high on Thursday in downtown Detroit, where city election officials blocked about 30 people, mostly Republicans, from entering the vote-counting hall at TCF Center due to capacity restrictions to fight the spread of COVID-19.
Democrats said they had also been barred, and one poll worker told Reuters Republicans were “trying to slow down and obstruct the counting.”
Detroit police were called to enforce the decision and some of those barred from the hall grew agitated when poll officials blocked the windows with pizza boxes and cardboard to prevent challengers from viewing inside.
— Reuters
Biden wins in Michigan, in another major blow to Trump: U.S. media
Joe Biden has won the crucial battleground state of Michigan, US networks projected Wednesday, meaning the former vice president has flipped another state won by President Donald Trump in 2016.
CNN and NBC News projected the win for Biden in the Midwestern state, which unexpectedly went to Trump by less than half a percentage point in 2016 in one of the stunning state defeats suffered by Hillary Clinton.
— AFP
Scattered protests in U.S. cities, but no wide unrest seen
Scattered protests took place from Washington, D.C., to Washington state as votes were counted, but there were no signs of widespread unrest or violence linked to the U.S. election.
The outcome of the hard-fought contest for the presidency remained undecided Wednesday, stirring worries that prolonged uncertainty could yet spark conflict.
But demonstrations overnight and on Wednesday in cities including Seattle, Philadelphia, Washington and New York remained largely peaceful.
In Washington, more than 1,000 people protesting President Donald Trump converged on Black Lives Matter Plaza on Tuesday night, just a block from the White House, while hundreds more marched through downtown, sometimes blocking traffic and setting off fireworks.
— AP
We believe we will be the winners of U.S election: Joe Biden
Democrat Joe Biden said Wednesday he was confident of winning the presidency once all votes are counted, saying he was leading Donald Trump in the remaining swing States that will determine the election's outcome.
Also read:U.S. Presidential Elections | Joe Biden ahead, but no clear winner yet
With results from Wednesday's election showing Mr. Biden steadily nearing the threshold necessary to win the White House, Mr. Trump has mounted legal challenges in efforts to suspend the counting of ballots or force recounts in battlegrounds that will determine the next president.
“After a long night of counting, it's clear that we're winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency,” Mr. Biden said in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
After tense night, election mystery remains for media
After an extraordinary night of shifting vote counts and a rebuke of President Donald Trump, news organizations kept vigil Wednesday as Americans waited to learn who their next president would be.
For weeks, media outlets had warned that Americans would need patience on election night and beyond, and that turned out to be their most accurate prediction.
"It may take a few days,” said Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier.
After several hours of little movement, , CNN, CBS News and NBC News declared Wisconsin for Democratic challenger Joe Biden. While several states were still in doubt, the call narrowed Trump’s path to the 270 electoral votes needed for election - even as his campaign announced it would seek a recount there.
News organizations didn’t move in lockstep on their calls. By 3 p.m. EST, for example, no one had joined Fox News Channel or the AP in declaring Biden the winner in Arizona, which they had done more than 12 hours earlier.
Trump camp says it's suing to stop Pennsylvania vote count over lack of 'transparency'
President Donald Trump’s campaign says it’s suing to temporarily stop the vote count in Pennsylvania, claiming lack of “transparency.”
Justin Clark, Mr. Trump’s deputy campaign manager, said in a statement Wednesday that the campaign is “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.”
— AP
Trump sues for Michigan ballot access, asks Wisconsin recount
The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Michigan state court demanding access to locations where ballots are being counted in one of the undecided states that could determine whether President Donald Trump gets another four years in the White House.
The campaign said it is calling for a temporary halt in the counting until it is given “meaningful access” in numerous locations and allowed to review ballots that already have been opened and processed. Trump is running slightly behind Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Michigan.
The campaign also said it would ask for a recount in Wisconsin, a state called for Biden on Wednesday afternoon. Campaign manager Bill Stepien cited “irregularities in several Wisconsin counties.”
— AP
Democrats' Senate drive halted by GOP; key races undecided
Democrats faced increasingly long odds in the the battle for Senate control as Republicans brushed back multiple challengers to protect their majority. Still, it was too soon for the GOP to declare victory.
In Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins won the hardest-fought race of her career, securing a fifth term by defeating Democrat Sara Gideon. Declaring victory Wednesday afternoon, Collins said the outcome was “affirmation of the work that I’m doing in Washington.” Democrats had tried to tie the moderate Republican to President Donald Trump and criticized her for her vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
— AP
Biden wins Wisconsin in fight for White House
The fate of the United States presidency hung in the balance Wednesday as Democratic challenger Joe Biden picked up a win in Wisconsin while fighting President Donald Trump in other battleground states that could prove crucial in determining who wins the White House.
Neither candidate cleared the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House, and the margins were tight in several other battleground states. Top advisers for both Biden and Trump on Wednesday morning expressed confidence that they respectively had the likelier path to victory in the outstanding states.
— AP
Donald Trump's campaign files law suit to halt Michigan's vote count
President Donald Trump’s campaign says it has filed a lawsuit trying to halt the vote count in battleground Michigan.
The latest counts gives Mr. Trump’s Democratic challenger Joe Biden a small lead, but the race is still too early to call.
Mr. Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien says in a statement Wednesday that the campaign “has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law.”
Michigan is a critical battleground state that helped deliver Mr. Trump the presidency four years ago, along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Neither Wisconsin or Pennsylvania has been called yet.
— AP
November 5, 2020
Maine Republican Collins holds US Senate seat in blow to Dems
Embattled Republican incumbent US Senator Susan Collins of Maine scored a come-from-behind election victory as her challenger conceded Wednesday, virtually closing Democrats' pathway to regaining control of the Senate.
“I just received a very gracious call from Sara Gideon conceding the race,” said Collins, 67, who had trailed for months in polling against her Democratic rival.
Ms. Gideon said in a televised address that she spoke with Collins and “congratulated her on winning this election,” which chalks up another victory for Republicans from Tuesday's election.
— AFP
Trump wins one of Maine's four electoral votes, Biden carries State
President Donald Trump has won one of Maine’s four electoral votes, just as he did in 2016.
Mr. Trump carried the state’s 2nd Congressional District, the more rural and conservative of Maine’s congressional districts.
While Democrat Joe Biden easily carried the Sate itself, Maine is one of only two states that divides its electoral votes.
Mr. Biden won the 1st Congressional District and the statewide tally, good for three electoral votes. Trump’s victory in the 2nd Congressional District means he wins one electoral vote.
Maine split its electoral votes four years ago, awarding three to Democrat Hillary Clinton and one to Trump.
— AP
Trump to ask for recount in Wisconsin: campaign manager
President Donald Trump's campaign said Wednesday it was demanding a recount in Wisconsin, where early returns show Democrat Joe Biden with a slender lead.
“There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results,” campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a statement. “The president is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so.”
— AFP
Biden takes lead in key states in tight White House race
As of 9:30 p.m. (IST) Joe Biden had slim leads in Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin while Trump was ahead in Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
U.S. President Donald Trump fired off allegations of election fraud on Wednesday, setting the stage for a potential legal battle, as Democrat Joe Biden took a slim lead in key states that could decide the bitterly contested White House race.
Americans woke up on Wednesday not knowing who the next U.S. president would be as votes were still being counted in six battleground states that could swing the election.
As Trump vented his frustration on Twitter over the slow vote count, the Biden camp expressed confidence it was on track to win enough of the remaining close state races.
Campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon said a victory by the former vice president was a “foregone conclusion.”
— AFP
Claiming you’ve won the election is different from finishing the counting: Mitch McConnell
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is discounting President Donald Trump’s early claim that he’d already won the election, saying it’s going to take a while for states to conduct their vote counts.
The Kentucky Republican and Mr. Trump ally said Wednesday that “claiming you’ve won the election is different from finishing the counting.”
McConnell also says he is untroubled by Trump’s vows to contest the vote count in key states, telling reporters in Louisville that “you should not be shocked that both sides are going to have lawyers there.”
Early Wednesday, Mr. Trump said, “We will win this, and as far as I’m concerned we already have won it.”
— A.P.
They are working hard to make up 500,000 vote advantage in Pennsylvania disappear: Donald Trump
"They are finding Biden votes all over the place — in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. So bad for our Country!," tweeted Donald Trump on Wednesday. "They are working hard to make up 500,000 vote advantage in Pennsylvania disappear — ASAP," he added.
Presidency hinges on tight races in battleground states
The fate of the United States presidency hung in the balance Wednesday as President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden battled for three familiar battleground states - Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania - that could prove crucial in determining who wins the White House.
It was unclear when or how quickly a winner could be determined. The latest vote counts in Michigan and Wisconsin gave Biden a small lead in those states, but it was still too early to call the races. A recount seemed likely in Wisconsin, where an apparent losing candidate can request one if the margin is less than 1%.
Neither candidate cleared the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House, and the margins were tight in several other battleground states. Top advisers for both Biden and Trump on Wednesday morning expressed confidence that they respectively had the likelier path to victory in the outstanding states.
— A.P.
Dems head toward House control, but lose incumbents to GOP
Disappointed Democrats drove Wednesday toward extending their control of the House for two more years but with a potentially shrunken majority as they lost at least seven incumbents and failed to oust any Republican lawmakers in initial returns.
By midmorning on Wednesday, Democrats’ only gains were two North Carolina seats vacated by GOP incumbents after a court-ordered remapping made the districts more Democratic. Though they seemed likely to retain House control, their performance was an unexpected disappointment for the party, which hoped for modest gains of perhaps 15 seats.
After decades of trying, Republicans defeated 15-term Rep. Collin Peterson from a rural Minnesota district that backed President Donald Trump in 2016 by 31 percentage points, Trump’s biggest margin in any Democratic-held district. Peterson, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee, opposed Trump’s impeachment and is one of the House’s most conservative Democrats. He was defeated by Republican Michelle Fischbach, the former lieutenant governor.
— AP
Biden team: Trump faces 'embarrassing defeat' if he fights vote in Supreme Court
President Donald Trump will suffer a harsh loss if he follows through on threats to challenge election vote counts in the US Supreme Court, a lawyer for Democrat Joe Biden's campaign warned on Wednesday.
Mr Trump “will be in for one of the most embarrassing defeats a president ever suffered before the highest court in the land” if he asks it to invalidate ballots counted after Election Day, said former White House counsel Bob Bauer.
- AFP
Republican Ashley Hinson wins election to U.S. House in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, beating incumbent Rep. Abby Finkenauer.
Republican Lauren Boebert has won the Colorado House seat held by five-term GOP Rep. Scott Tipton.
- AP
Biden says ‘won’t rest until every vote counted’
Joe Biden has vowed that his campaign would not “rest until every vote is counted” in the U.S. election after President Donald Trump sought Supreme Court intervention to halt the counting process.
“We won't rest until everyone's vote is counted,” Mr. Trump's Democrat rival said on Twitter .
Trump alleges ‘surprise ballot dumps’ in States where he was leading
U.S. President Donald Trump has alleged that there had been “surprise ballot dumps” in States where he had been leading.
“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.”
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.
Oil prices rise after Trump falsely claims victory
Oil prices rose on Wednesday but pared earlier gains after President Donald Trump falsely claimed victory in a tight U.S. election with millions of votes still to be counted and the final result not yet clear.
A victory by Mr Trump is viewed as bullish for oil because of sanctions on Iran and his support for Saudi-led oil production cuts to support prices.
A contested result and prolonged uncertainty is seen as the most bearish outcome for oil and markets in general, while a win for Joe Biden would be seen as bearish to neutral because of his support for green policies and softer stance on Iran.
West Texas Intermediate was up 40 cents, or 1%, at $38.06 a barrel by 1442 GMT. It earlier reached highs of $38.92.
Brent crude was up by 51 cents, or 1.3%, at $40.22 after hitting highs of $40.97.
- Reuters
Twitter, Facebook label Trump's election posts when votes were still being counted
Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc flagged some of President Donald Trump's posts on the U.S. election as votes were still being counted, in a real-time test of their rules on handling misinformation and premature claims of victory.
The two companies have been under fierce scrutiny over how they police rapidly spreading false information and election-related abuses of their platforms. In the weeks before Tuesday's vote, both vowed action on posts by candidates trying to declare early victory.
Twitter hid a Trump tweet that claimed “we are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election” behind a label that said it was potentially misleading. The company also restricted users' ability to share the post.
- Reuters
Uncounted ballots greater than current margin in Michigan: Secretary of State
In Michigan, one of the battleground States, the uncounted ballots is greater than the current margin between the candidates. We will have a better idea by the end of today, Michigan Secretary of State tells CNN .
Indian-American Democrat Srinivas Preston Kulkarni loses congressional race in Texas
Indian-American former diplomat Srinivas Rao Preston Kulkarni lost the congressional race to his Republican rival Troy Nehls in a hotly contested battle in Texas’ 22nd district, one of the most ethnically and racially diverse in the US.
According to the latest election result update, Mr Nehls garnered 52 per cent of the votes at 204,537, while Mr Kulkarni got 44 per cent with 175,738 votes in the November 3 election.
If elected, 41-year-old Louisiana-born Kulkarni would have become the first Asian-American ever to serve in the Texas congressional delegation.
A former diplomat who served in Iraq, Russia, Israel and Taiwan, Mr Kulkarni in March had secured an easy victory in the Democratic primary for Texas’ 22nd Congressional district against former Pearland city council member Derrick Reed and attorney Nyanza Davis Moore.
- PTI
U.S. Presidency hinges on tight races in battleground States
The fate of the United States presidency hung in the balance on Wednesday morning, as President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden battled for three familiar battleground States - Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania - that could prove crucial in determining who wins the White House.
It was unclear when or how quickly a winner could be determined. A late burst of votes in Wisconsin gave Mr Biden a small lead in the state, but it was still too early to call the race. Hundreds of thousands of votes were also outstanding in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
The high stakes election was held against the backdrop of a historic pandemic that has killed more than 230,000 Americans and wiped away millions of jobs. Both candidates spent months pressing dramatically different visions for the nation’s future and voters responded in huge numbers, with more than 100 million people casting votes ahead of Election Day.
What might happen if U.S. election result is disputed?
Despite incomplete results from several battleground states that could determine the outcome of the U.S. presidential race, President Donald Trump proclaimed victory over Democratic challenger Joe Biden on Wednesday.
The premature move confirmed worries Democrats had voiced for weeks that Trump would seek to dispute the election results. That could set off any number of legal and political dramas in which the presidency could be determined by some combination of the courts, state politicians and Congress.
Here are the various ways the election can be contested:
Democrat Torres scripts history by becoming 1st openly gay Black man elected to Congress
Democrat Party’s Ritchie Torres has made history by becoming the first openly gay Black man elected to the US Congress.
Torres, 32, a New York City Council Member, won the election from New York’s 15th Congressional District, defeating Republican Patrick Delices to become the next representative, New York Daily News reported.
Tonight, a new era begins for the South Bronx, Torres said in a statement. “It is the honour of a lifetime to represent a borough filled with essential workers who have risked their lives so that New York City could live.
The Bronx is essential, and the vibrant, loving and talented people who live here have shown time and again their power, fortune and perseverance. The Bronx is the heartbeat of New York City, he said.
Torres, who identified himself as an Afro-Latino, has served in the City Council since 2013.
Legal teams on standby, says Team Biden
Democrat Joe Biden’s campaign says it will fight any efforts by President Donald Trump’s campaign to go to the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent ballots from being tabulated.
In an early morning statement, Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon called Trump’s statement that he will “be going to the U.S. Supreme Court” and that he wants “all voting to stop" “outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect.”
O’Malley Dillon says the Biden campaign has “legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist that effort.” And she says, “They will prevail.”
The country has not declared a winner in the presidential race. There are still hundreds of thousands of votes left to be counted, and the outcome hinges on a handful of uncalled battleground states.
Fox News under fire by Trump allies over Arizona Biden projection
Fox News faced criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign and its allies on Tuesday for projecting that Arizona's 11 electoral votes would go to Democratic challenger Joe Biden, as other news networks sought more evidence before making a call.
Fox Corp's Fox News chief White House correspondent John Roberts said the Trump campaign was “livid” that the network projected Arizona for Biden, saying: “Pushback is a very light word to use.”
The Associated Press backed Fox's call on Arizona three hours later.
Oklahoma sends Republican to Senate
An Oklahoma Republican has defeated Democratic congresswoman Kendra Horn and taken back the only Democratic-held seat in the state’s congressional delegation.
Republican state Sen. Stephanie Bice earned a reputation as a political moderate in her two terms in the Oklahoma Senate. She wrote a series of bills to help overhaul the state’s antiquated alcohol laws and invited a Hindu leader to deliver a prayer after the Legislature faced criticism for its lack of religious diversity.
But Republicans outnumber Democrats in the district, which includes several traditionally conservative suburbs and two rural counties. Before Horn’s election, it had been in Republican hands for four decades.
US futures slip after Trump's premature claim of victory
U.S. futures slipped and oil prices dropped Wednesday after President Donald Trump, in an early morning appearance at the White House, prematurely claimed victories in several key states.
Earlier, Wall Street futures and Asian shares had posted gains as investors took an optimistic stance on the election’s still undecided outcome.
Many investors took earlier forecasts of a so-called “blue wave” of Democratic Party wins as a signal that the U.S. economy might soon get a big, fresh infusion of help. But with the race too close to call, some analysts said they also might be reassured by the prospect for a continuation of Trump’s pro-market stance.
Joe Biden wins 3 out of 4 votes from Maine
Democrat Joe Biden has won at least three of Maine’s four electoral votes in his bid to unseat President Donald Trump.
Biden won the statewide tally and the 1st Congressional District, good for three electoral votes. Trump, meanwhile, hoped to claim one electoral vote in a win in the 2nd Congressional District. The 2nd Congressional District hasn’t yet been called.
Maine split its electoral votes four years ago, awarding three to Democrat Hillary Clinton and one to Trump, who won the more rural and conservative of Maine’s congressional districts.
In the race to the 270 electoral votes needed to win, Biden has 238 while Trump has 213.
From space to Senate: Mark Kelly wins from Arizona
Democrat Mark Kelly has won the Arizona Senate seat once held by John McCain.
The former astronaut defeated Republican Sen. Martha McSally, who was appointed to the seat after McCain’s death in 2018.
It’s the second election night contest in which a Democrat beat a GOP incumbent. The other was in Colorado.
The Arizona race was a a special election to finish McCain’s term, so Kelly could be sworn in as early as Nov. 30, when the results are officially certified.
Kelly flew combat missions for the Navy during Operation Desert Storm before becoming a test pilot and later an astronaut. He flew four missions to the International Space Station.
Kelly’s victory gives Democrats both Senate seats in Arizona. He will join Kyrsten Sinema in Washington.
Joe Biden wins Arizona
Democrat Joe Biden has won Arizona and its 11 electoral votes, flipping a critical battleground state that Donald Trump won four years ago and that could help determine which candidate wins the presidency.
The victory by Biden was a huge blow to Trump’s chances for reelection. Arizona has backed a Democratic presidential candidate only once in the last 72 years.
Will go to Supreme Court to dispute election count: Trump
Donald Trump claimed he had won the US election, despite the final results not yet being given, and said he would go the Supreme Court to dispute the counting of votes.
“We did win this election,” Trump said in an extraordinary speech from the ceremonial East Room of the White House. “This is a fraud on the American public.”
The Republican, who according to initial results is in a neck-and-neck race with Democrat Joe Biden, said he would go to court and “we want all voting to stop.”
Yvette Herrell wins an upset victory
Republican Yvette Herrell has won an upset victory for a House seat in New Mexico.
Torres Small ran a campaign in the traditionally conservative-leaning district as a moderate who has challenged her party’s stances on issues including oil and gas development.
While Torres Small maintained a fundraising edge throughout the race, Herrell received a surge in donations during the third quarter. She raised more than $1 million - one of the biggest fundraising quarters for a Republican congressional candidate in state history.
South Carolina once again backs Republicans
Republican Nancy Mace has defeated incumbent congressman Joe Cunningham in South Carolina, erasing a gain Democrats made two years ago.
Mace is a state lawmaker, and she beat Cunningham in a seat Republicans had vowed to flip back after the Democrat’s win in 2018. She will be only the second woman to serve in the House from South Carolina.
The congressional district stretches from Charleston to Hilton Head Island along the state’s coast and is richer, more educated and less conservative than much of South Carolina.
In a blow to Democrats, Steve Daines re-enters Senate
Republican Steve Daines of Montana has won a second Senate term, dealing a blow to Democrats’ hopes of gaining a majority in the chamber.
The former business executive and Donald Trump loyalist defeated Gov, Steve Bullock.
Daines’ first election in 2014 broke a Democratic lock on the Senate seat that had lasted more than 100 years. After Trump carried Montana by more than 20 percentage points in 2016, Daines emerged as one of the president’s ardent defenders.
Bullock is a two-term Montana governor who entered the race in March after dropping a presidential bid that attracted little support.
Political groups and the campaigns poured more than $100 million into the contest, a record shattering figure for the sparsely populated state. - AP
Protesters gather near White House, no wide unrest seen
More than 1,000 people protesting US President Donald Trump descended on Black Lives Matter Plaza on Tuesday night, just a block from the White House, while hundreds more marched through parts of downtown Washington, sometimes blocking traffic and setting off fireworks.
Scattered protests also took place from Seattle to New York City, but across the US there were no signs of serious violence or widespread unrest in the hours immediately after the polls closed.
The demonstrations in Washington were largely peaceful, with people shouting, Whose streets? Our streets! and If we don’t get no justice, they don’t get no peace! Groups of teenagers danced in the street as onlookers cheered. Large banners, including one reading Trump lies all the time, were unfurled. - AP
Biden ahead in Maine
Democrat Joe Biden has won at least one of Maine’s four electoral votes in his bid to unseat President Donald Trump.
Mr. Biden won the state’s 1st Congressional District, good for one electoral vote.
Maine’s statewide vote, which is worth two electoral votes, and the state’s 2nd Congressional District haven’t yet been called.
Maine split its electoral votes four years ago, awarding three to Democrat Hillary Clinton and one to Trump. Trump won the 2nd Congressional District, the more rural and conservative of Maine’s congressional districts.
It marked the first time in state history that Maine divided its electoral votes.
Maine is one of only two states that divides its electoral votes. The other is Nebraska.
Nebraska favours Trump
President Donald Trump has won four of Nebraska’s five electoral votes, while Democrat Joe Biden has won one electoral vote from the state.
The 1st Congressional District was called for Trump early Wednesday. He also won the 3rd Congressional District earlier, as well as the statewide vote. Trump gets one electoral vote for each congressional district, plus two electoral votes for winning the statewide vote.
Biden’s win in the 2nd Congressional District, which includes Omaha, is a flip from 2016, when Trump narrowly won it against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
While Trump easily carried the state itself, Nebraska is one of only two states that divides its electoral votes.
In 2016, Trump won all five of Nebraska’s electoral votes. - AP
Michelle Fischbach unseats Rep. Collin Peterson in Minnesota
Republican Michelle Fischbach has upset Democratic U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, who was seeking a 16th term.
Ms. Fischbach is a conservative former state senator who briefly served as lieutenant governor in 2018 when Tina Smith resigned the seat upon her appointment as a U.S. senator. Fischbach argued during the campaign that Peterson was too close to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other liberals.
Republican Steve Daines has been reelected to U.S. Senate from Montana.
Kanye West gives up on 2020 White House bid, eyes 2024
Rapper Kanye West on Tuesday voted for himself as the next U.S. president after a long-shot campaign marked by erratic statements and speculation that he might siphon some Black votes from Democrat Joe Biden.
Late on Tuesday evening, the singer and fashion designer appeared to concede his 2020 bid had ended but suggested his quest was not over. He posted a picture of himself in front of an electoral map saying “WELP KANYE 2024.”
Earlier, the singer and fashion designer tweeted that he was ”voting for the first time in my life for the President of the United States, and it's for someone I truly trust ... me.” - Reuters
Democrats head toward House control, but struggle to gain seats
Democrats drove on Wednesday toward extending their control of the House for two more years, but their expectations of expanding their majority seemed to be waning as they failed to defeat any Republican incumbents in initial returns.
Instead, the parties’ swapped a handful of seats apiece, underscoring returns that early on suggested a status-quo House election, with Democrats holding onto their majority with modest gains at best.
There were no early victories by Democrats in long-shot races. Republicans retained seats that Democrats had hoped to capture, for example, in central North Carolina and around Little Rock, Arkansas. - AP
Trump wins in Texas: US networks
President Donald Trump has won Texas, US networks forecast early Wednesday, taking the rich prize of 38 electoral votes in the Lone Star state.
Texas is traditionally a staunchly Republican state but Democrat Joe Biden made major inroads in the campaign and it was thought the state could go blue for the first time since 1976. - AFP
Optimistic of the outcome, says Biden
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said that he is optimistic about the outcome of the election. He was speaking to supporters in Delaware, and was accompanied by his wife Jill Biden.
Biden said that the results of the election may not be known until Wednesday morning or later but he is optimistic of the outcome.
Will make a statement tonight, says Trump
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to announce that he will be making a statement "tonight."
"We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the polls are closed!" he wrote in a tweet that Twitter flagged as possibly misleading.
Trump wins Ohio, Iowa, Florida
In a significant step towards retaining his post, President Donald Trump has won Florida, Iowa and Ohio. Trump had won all three States in 2016 as well.
With this, he has bagged 53 electoral votes. A victory in both these States, and Ohio in particular, is a major success for the Trump campaign.
Biden's hopes for a decisive early defeat of Trump faded as the President took solid leads in Florida, Georgia, Ohio and Texas. Fox News projected Trump would win Florida, a must-win State in his quest for 270 Electoral College votes.
All four of 'The Squad' retain their seats
Progressive Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib, popularly known as "The Squad" have secured a second term in Congress.
The four women were elected to the House of Representatives in 2018, and are admired on the Left for challenging the Washington status quo.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has won the election from New York, Ilhan Omar from Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley from Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib from Michigan.
“Our sisterhood is resilient,” Omar tweeted alongside pictures of all four women as she celebrated her victory.
Fox News calls Arizona for Biden, Republicans push back
Arizona, which has 11 electoral votes, has grabbed eyeballs after Fox News called it for Joe Biden Republicans pushed back against this, pointing out that Election Day votes are yet to be counted.
Arizona has potential to swing the election — a win here could make things easier for Biden. Trump had won the 2016 election
When will the election result be known?
In ‘normal’ years, most ballots are counted by the end of the voting day, with the result being known late in the night. This despite a small number of mail-in and absentee ballots coming in later, small enough in number that they would not change the overall result.
However, given the need for social distancing and concerns over in-person voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic, up to 80 million Americans will likely vote via mail, and in nearly a third of States, votes only need to be postmarked, not received, by the election day. With the U.S. Postal Service facing slowdowns through the pandemic, the likelihood of a decisive number of ballots being counted on the same day as voting is low.
Officials in the Midwestern States of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan have said that they are unlikely to announce the winning today, according to U.S. media reports.
Surprise lead for Trump in Virginia
As per the latest report, Trump was leading in the key battleground states of Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. Biden was leading in Arizona and Minneapolis.
Biden has won in Washington, Oregon, California and Illinois, while Trump has won Utah and Idaho.
In a surprise, Trump was leading by seven percentage points in Virginia, which was considered to be a Democratic bastion.
Indian-origin congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi wins U.S. House race
Indian-origin Democratic congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has been re-elected to the US House of Representatives for the third consecutive term.
Krishnamoorthi, 47, who was born in New Delhi, easily defeated Preston Nelson of the Libertarian Party. When last reports came in, he had accounted for nearly 71 per cent of the total votes counted.
Krishnamoorthi, whose parents are from Tamil Nadu, was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2016.
Meanwhile, congressman Ami Bera is seeking his fifth consecutive win from California and Ro Khanna his third term in the House of Representatives from California.
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal is seeking her third consecutive term from Washington state. - PTI
Delaware elects U.S.’ first transgender State senator
Democrat Sarah McBride has won a State Senate race in Delaware, and would become the first openly transgender State senator in the country when sworn in.
McBride defeated Republican Steve Washington to win the seat that became open following the retirement of the longest-serving legislator in Delaware history.
She won in a heavily Democratic district stretching from northern Wilmington to the Pennsylvania border, and joins several other transgender legislators around the country but will be the first transgender State senator.
Georgia Republican who supports QAnon wins U.S. House seat
Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who expressed racist views and support for QAnon conspiracy theories in a series of online videos, has won a U.S. House seat representing northwest Georgia.
Greene was heavily favored in the conservative district even before Democratic challenger Kevin Van Ausdal suddenly dropped out in September, saying he was moving out of state.
She has claimed in online videos that Black and Hispanic men are being held back by “gangs and dealing drugs,” alleged an “Islamic invasion” of government offices and accused Jewish billionaire George Soros of collaborating with Nazis.
She has also embraced QAnon, a far-right U.S. conspiracy theory centered around the debunked belief that Trump is fighting a secret campaign against “deep-state” enemies and a child sex trafficking ring of satanic pedophiles and cannibals.
Also read: All you want to know about QAnon
25-year-old Republican wins race, to be the youngest in Congress
Republican Madison Cawthorn has been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina. At 25, he is one of the youngest candidates to be elected to Congress. Incidently, the minimum age for eligibility to the House is 25 years.
He contested against Democratic candidate Moe Davis, a former Air Force prosecutor. Crawthorn had survived a near-fatal car accident when he was 18, which left him partially paralysed.
Cawthorn's reaction to the win was succinct. "Cry more, libs," he wrote on Twitter.
Is Texas turning Blue?
Texas, a traditionally Republican State with 38 electoral votes, is leaning towards Democrat Joe Biden at the moment.
Trump won Texas by nine points in 2016 but polls have shown Biden still within reach in America’s biggest red state. Democrats also need to flip only nine seats to reclaim a majority in the Texas House for the first time in 20 years, and have aggressively targeted several races in Harris County in the State.
On Monday, a federal judge had rejected a last-ditch Republican effort to invalidate nearly 127,000 votes in Houston because the ballots were cast at drive-thru polling centres established during the pandemic.
Ohio results and Trump-LeBron drama
Ohio, with 18 electoral votes, is another State that is a toss-up between the two candidates. The President had famously crossed swords with the State's star NBA player LeBron James, after the latter called the President "divisive."
In classic Trump fashion, the U.S. President took to Twitter to express his displeasure.
“Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon,” Mr. Trump posted. “He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do.”
Don Lemon is an American television journalist.
Trump then, unexpectedly, appeared to weigh in on the growing debate over who is the greatest NBA player of all time, James or Michael Jordan, by writing “I like Mike!”
Later, during a Trump campaign rally, chants of "LeBron James sucks" were heard, according to U.S. media.
Biden at 88 electoral votes, Trump at 63: US media
The first results are trickling in, with US media projecting wins for the Republican incumbent so far in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia — all States he won in 2016.
Biden has captured Connecticut, his home state of Delaware, Maryland, Illinois, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and New Jersey, as well as the three electoral votes given to the US capital Washington (District of Columbia). All were won by Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
So far, that gives Biden 88 electoral votes and Trump 63. The magic number is 270. - AFP
Donald Trump wins Arkansas, Biden leads in New York
Incumbent President Trump has won the Republican State of Arkansas, winning six electoral votes in the process.
He is projected to win in the States of Louisiana, South Dakota and Wyoming, thus netting in 14 electoral votes.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden has won in New Mexico (five electoral votes), and is set for a win in New York which has 29 electoral votes.
Trump wins Mississippi, Biden Delaware
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has taken Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma, and Joe Biden has won Massachusetts, his home state of Delaware and Virginia, a former battleground that has become a Democratic stronghold.
It was too early to call, in a tight race, the battleground of Florida as well as Georgia.
Florida votes Trump?
Florida, one of the States that is important for a Trump re-election, is still too close to call, according to U.S. media.
The key State had voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 elections, and carries 29 electoral votes. Florida is a must-win State for Trump in his quest for the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. Biden still has multiple paths to the 270 electoral votes he needs without Florida despite having spent lots of time and money trying to flip the State.
Republican Mitch McConnell wins reelection to Senate
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has won a seventh term in Kentucky.
The 78-year-old McConnell defeated Democrat Amy McGrath, a retired Marine combat pilot who challenged him as a political outsider. McConnell is the longest-serving Republican leader in Senate history.
As President Donald Trump’s top ally on Capitol Hill, McConnell led efforts to defend the president during his impeachment acquittal in the Senate. He also worked with Trump on a tax overhaul and orchestrated Senate confirmation of more than 200 judicial appointments, including Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. - AP
Control of Senate at stake as Trump’s allies face Democrats
Tuesday's U.S. election, primarily to elect the country's next President, is also important for the Senate and House of Representatives. One third of the Senate seats are up for re-election every two years. As of now, Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the 100 seat Senate.
This year, 35 seats are being contested. To gain majority, Democrats need to win at least three seats, plus one in case of a Republican president as the Vice President can act as a tie-breaker.
No surprises as Trump takes West Virginia, Biden Vermont
President Donald Trump has won in the traditionally Republican-leaning States of West Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky, while Democratic challenger Joe Biden has won the state of Vermont, U.S. media projected Tuesday as the first election results trickled in.
So far, that gives Trump 24 electoral votes to 13 for Biden. The magic number is 270. Observers expect the hotly contested race for the White House to come down to a handful of key battleground states.
Trump win predicted in Indiana as polls close
The first trends are trickling in Indiana and New Hampshire leaning towards a Republican win and Kentucky towards a Democratic win.
Polls closed in six U.S. States including in the key East Coast battleground of Georgia. Polling places also shut statewide in Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia in a landmark contest that saw tens of millions of American cast their ballots early amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Highest voter turnout in a century as over 160 million votes expected to be cast
The U.S. appears to be on track to see over 160 million votes cast in the 2020 presidential election, a turnout rate of about 67%, which is higher than the country has witnessed in more than a century, as President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden campaigned through the final day to get more voters to the polling booths.
The pandemic as well as a strong drive among Americans to have their voices heard on the ballot box resulted in a record 101 million early votes cast in person and by mail before the polls even opened on Election Day.
The last time the turnout was more than 65% was 1908, according to the United States Elections Project. - PTI
Watch | How is the President of United States elected?
Trump or Biden? Big turnout, few hiccups as voters choose
Millions of voters braved coronavirus concerns and occasional long lines to choose between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden in an epic election that will influence how the U.S. confronts everything from the pandemic to race relations for years to come.
Those who turned out in person joined 102 million fellow Americans who voted days or weeks earlier, a record number that represented 73% of the total vote in the 2016 presidential election.
Spirits were high — and positive — in many polling places after a long, exceptionally divisive campaign.
— A.P.
Votes in SC county can't be counted immediately
More than 13,000 votes in one South Carolina county will have to wait a while to be counted because of a printing error.
Dorchester County Election Commissioner Todd Billman said at a news conference Tuesday that the mail-in ballots did not have the proper bars printed at the top so the scanner used to count the votes won’t register them. He says the error does not affect anyone’s vote.
The votes will have to be counted by hand and will not be counted Tuesday. Mr. Billman says Dorchester County’s full results will be finished by the Friday deadline to certify returns.
— A.P.
Republican Governor confesses to voting for Joe Biden
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott says he voted for Joe Biden for president, making him the first Republican governor in the nation to acknowledge voting for the Democratic presidential candidate.
The Republican governor told reporters Tuesday after casting his ballot in his hometown of Berlin, Vermont, that he had never voted for a Democrat in his life.
“As many of you knew, I didn’t support President Trump. I wasn’t going to vote for him,” Scott said. “But then I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t enough for me to just not vote. I had to vote against.”
— A.P.
Joe Biden isn’t making any predictions about election outcome
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden isn’t making any predictions about the outcome of the election as the final hours of voting tick down.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday outside a Delaware community center, Biden said he’s “superstitious” about offering predictions for election night but remains “hopeful.” He says he’s heard from aides that there’s “overwhelming turnout” among young people, women and older Black adults in places like Georgia and Florida.
He says, “The things that are happening bode well for the base that has been supporting me -- but we’ll see.” Still, he admitted, “It’s just so uncertain” because of how many states are in play.
— A.P
No apparent signs of any malicious cyber activity — at least not yet: Department of Homeland Security
The cybersecurity agency at the Department of Homeland Security says the U.S. election so far has featured the usual technical glitches and routine issues but no apparent signs of any malicious cyber activity — at least not yet.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency also says it’s too early to declare victory as polls near closing time around the nation Tuesday and with days of vote counting and certification ahead.
— A.P.
Election Day unfolds smoothly, so far defying fears of disruption
Americans by the millions waited patiently to cast ballots at libraries, schools and arenas across the country on Tuesday, in an orderly show of civic duty that belied the deep tensions of one of the most polarizing presidential campaigns in U.S. history.
The face masks worn by many voters and the sight of boarded-up stores in some city centers were reminders of two big issues shaping the 2020 election, with COVID-19 still ravaging parts of the country after a summer of sometimes violence-marred protests against police brutality and racism.
While civic rights groups said they were monitoring for any signs of voter interference and law enforcement agencies were on high alert for disruption at the polls, their worst fears had not materialized by early afternoon.
— Reuters
Kamala Harris heading heading to Wilmington, Delaware
Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris is heading to Wilmington, Delaware, after spending the afternoon campaigning in battleground Michigan.
She reminded voters at a Detroit church on Tuesday how slim Donald Trump’s margin of victory was in the state in 2016. She urged them to try to get two other people to vote as well.
She also urged people to remember why they are voting if they are stuck in long lines.
— A.P.
Hand Sanitizers jam ballot scanners in Iowa
A spokesperson for the Iowa secretary of state says hand sanitizer on voters’ hands caused a ballot scanner to jam at a polling place in Des Moines.
Spokesperson Kevin Hall says some voters’ hands were moist when they handled the ballots and the buildup of sanitizer eventually caused the scanner to stop working.
The machine was fixed in an hour.
— A.P.
'Away from the noise': How Liberal Americans are coping with Election Day anxiety
Rachel Richardson, a lifelong Democrat, is spending Election Day hiking trails along the Pacific Coast with her two daughters and a fellow mom with her kids in tow.
The 41-year-old Berkeley, California, native who voted for Democrat Joe Biden early said she decided to plan a three-day camping trip to stay away from minute-by-minute election news https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-voting/with-short-lines-and-face-masks-u-s-election-day-gets-off-to-an-orderly-start-idUSKBN27J12R and keep anxiety over the potential reelection of Republican President Donald Trump and the pandemic at bay.
“I think it's now time for me to get a good night's sleep, a few nights in the fresh, clean air with no WiFi signal anywhere in sight,” she told Reuters. “Away from the noise of people's responses.”
— AP
"Call out white supremacists": Crowd gathers near White House
A crowd chanting, “ Call out the white supremacists” has gathered near the White House, north of Lafayette park which is fenced off.
— Sriram Lakshman
Trump, Biden hand their fate to voters, with robust turnout
Voters flocked to the polls on Tuesday despite the threat of the coronavirus and long lines to choose between President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, in an election that will influence how the U.S. confronts everything from the pandemic to race relations for years to come.
Those who are voting in person on Tuesday are joining 102 million Americans who voted early, a record total that that represents 73% of the total turnout of the 2016 presidential election.
"The most important issue is for us to set aside our personal differences that we have with each other,” said Eboni Price, 29, who rode her horse Moon to her polling place in a northwest Houston neighborhood.
— AP
Donald Trump is the President of criminal justice reform: White house
"President Donald Trump is the President of criminal justice reform. He's fighting for public safety while ensuring that our justice system serves every American community and provides second chances for those who are ready to give back and rebuild," The White house tweeted.
"He's fighting for public safety while ensuring that our justice system serves every American community and provides second chances for those who are ready to give back and rebuild," it added.
Dollar slides, stocks rise as markets lean toward Biden
The dollar slid and global equity markets rose Tuesday on bets of increased stimulus if Joe Biden wins the U.S. presidential election against President Donald Trump, but gold prices gained on the prospect of contested voting results.
Stocks climbed in Asia after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates to near zero and boosted its bond-buying program, a precursor to expectations the Bank of England on Thursday will also ramp up its bond purchases.
The dollar slid on the notion a Mr. Biden victory would weaken the greenback. The former Democratic vice president is expected to boost stimulus spending and be less combative on trade, which would lift other currencies at the dollar's expense.
— Reuters
Early vote in U.S. presidential election hits record 100 million
More than 100 million Americans cast an early vote in the 2020 presidential election ahead of Tuesday's Election Day, according to the U.S. Elections Project at the University of Florida, driving what is expected to the highest turnout in modern times.
The sharp increase in mail-in and early in-person voting was largely spurred by the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 231,000 people in the United States and continues unabated in many states as the number of cases continue to spike.
— Reuters
Republicans in battleground Pennsylvania sue over balloting near Philadelphia
A Republican congressional candidate in Pennsylvania on Tuesday sued election officials in a suburban Philadelphia county, accusing them of illegally counting mail-in ballots early and giving voters who submitted defective ballots a chance to re-vote.
The lawsuit against Montgomery County officials was filed by Kathy Barnette, who is seeking a House seat in Pennsylvania's 4th Congressional district, and Clay Breece, chairman of the Republican Committee in neighboring Berks County.
They are seeking to block county officials from letting voters change defective ballots, and to have mail-in ballots that are defective or have been changed be deemed “spoiled,” meaning they would not be counted.
— Reuters
U.S. 'entitled to know' winner on election day: Donald Trump
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday again sought to sow doubt over the counting of ballots beyond election day, saying the country was “entitled” to know who won on the day of the vote.
“You have to have a date, and the date happens to be November 3,” he said during a visit to Republican National Committee offices in Arlington, Virginia.
“And we should be entitled to know who won on November 3.”
— AFP
Democrats push to extend control of House for two more years
Democrats pushed to seal control of the House for two more years Tuesday as they banked on their health care focus, dominant fundraising and broad suburban indignation with President Donald Trump to make their majority in the chamber even larger.
Republicans were hoping to oust some of the 29 Democrats in districts Trump won in 2016, mostly freshmen, in places like Iowa, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, rural New Mexico, upstate New York and Virginia.
But nearly all Democratic incumbents in potentially vulnerable districts were outspending their GOP challengers, often by vast margins. Democrats were also aiming millions at Republican-held seats from areas around Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston and Indianapolis, and even GOP strongholds like Little Rock, Arkansas, western Colorado and Alaska.
— AP
With short lines and face masks, U.S. Election Day gets off to an orderly start
Americans by the millions waited patiently to cast their ballots at libraries, schools and arenas across the United States on Tuesday, in an orderly show of civic duty that belied the deep tensions of one of the most polarizing presidential campaigns in the country's history.
Face masks worn by many and boarded-up stores in some city centers were reminders of two of the issues shaping 2020's elections, with COVID-19 still ravaging parts of the country after a summer of sometimes violence-marred protests against police brutality and racism.
In New York City, some voting lines snaked around blocks. But in many places lines were short or non-existent, which poll workers guessed was due to an unprecedented wave of early voting. More than 100 million ballots were cast before Election Day, a new record.
— Reuters
FBI investigating robocalls urging people to 'stay home' on Election Day
The FBI is looking into a spate of mysterious robocalls urging people to stay home on Election Day as the nation remains on high alert to ensure voting is not compromised, a Department of Homeland Security official said Tuesday.
U.S. State and local officials have been raising the alarm over at least two separate automated call campaigns as million of Americans cast their votes on Tuesday to decide between President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden.
Experts who spoke to Reuters say they are mystified by one of the campaigns, which tells people to remain home but does not explicitly mention voting.
“There's a little bit of confusion about this one across the industry,” said Giulia Porter, vice president at RoboKiller, a company that fights telemarketers and robocalls and has been tracking the campaign.
— Reuters
Brazil's Bolsonaro, a Trump fan, urged to refrain from hasty U.S. election comment
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been advised by domestic aides to wait until U.S. election results are official before congratulating his political idol Donald Trump on a win, even if either candidate declares himself winner beforehand, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters .
Mr. Bolsonaro, a far-right populist, has modeled himself on the U.S. president and delights in being called the “Tropical Trump.” The U.S. leader has not completely redrawn U.S.-Brazil relations in the way Brasilia may have hoped, but he represents a key ideological ally for Bolsonaro.
If Joe Biden wins, the Democrat could put the environment and human rights at the top of the bilateral agenda, complicating relations and jeopardizing trade, diplomats and analysts have told Reuters .
— Reuters
Don’t slow down, California—keep up this historic turnout: Kamala Harris
"12 million Californians cast their ballot before Election Day. Millions more will head to the polls today," tweeted Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris.
"Don’t slow down, California—keep up this historic turnout," she added. If elected, she will become the first woman Vice-President of the country.
November 4, 2020
U.S. postal service ordered to check for delayed ballots in key battlegrounds
A judge ordered the U.S. Postal Service to sweep some mail processing facilities on Tuesday afternoon for delayed ballots and immediately dispatch them for delivery in election battlegrounds such Pennsylvania and Florida among other places.
Affected by the order are central Pennsylvania, northern New England, greater South Carolina, south Florida, Colorado, Arizona, Alabama and Wyoming as well as the cities of Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, Detroit and Lakeland, Florida.
— Reuters
Watch: What will the US election results mean for India?
While many in India, like people around the world, are interested in the US elections just to see who will win between Donald Trump and Joseph Biden, let us take a look at what the results could mean for US ties with India.
Also read: More ups than downs, and many surprise turns in Trump’s foreign policy for India
On the strategic side of things, it is clear that relations under Mr. Trump have grown closer at a more rapid pace than before, but it is unlikely that the results in either direction will make a difference to those. What will US ties with China, the Indo-Pacific and Pakistan, especially vis-a-vis Afghanistan be?
— Suhasini Haider
Americans vote as country braces for unrest
By the time Americans started lining up at the polls on Tuesday, an unprecedented number of their fellow citizens — just under 100 million — had already voted, either by mail or via in-person early voting. Both candidates and their star campaigners dashed across swing States urging Americans to vote and to vote for their vision of the future. Also unprecedented in the modern history of a country that likes to be called the “world’s oldest democracy” was the anticipation of possible violence and civil unrest in the event of a contested election.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who wrapped up his campaign on Monday night in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as he had done in 2016 continued to question the legitimacy of some mail-in ballots. Democratic candidate Joe Biden concluded his campaign on Monday where it began — in Pittsburgh.
Mr. Biden began Tuesday with a visit to St. Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church in Wilmington, Delaware, with his wife Jill and their granddaughters, visiting the graves of his late son Beau and his first wife and their daughter. Mr. Biden, then flew to Scranton, Pennsylvania, his birth place, for a “get out the vote” event.
— Sriram Lakshman
Biden releases video on voting day
Joe Biden meanwhile released a simple video on voting day encouraging people to go out and vote, with the message: "It comes down to this."
Trump releases video montage of him 'dancing' to "YMCA"
On voting day, pinned to the top of President Donald Trump's twitter profile is a video montage of him dancing to "YMCA", the 1978 hit of the band Village People, at various campaign rallies. Over 2 minutes and 12 seconds, Mr Trump merely does fist punches in robotic fashion, occasionally pointing his index finger to the crowds as the disco hit plays on. The video ends with the message "Get out and vote".
Trump's top domestic security official urges patience over vote count
Donald Trump's top domestic security official urged voters on Tuesday to be patient in waiting for election results after reports that the president could rush to claim victory.
“Voters should be patient while waiting for the outcome of this year's election,” said Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of homeland security.
“It is important to recognize that this process may require time.”
Trump reportedly told confidants that he would declare victory late on Tuesday if it looked like he was ahead in the voting, though he denied the accusation.
As voting opened, he told Fox News that there was “no reason to play games” over declaring victory early.
Officials in many states have said that counting the large numbers of mail-in votes could take at least another day, and perhaps three days.
Wolf told a press briefing that US election systems remain “resilient” despite attempts by foreign countries like Iran and Russia to hack them and to obtain voter data.
“We have no indications that a foreign actor has succeeded in compromising or affecting the actual votes cast in this election. But we do remain on high alert,” said Wolf.
Chris Krebs, the head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is in charge of election security, said he is confident that the vote results, which will only begin coming in on Tuesday evening, will be secure.
“There may be other events or activities or efforts to interfere and undermine confidence in the election,” Krebs said. “So I ask all Americans to be patient, to treat all sensational and unverified claims with skepticism,” he said.
- AFP
Trump says he feels 'very good' about chances
President Donald Trump said he felt good about his chances for victory as US election day opened on Tuesday, predicting that he would register big wins in key states such as Florida and Arizona.
“We feel very good,” a hoarse-voiced Trump told Fox News in a phone interview. Mr Trump said he expected victory in all the key states that will decide the election, but said he would not “play games” by declaring his win too early.
“We think we are winning Texas very big. We think we are winning Florida very big. We think we are winning Arizona very big,” he said.
“I think we are going to do very well in North Carolina. I think we are going to do well in Pennsylvania. We think we are doing very well everywhere.”
Running behind in most opinion polls, Mr Trump bashed Democratic opponent Joe Biden, “biased” media and the “extreme” left as he repeated his argument for re-election to four more years in the White House.
“Joe Biden is not prime time” he said.
Mr Trump called it “terrible” and “dangerous” that millions of votes mailed in might still not be counted on Wednesday.
But he downplayed allegations that he planned to prematurely declare victory on Tuesday evening before enough of the vote is tallied to determine the winner.
“I think we'll have victory, but only when there's victory,” he said. “Theres no reason to play games.”
- AFP
We can heal the soul of this nation: Joe Biden
"In 2008 and 2012, you placed your trust in me to help lead this country alongside Barack Obama. Today, I’m asking for your trust once again — this time, in Kamala and me," tweeted Joe Biden. The post also included two images of Mr. Biden with Barack Obama and Kamala harris
"We can heal the soul of this nation — I promise we won’t let you down," he added.
Polls open in four States
Polls opened at 6:00 am (16:30 IST) in the eastern states of New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Connecticut and Maine.
But the first polling stations to open in the country were in two New Hampshire villages, Dixville Notch and Millsfield, starting at midnight.
A tiny hamlet of 12 residents in the middle of the forest, near the Canadian border, Dixville Notch has traditionally voted “first in the nation” since 1960.
The vote took minutes, as did the count: five votes for Biden, and none for Trump. - AFP
Watch | Battleground USA: Inside the race to the White House
A video explainer on the 2020 U.S. Elections with The Hindu's U.S. Correspondent Sriram Lakshman
The Hindu In Focus podcast | Will there be a result on November 3?
There is a chance — in fact, a large chance — that the hugely consequential United States Presidential Election 2020 may not be straightforward. A huge proportion of voters in the U.S. have opted for early voting and mail-in voting, and in different States in the U.S there are different rules for the counting of these votes. Over the last six months, President Trump has sought to claim on Twitter that mail-in voting would lead to voter fraud and the Republicans are likely to throw in legal challenges in several States. Taking us through the scenarios and analysing the situation for each campaign as we head into our election coverage is Narayan Lakshman , Associate Editor of The Hindu and former U.S. correspondent.
10 states to watch out for
President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden each has a path to win the White House. The former vice president is competitive in all the battleground states Trump carried in 2016, and has put a handful of traditional Republican states, including Georgia and Arizona, in play. Trump can win by defending a wide swath of territory he won in 2016, but his hopes for reelection are heavily dependent on the swing states of Florida and Pennsylvania.
Grab the binoculars and focus on these 10 states as election returns start rolling in:
What to watch on Election Day in America
Election Day is finally here. Or at least what we still call Election Day, since nearly 100 million Americans had already cast ballots by Tuesday.
That’s the result of an election system that has been reshaped by the worst pandemic in a century, prompting many voters to take advantage of advance voting rather than head to polling places in person at a time when coronavirus cases are rising.
Here’s what to watch as the final votes for President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden are cast:
Fearing poll-related violence, White House, U.S. businesses take additional security cover
Security has been tightened at the White House, major commercial avenues and shopping districts in the United States as officials feared street violence on election day.
Vital government installations are on high alert. The Secret Service has fortified the White House; a non-scalable high wall has been temporarily erected around the sprawling presidential complex ahead of the voting on Tuesday.
On election eve, contractors were seen busy boarding up major stores and businesses from New York and Boston in the north to southern Houston to Washington DC and Chicago in the east to San Francisco in the West.
Boarding is the commercial term used for installing wooden platforms as protective covers for windows, it includes other makeshift security measures.
Judge rejects GOP effort to throw out 127,000 Houston votes
A federal judge on Monday rejected another last-ditch Republican effort to invalidate nearly 127,000 votes in Houston because the ballots were cast at drive-thru polling centres established during the pandemic .
The ruling came in response to a lawsuit by conservative GOP activists, who have filed a battery of court challenges over moves to expand voting options during the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenges have not involved Trump’s campaign.
The Hindu Explains | What are swing States in U.S. polls?
Why are States like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida crucial and will Trump get a second term?
Watch | How is the President of United States elected?
The United States President is elected every four years and can serve for only two terms. According to the Constitution of the U.S., the President must be a natural born citizen of at least 35 years of age and a resident for at least 14 years.
Watch | A quick look at the oldest and youngest U.S. presidents
This year, voters in the U.S. will choose between two of the oldest presidential candidates. 74-year-old Donald Trump and Joe Biden aged 77 will be the oldest in the country’s history. Trump, at the age of 70, became the oldest incoming president in 2016. On an average, U.S. presidents are inaugurated at 55 years of age.
