LAST UPDATE | 4 Nov 2020
THE POLLS HAVE closed in states across America in this year’s US Presidential Election.
President Donald Trump and his rival Joe Biden have done all they can to try and win over the American public, particularly in those crucial swing states to try to win the keys to the White House.
Results came in through the night, but it’s still anyone’s guess when we’ll know who the next president is.
Each man has a path to victory after many of the states have already confirmed a result. The states of Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania will be crucial.
Trump has already claimed without evidence that there is a “fraud on the American nation” and that he has won. But him saying it doesn’t make it so and there’s still plenty of votes left to be counted.
Follow all the updates here.
A nation holds its breath.
This iconic utterance from veteran RTÉ Sport commentator George Hamilton feels an apt way to describe the situation in the United States of America right now.
Amidst the divisiveness and nastiness at times on this election campaign (case in point: the first debate), there is one thing the candidates do agree on – this is the most important election in decades.
And we’ll be with you all night for every twist and turn.
Are you planning on all-nighter too? What are your predictions? Any questions for how it’ll all work? Tweet me at @seanmjourno or email sean@thejournal.ie, and I’ll post some of them here.
Just to introduce my esteemed colleagues who’ll be keeping you up to date with the latest updates, news and analysis throughout the night.
- Rónán Duffy’s contributions as we conduct our virutal news meetings are as clever and astute as they were back when we were all in the office. However, an added bonus during remote working is that his lovely and well-named dog Zizou makes the occasional appearance.
- Orla Dwyer is one of two Galwegian representatives on the TJ panel, and regularly makes a show of us all with how quick, accurate and incisive she is at what she does.
- Steering the ship tonight is our infinitely capable deputy editor Christine Bohan, who’ll be pulling the strings, keeping the show on the road and any number of other cliches that mean we get the job done.
It is not the newsroom we imagined but we’ll be bringing you everything you need to know between now and... whenever this ends. Tomorrow morning? Wednesday night? Late November? The inauguration? (My money is on tomorrow morning fwiw) https://t.co/VXqmxujYu4 pic.twitter.com/yMZLgk2iGq
— Christine Bohan (@ChristineBohan) November 3, 2020
Those of who worked overnight for the UK election last December were able to pay a visit to an early house after clocking off following the Tory landslide.
That shall not be happening this year, alas. But we plough on.
In a tweet I fear could be setting the tone for the kind of mad night we have in store, here’s RTÉ’s Washington correspondent Brian O’Donovan outside the White House in the last few minutes.
A protester dressed as a cannabis plant among those gathering outside the @WhiteHouse on this #ElectionNight. @rtenews pic.twitter.com/OupquokWC3
— Brian O'Donovan (@BrianOD_News) November 3, 2020
So, here’s a brief rundown of what’ll happen in the next few hours, courtesy of Ronan Duffy.
Polls in most of Florida (the state has two time zones) close at 12am Irish time, so much will be made about how the votes in that state are looking. Again though, with the early-voting health warning above.
Four years ago, some of the earlier tallies in Florida had favoured Hillary Clinton at about 12.30am but by 4am it was clear Trump had won the all-important state.
Polls in North Carolina and Ohio will close at 12.30am with NBC’s Chuck Todd saying this week that they might call the whole contest for Biden if he looks like he’s winning there at that point.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
All eyes will be on Florida, given it has been counting its early votes for weeks now. The polls have it very close in this state, with Biden having a slight edge.
If he can win here, things becomes very difficult for Trump so that’ll be one to watch early.
Other important places to watch early in the night include Georgia and North Carolina. You can read more about the swing states here.
Joe Biden wasn’t in the mood of making predictions about the outcome of the election as the final hours of voting ticked down.
Speaking to reporters outside a Delaware community centre, Biden said he was “superstitious” about offering predictions for election night but remains “hopeful”.
He said he had heard from aides that there was “overwhelming turnout” among young people, women and older black adults in places such as Georgia and Florida.
He said: “The things that are happening bode well for the base that has been supporting me – but we’ll see.”
His running mate Kamala Harris is headed to Delaware to support him after spending the afternoon campaigning in battleground Michigan.
Need a refresher on how the voting system works in America with its electoral college?
Here’s a good video below, or a handy run down here.
This has been called an unprecedented election, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is the first time this has happened.
In a sign of the times, hand sanitiser on voters’ hands caused a ballot scanner to jam at a polling station in Iowa.
The machine in Des Moines was fixed in about an hour, according to local officials.
To prevent another breakdown, workers moved the sanitising station further back in the queue so voters’ hands would be dry when they first touched the ballots.
In the kind of dispute we could be seeing a LOT of, Bloomberg is reporting that President Trump’s campaign has appealed a court order that denied its effort to halt ballots from being counted in Clark County, Nevada.
In multiple states, the Republicans are ready and willing to take legal action when it comes to the counting of votes. And the Democrats are also on standby in case of legal wrangling.
On Sunday night, Trump himself said he’d be “going in with our lawyers” as soon as the election is over.
Vermont’s Governor Phil Scott said he voted for Joe Biden, making him the first Republican governor in the nation to acknowledge voting for the Democratic candidate.
The Republican governor told reporters 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.”
Rapper and musician Kanye West announced he’d be running for president back in the summer.
He is actually listed on the ballot in a dozen states.
But not in Wyoming, which is the state he voted in. He wrote his name on the ballot paper instead.
“Today I am voting for the first time in my life for the president of the United States, and it’s for someone I truly trust… me,” he tweeted earlier.
Right, so.
KANYE2020 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/3kd8vrrHZQ
— ye (@kanyewest) November 3, 2020
One distinct possibility – particularly if it’s a close race – is Trump simply refusing to accept the result if he loses.
He’s hinted as much a number of times.
This piece here from my colleague Stephen McDermott covers the uncertainty around what’ll happen if Trump disputes the result.
“The response to the pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests and an impeachment trial involving Trump have already led to discord across the US this year.
“But some believe that an uncertain result in Tuesday’s presidential election could bring about a constitutional crisis that could leave the US without a clear result.
“In the worst-case scenario, Trump could conceivably use his power to prevent an outcome that goes against him.”
The Presidential Election is obviously the main event.
But there’s also the small matter of tonight’s undercard up for decision – it’s the race for 35 seats in the US Senate.
Currently held by the Republicans, the Democrats are fancied to retake the Senate. This would obviously benefit Biden if he was to win the White House and represent a major pain for Trump if he was to be re-elected.
Here’s a breakdown on the seven key states to watch in the Senate race.
With 100 million Americans voting early, it was fairly clear turnout would be huge.
The New York Times is reporting that turnout is likely to reach 67%, the highest in over a century.
CNN is reporting that Donald Trump is settling into the east wing of the White House with senior staffers and his family to watch the results come in.
Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has said she’s not worried about legal battles over the outcome because she’s confident it’ll be a “landslide”.
Political advisor Alyssa Farah has indicated that Trump will make a public appearance in some form from the White House tonight, regardless of the outcome.
It’s just over 30 minutes until polls close in a number of states.
Those states include:
The only one really watching here is crucial swing state Georgia.
The polls also close in a number of areas in Florida (29) after midnight, and fully close an hour later as it has two time zones.
My only safe prediction tonight is that Trump will use capital letters only in his next few tweets.
Just 15 minutes ago, he said: “WE ARE LOOKING REALLY GOOD ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. THANK YOU!”
WE ARE LOOKING REALLY GOOD ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. THANK YOU!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2020
Here’s a handy graphic from the Press Association on what times the polls close.
It’s clear that between midnight and 2am is when most of the key ones close, and we’ll start to hear results.
THREAD: Two-thirds of voters say their choice for president was driven by their opinion of President Trump, according to AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of the electorate.https://t.co/m3prNY8oCJ
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 3, 2020
The results of a few exit polls have begun to come in.
The Associated Press has been publishing some of its data.
It says:
The polls were due to close in North Carolina – a key swing state – at around 12.30am.
That’s now been delayed by around 45 minutes.
North Carolina election results will be delayed by at least 45 min tonight@NCSBE approved extensions at 4 precincts, including a 8:15p poll closure at a Sampson Co. location that had printer trouble this AM
— Dianne Gallagher (@DianneG) November 3, 2020
NC starts releasing early vote totals when all polls close
Alongside Florida, Pennsylvania is an absolutely crucial state upon which the election could be decided.
But there’s a very distinct possibility we won’t have a result from Pennsylvania for several days.
That’s partly because mail-in votes received after election day will still be counted. Furthermore, election officials in this state can only begin counting on election day itself meaning it could take an awful long time to count them all.
NPR has more on the state’s significance here.
The RNC also moved its war room from its HQ in downtown D.C. to an undisclosed location in the city citing security concerns over potential civil unrest, two sources familiar with their plans tell me
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) November 3, 2020
One official said the war room will not be at the WH or the Trump Hotel https://t.co/A29itVCxyH
An interesting development reported by Axios.
The Republican National Committee has moved its HQ in Washington DC to an alternate, undisclosed location citing concerns over potential civil unrest.
Earlier, protest groups organised a demonstration in central Washington and much of the area is boarded up in case of any trouble.
Inspired by this tweet from former Fine Gael TD Noel Rock earlier, I have begun to contemplate what’d make me crack out the whiskey this election night.
I’ve decided I’ll save it unless Biden wins Florida comfortably, and then Trump says it’s all rigged and he won’t accept it.
Which won’t happen?
Right?
Throughout the campaign, Biden has frequently attempted to cultivate a wholesome, decent guy persona.
This handwritten message on the wall of his childhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania won’t do those efforts any harm.
Joe Biden writes "From this house to the White House with the grace of God" on the wall of his childhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, during a visit on #ElectionDay. https://t.co/FCKotkNyJ4 pic.twitter.com/lFOU3faWC8
— ABC News (@ABC) November 3, 2020
Right, so. It’s just a couple of minutes until the first polls close.
So tell me this and tell me no more.
Who’s going to win?
Avid election watchers might remember the New York Times’s election needle which got a lot of attention in the 2016 election.
In brief, it was a graphic on the website which got more than 13 million page views which predicted the outcome of the election as the results started to come in over the course of the night.
It started by showing an 85% chance of Hillary Clinton winning and by the end – well, as you can imagine, it had swung completely the other direction.
Now it’s back, but it’s been tweaked this time around: it will be focusing on just three swing states – Georgia, Florida and North Carolina – rather than trying to look at the overall result.
Speaking on the NYT’s Daily live podcast just now, executive editor Dean Baquet said that he thinks the needles will be less of a focus of attention this time around but will help to give a sense of what is happening in these three states. We’ll start seeing projections on it in the next few minutes as polls close.
Okay, that’s the first polls closed.
CNN are saying that Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky and Vermont are too early to call.
They’re saying that Trump has won Indiana.
Fox, however, has called Vermont for Biden already.
The Associated Press is saying that Trump has won Kentucky.
Nothing unexpected so far.
So, if we’re going by Electoral College – it’s currently Trump 8 – 3 Biden.
BREAKING: Joe Biden wins Vermont. #APracecall at 7:00 p.m. EST. #Election2020
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
BREAKING: Donald Trump wins Kentucky. #APracecall at 7:00 p.m. EST. #Election2020
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
Quite the stat here from this pollster in Pinellas County in Florida.
Matt McDermott says: “In Pinellas County, Hillary Clinton won 233,701 total votes in 2016. Biden won 243,173 votes just in early voting.”
A very early – but also very good – sign for Biden in Florida.
In Pinellas County, Hillary Clinton won 233,701 total votes in 2016. Biden won 243,173 votes just in early voting.
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) November 4, 2020
Just a reminder – the magic number to hit is 270 to win the election. Both candidates only in single figures with the electoral college so far.
There’s a long way to go.
The vote in Florida always looked like it could be close, but the New York Times’ Nate Cohn is reporting it could be even closer than that.
CNN is saying, however, Biden is currently at 50.7% to Trump’s 48.4% with 35% of the vote counted in Florida.
More results coming in all the time.
FL Presidential Election Results
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) November 4, 2020
Biden (D): 52% (2,527,643 votes)
Trump (R): 47% (2,270,670 votes)
Estimated: 43-50% votes in
More results here: https://t.co/6GfosqGUrH
While we’re hearing votes coming in, Pennsylvania’s governor has appealed for calm as this state takes its time counting the vote.
Tom Wolf said: “But counting that tremendous number of ballots will take more time than we are used to. We may not know the results today, but I encourage all of us to take a deep breath and be patient. What is most important is that we have accurate results, even if that takes a little longer.”
All eyes are rightly on Florida and Georgia at the minute.
Both seem a toss-up at the minute, but Biden seems to be in good shape in Florida.
A timely reminder, though:
“It’s very early.”
— Sinead O'Carroll (@SineadOCarroll) November 4, 2020
Pinning this tweet. #ElectionNight
Liking the honesty and energy here from Floridian Alex Garcia, speaking to a Miami Herald journalist.
I just spoke with 28yr-old Miamian Alex Garcia. He said he woke up today thinking he was going to vote for Trump BUT he changed his mind at the voting booth. He ended up picking Biden to “go back to normal.”
— Lautaro Grinspan (@lautarogrinspan) November 3, 2020
“I just want my Instagram to be about me again, and how good I look”
The polls have just closed in Ohio, another vital swing state with 18 electoral votes.
North Carolina was supposed to close now, but that’s been put back 45 minutes.
Trump won both Ohio and North Carolina in 2016, and likely needs to win both again this year to win the White House.
The Associated Press has called West Virgina – as expected – for Donald Trump.
That’s now 13 – 3 to Trump.
BREAKING: Donald Trump wins West Virginia. #APracecall at 7:30 p.m. EST. #Election2020
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
The New York Times’s aforementioned election needle is now saying that Trump is 94% likely to win Florida.
Would be a huge victory for Trump but not necessarily a hammer blow for Biden.
In 2016, a win for Trump in Florida was a sign that Hillary Clinton was in trouble.
Joe Biden has won Virginia, according to the Associated Press.
Going by the electoral college, that’s Biden now in the lead – the VERY, VERY EARLY LEAD – of 16-13.
BREAKING: Joe Biden wins Virginia. #APracecall at 7:36 p.m. EST. #Election2020
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
This graphic shows just why Biden is in trouble in Florida.
Districts that Clinton won comfortably in 2016 now a lot closer.
Putting it better than I tried to earlier, the LA Times’ David Lauter explains why Trump winning Florida could mean that getting a definitive result tonight is now in serious doubt.
If Trump carries FL -- and right now, it looks as if he likely will because of the Miami-Dade vote -- the main impact is that we won't know the outcome of the elex super early. This is a must-win state for Trump, not for Biden.
— David Lauter (@DavidLauter) November 4, 2020
Just on that result in Miami Dade, Trump invested heavily to try to win votes here and is currently on around 120,000 votes more here than in 2016.
This would indicate Trump is doing much better with Latinos and people of colour in this area, but that’s not to say this will be replicated across the country.
LATEST: The Miami-Dade margin in Florida is great news for President Trump #Election2020
— Bloomberg (@business) November 4, 2020
Trump got 334,000 votes in Miami-Dade in all of 2016. He’s got more than 450,000 there already https://t.co/bjZhx3Bnfm pic.twitter.com/zjsUpzoYAN
Trump is now over 95% likely to win Florida, according to the New York Times.
In not-unrelated news, the odds on Trump to win the election have shortened considerably with gambling companies here. Biden still the favourite, however.
In other news, Biden is polling well in the swing state of Ohio. Again, early days.
OHIO
— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) November 4, 2020
Biden 748,969 64.5%
Trump 400,708 34.5%
1,161,796 votes counted. Estimated 19.0% - 22.6% in
Via @DecisionDeskHQ
Right.
In the next three minutes, another slew of states will close their polls and things will get a lot more interesting.
They are:
Obviously Pennsylvania and Florida are the ones to watch. But Pennsylvania is going to make us wait a while as we know.
As expected, Trump has won South Carolina – it’s North Carolina where we expect it to be a key battleground.
The Associated Press is also calling Mississippi and Alabama for Trump.
They’re coming in thick and fast.
BREAKING: Donald Trump wins Mississippi. #APracecall at 7:00 p.m. CST. #Election2020
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
Just away from the presidential election, the Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has retained his seat.
It had appeared he could’ve been in trouble to win out over his Democrat rival. Whether he’ll still be the majority leader when the dust settles remains to be seen.
BREAKING: Republican Mitch McConnell wins reelection to U.S. Senate from Kentucky. #APracecall at 8:01 p.m. EST. #Election2020 #KYelection https://t.co/lGfinjTqT4
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
Here’s a bit of extra reading to keep you abreast of what a) Americans considered when voting and b) how US media outlets are meeting the challenge of covering this election.
Both courtesy of Orla Dwyer.
The challenges facing US media outlets this year in projecting the next elected president https://t.co/PA6uxKD5pu
— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) November 3, 2020
A number of states closed their polls at 1am, and many of them are safe states for one or the other.
Joe Biden – as expected – has won New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Wins for Trump in Oklahoma and Tennessee now make the score Biden 85 – 55 Trump.
A district in Florida earlier reported a turnout of more than 100%.
How, I hear you ponder?
If you've been keeping an eye on the Voter Turnout page on our website, you may have noticed that there's over 102% turnout in precinct 538.
— Orange County, FL SOE (@OCFElections) November 3, 2020
"Wait a minute, how is that possible?"
1/ pic.twitter.com/3GRTs9IdaA
Precinct 538 in Orange County, which covers the University of Central Florida, reported a turnout of 102%.
Officials for the area said as of the registration deadline on 6 October there were 754 voters registered in the area. But for voters already registered in Florida, there is no deadline for updating their address.
So after the deadline, either during early voting or today, there were some Florida voters that updated their address, placing them in the precinct where they were then able to vote.
This meant the numbers that voted in the precinct were above the 754 who had registered as of the start of October.
Here’s a handy graphic of where we are so far, including the three swing states currently in play.
With Trump expected to win Florida, this election is now too close to call. But it’s early yet.
Going back to that needle from the New York Times.
As well as a certainty in Florida, it’s also saying that Trump is on top in the other important swing states of Georgia and North Carolina.
Republican Senator from Florida Rick Scott won a seat in 2018 on a difficult night for the party in the midterms.
He’s told NBC News that he thinks Trump has done the same as he did two years ago:
“It’s really the key to how I won my races, you’ve got to get the Hispanic vote out and you’ve got to get the Hispanic vote out for you. And that’s what President Trump did.
“I put out an ad today to try to help President Trump get the vote out and you saw Republicans came out significantly for him. A big turnout, and I think in this case it’s going to be a big night for Donald Trump in Florida.”
AP hasn’t called Florida for Trump, yet, but it won’t be long.
Donald Trump has won Arkansas, according to the Associated Press.
That puts the score now at Biden 85 – 61 Trump.
BREAKING: Donald Trump wins Arkansas. #APracecall at 7:30 p.m. CST. #Election2020
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
Away from the presidential race again for a moment.
A Republican candidate who has supported far-right QAnon conspiracy theories has won a seat in Congress in the state of Georgia by a huge margin. Marjorie Taylor Greene was widely criticised, including by senior members of her own party, after reports that she had promoted “Q”, the anonymous figure who claims that Donald Trump has secretly been fighting against a ring of high-profile paedophiles.
The sitting president has called her a “future Republican star”.
BIG WIN TONIGHT!
— Marjorie Taylor Greene For Congress🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) November 4, 2020
THANK YOU to the people of NW Georgia for choosing me to fight for them in Washington, DC!#gapol #ga14 #SASS #MAGA #KAG pic.twitter.com/mAojB8cw60
This explainer here delves into more on what the QAnon conspiracy theory is all about, and why FBI has identified it as a potential domestic terrorism threat.
In other noteworthy bits, Sarah McBride has become the first transgender State Senator in US history, winning a seat in Delaware.
Donald Trump has won Indiana. He now has 72 in the electoral college, to Biden’s 85.
BREAKING: Donald Trump wins Indiana. #APracecall at 8:52 p.m. EST. #Election2020
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
Another slew of polls are about to close.
Here’s where they are:
If Trump is ahead in a number of states so far, Biden will be hoping to make gains in key states like Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and (whisper it) maybe even Texas.
We have some more results from the safer states.
Donald Trump has won North Dakota and South Dakota, while Joe Biden has won New York.
The score is now Biden 119 – 92 Trump.
My colleague Rónán Duffy has published a separate piece where you can see which states have gone where so far.
You can see it here.
Expect it to fill up with red and blue in the coming hours.
Just an update on some other races, Trump has won Wyoming, Nebraska and Louisiana.
Biden has won New Mexico.
Biden is doing well in Ohio, which could be a big win for him.
But… it does appear his lead here is hinging on the early voting which was expected to favour him anyway.
Trump is closing the gap here.
One of the key swing states, Ohio has 18 electoral college votes.
Difficulty in reading too much into Ohio at the moment is that we don't know how much of Biden's lead is early voting and how much isn't. Proportion of both will really matter as to whether his lead will be sustained. #ElectionDay
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) November 4, 2020
A potential big win for the Democrats in their bid to regain the Senate (the Republicans had a majority of 53-47 here).
Fox News is projecting that Democrat John Hickenlooper has won out over Republican Senator Cory Gardner in Colorado.
BREAKING NEWS
— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) November 4, 2020
Colorado Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper wins against Republican Senator Cory Gardner@FoxNews Projects.
Anticipation is building in downtown Washington DC as nervous voters wait for the national picture to become clearer.
As temperatures drop, some of those gathered on Black Lives Matter Plaza Northwest have huddled around a projector showing TV news bringing live updates from across the US.
While the vast majority of the crowd of thousands is made up of Joe Biden supporters, the few Donald Trump fans walk freely while wearing Make America Great Again caps and there has so far been no sign of the unrest feared by many.
Bernadette Eichbelberger, a 68-year-old retired health care worker, admitted the wait for results had frayed her nerves.
She said she has spent much of the last week phoning potential voters for Biden and is fearful of what another victory for Trump will mean for the country.
“I’ve been worried for the last year,” she told the PA news agency. “I’ve been sick for the last four years of what he’s done to this country. It would only get worse, we will become a fascist country if he gets elected.”
A little earlier, here was a rare candid moment from the US President.
He said: “You know, winning is easy. Losing is never easy. Not for me, it’s not.”
Speaking at his campaign headquarters yesterday, Trump said he’s not thinking about a concession speech or acceptance speech yet.
Joe Biden has won Washington DC.
That’s just another few electoral college votes so he’s currently on 122 and Trump is on 92.
BREAKING: Joe Biden wins the District of Columbia. #APracecall at 9:27 p.m. EST. #Election2020
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
How it is 2.30am already?
Let’s do a quick run down of where we’re at with the swing states in play right now.
As polls close and votes are counted, some issues have cropped up in battleground states causing some delays.
In Georgia, the counting of absentee ballot voting was delayed by four hours in its largest county after a water pipe burst and caused flooding.
Business Insider reported that no ballots were damaged. The publication said an elections board member said he doesn’t believe the county will be able to report its results until this Friday.
In North Carolina, another swing state, election results have been delayed by about an extra hour after the State Board of Elections voted to extend hours at four polling locations due to delays caused by technical issues.
Opening times were extended by up to an extra 45 minutes at the booths, the Hill reported.
Down in Florida, a local TV station reported that the internet is down at the office of the Supervisor of Elections in Osceola County where more than 375,000 people live.
This issue has prevented precincts from uploading results. Several hours of delays are expected on counting these results.
At the weekend, Rónán Duffy had details on the range of other things Americans were voting on yesterday – from magic mushrooms to wolves.
On that theme, New Jersey has voted to legalise marijuana for adults aged 21 and over, becoming the 12th state to enact such a law.
New! Joining the Cannabis Club: New Jersey voters have approved a constitutional ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and over and establish a framework for marijuana regulation in the Garden State. New Jersey becomes the 12th state to enact a legalization law.
— Carla Marinucci (@cmarinucci) November 4, 2020
Joe Biden has won Colorado. He’s now on 131 electoral college votes and is nearing the limit of what is considered his “safe” electoral votes – believed to be in the region of 210.
He’ll need to try press home some gains in swing states soon. In Ohio, he’s outperforming Clinton in numerous areas of the state.
The Republicans, however, will expect a swing towards Trump as counting moves towards in-person votes yesterday.
BREAKING: Joe Biden wins Colorado. #APracecall at 7:36 p.m. MST. #Election2020
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
Kanye West currently pulling 0.19% in Colorado.
— Seth Masket (@smotus) November 4, 2020
Kanye West is polling at 0.19% in Colorado.
Apropos of nothing, here’s a Simpsons gif.
The headline to this piece gives it away, but this election is going to be so very close.
Trump looks to have regained the lead in Ohio. This will be an important state to hold.
But… he won Ohio by eight points in 2016. Neighbouring states such as Michigan and nearby Wisconsin only just went for Trump last time.
If this goes the same way in those states, Biden should win those back. If.
BREAKING Trump takes the lead in Ohio:
— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) November 4, 2020
Trump 2,129,977 49.38%
Biden 2,127,535 49.32%
votes counted. Estimated 70.6% - 83.9% in
Via @DecisionDeskHQ
The bookies have swung heavily towards a Trump victory, having been almost 2/1 prior to tonight. He’s now an odds-on favourite.
Make of that what you will.
Another safe win for Trump in Kansas. He’s now on 98 electoral votes.
Joe Biden is on 131.
Remember, it’s 270 to win.
I wouldn’t dare try call the result, but I will call this – we won’t know who’s won by the morning. It could take days.
As predicted by the New York Times, Trump has overtaken Biden in North Carolina.
He looks set to win this state – one of his must-holds to retain the presidency.
BREAKING Trump takes the lead in North Carolina:
— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) November 4, 2020
Trump 2,525,182 49.42%
Biden 2,523,830 49.40%
5,109,199 votes counted. Estimated >95% in
Via @DecisionDeskHQ
We were looking at Ohio there for a while.
Now we’re going to be looking at Arizona where Biden again has a big early lead.
We’ll have to wait and see if he keeps that lead as the remaining votes are counted.
The 11 electoral votes here would be huge for either man in this close election.
Biden opens with a big lead in Arizona. It'll come down on Election Day, but this is a tough deficit for Trumphttps://t.co/8bdQchP5zB
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) November 4, 2020
There are some reports that Trump is doing better in some counties in Pennsylvania than he did in 2016 – when he won the state anyway. Is that further trouble for Biden?
We can put to bed any chance of a definitive result there tonight anyway, there’s over 270,000 mail-in votes that won’t be counted until tomorrow there.
New: Philadelphia officials say they will not be reporting any more mail ballot results tonight. About 76,000 have been tallied so far — out of 350,000-some received. And remember, Biden supporters are disproportionately voting by mail. https://t.co/MVIqoGlglJ
— Holly Otterbein (@hollyotterbein) November 4, 2020
Away from the presidential race again, popular Democrat Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez has been re-elected to the House.
In bad news for the Democrats, they’ve lost a Senate seat in Alabama which means their earlier gain has been cancelled out.
I don’t know if anyone need it, but here are some photos of dogs at polling stations in the US earlier.
I thought I’d misheard this, but I hadn’t.
CNN just said “you can’t get high on your own supply”. We are at that stage of the night folks!
— Shane Beatty 🎙 (@ShaneBeattyNews) November 4, 2020
This is an interesting point here from Tim Alberta from Politico.
If Biden wins Michigan and Wisconsin – absolutely must wins for him now – he could still lose Pennsylvania and win the election.
How?
He’d have to win Arizona plus districts in Maine and Nebraska.
It’d mean he’d win 270 – 268. It’s possible. Like everything else still is at this stage.
Arizona has always been the X-factor.
— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) November 4, 2020
If MI & WI both go Biden—as the campaigns have expected—then Pennsylvania takes center stage, right?
Not necessarily. Biden could lose PA and still win the presidency if he wins AZ (plus Maine-2 and Nebraska-2.)
Would be 270 on the nose: pic.twitter.com/RT5I2GS0il
We’ve more states in.
Donald Trump has won Missouri. Joe Biden has won New Hampshire.
The electoral college is 135 – 108 in favour of Biden right now.
BREAKING: Joe Biden wins New Hampshire. #APracecall at 10:54 p.m. EST. #Election2020
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
Still no definitive result from a swing state yet.
Arizona is a crucial state now.
Winning that would be as essential step to winning the White House for Joe Biden.
This state counted early ballots and mail ballots first, which are thought to heavily favour Biden. So his current lead there of over 200,000 votes can’t be completely relied upon.
So the polls have closed in states on the west coast.
Joe Biden has won Washington state, Oregon and California.
Donald Trump has won Idaho.
That puts Biden on 209 and Trump on 112 electoral college votes.
And that’s almost all of the safe states now accounted for. It’s all about the battlegrounds now.
How is it 4am?
BREAKING: Joe Biden wins California. #APracecall at 8:00 p.m. PST. #Election2020
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
Here’s what the New York Times’ electoral map is looking like right now.
A lot of red, plenty of blue and plenty of states still with less than half of the votes counted.
Back to the Senate now.
It’s not looking good – right now – for the Democrats to win a majority.
Nate Silver from Five Thirty Eight is reporting that the scenarios where they have some huge majority are likely off the table.
It has appeared a foregone conclusion for a while now, and Fox News is now calling Florida for Donald Trump.
No Republican has won the White House without Florida. Fox News now projects a winner in the Sunshine State with the largest prize among key battlegrounds.https://t.co/jc9GzdILdt pic.twitter.com/2xfrUW2WCr
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 4, 2020
The Associated Press is saying Trump has won Utah.
Trump is now on 118 electoral votes – without Florida added just yet.
BREAKING: Donald Trump wins Utah. #APracecall at 9:07 p.m. MST. #Election2020
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
A rather alarming – but not unexpected – bit of information from three states Biden will need to win, from Saleha Mohsin from Bloomberg News.
It could be absolutely ages before we get a result from Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Wisconsin says there's no way they are announcing a winner tonight
— Saleha Mohsin (@SalehaMohsin) November 4, 2020
Michigan needs until Friday
Pennsylvania isn't coming out anytime soon, either
Per officials in those states
Here’s the latest graphic of where we are from the Press Asssociation.
It’s helpful to look at the comparison with Hillary Clinton in 2016. It seems like Biden has a lead now, but Trump won by such a margin four years ago because he won most of the crucial swing states.
That lead of almost 100 electoral college votes could disappear quickly.
Oooft.
That’s my first oooft moment of the night but it was worth it.
Fox News is saying that Biden has won Arizona. It’s only 11 electoral votes but if correct this could be pivotal.
To demonstrate how massive this could be, journalists in the US are tweeting the news and opting for capital letters to demonstrate how BIG this is.
.@FoxNews projecting Joe Biden wins Arizona. #ElectionNight pic.twitter.com/SKBQNBHNsa
— FOX 10 Phoenix (@FOX10Phoenix) November 4, 2020
If Trump loses Arizona, it’ll be the first state Trump won in 2016 that he has lost this time around.
In the run up to the race here, commentary around the state centred on its former Senator – and former presidential candidate – John McCain.
Trump publicly criticised the late McCain, who was popular in the state, on a number of occasions.
Similarly, if Trump loses Arizona it’ll be the first time the state has voted Democrat since 1996.
The Trump campaign is not happy with Fox calling Arizona for Biden.
WAY too soon to be calling Arizona...way too soon. We believe over 2/3 of those outstanding Election Day voters are going to be for Trump. Can’t believe Fox was so anxious to pull the trigger here after taking so long to call Florida. Wow.
— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) November 4, 2020
“Did we just call it? Did we make a call on Arizona?”
"That is a big get" - check out the moment Fox News called Arizona for Joe Biden pic.twitter.com/6IWxvBXcdZ
— The American Independent (@AmerIndependent) November 4, 2020
This front page from the Guardian sums it up well.
Guardian front page, 4.30am edition: America on a knife-edge pic.twitter.com/vJ3jRwVuGK
— The Guardian (@guardian) November 4, 2020
In fairly surprising news, Trump hasn’t tweeted for over five hours.
It’s a bit hard to believe now that Biden was once leading in Ohio.
With almost 90% of votes counted there, Trump has around a seven-point lead according to the New York Times.
Trump won Ohio handily in 2016 but then narrowly also won Michigan and Wisconsin.
Could lightning strike twice?
Again, it could be a while before we have results from those states.
Here’s some word from the Biden camp – from his deputy campaign manager Rufus Gifford.
He simply says: “We’re going to win.”
We’re going to win
— Rufus - Voted Early - Gifford (@rufusgifford) November 4, 2020
A Democrat pipe dream is winning Texas.
Not declared by AP yet, but it’s likely that will remain a dream until 2024 at the earliest.
"Decision Desk HQ Projects Trump (R) Has Won The State Of TX And Its 38 Electoral Votes
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) November 4, 2020
Race Called At 11-03 11:57 PM
All Results: https://t.co/hOnKMO4RDl
CNN’s Jim Acosta is reporting that Trump’s campaign is furious with Fox for calling Arizona for Biden.
Trump advisers say campaign is furious with Fox for its Arizona call for Biden, an indication of how much was riding on the state. "Words cannot describe the anger," the adviser said.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 4, 2020
Ohio has been called by a few outlets now.
I keep mentioning it but Trump’s campaign have not given up the fight in Arizona yet.
2/ We only need 61% of the outstanding, uncounted Election Day votes in Arizona to win.
— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) November 4, 2020
These votes are coming from “our counties,” and the 61% figure is very doable based on what our other Election Day votes are looking like.@FoxNews should retract their call immediately.
It was a formality but Biden has won Hawaii. He’s now on 213 electoral votes. He needs just 57 more to win the presidency.
Trump is only on 118 but once Texas, Ohio and Florida are confirmed, he’ll move up massively in the electoral college.
Oh!
Well now.
The New York Times’ needle was pointed towards Trump in Georgia all night.
Now it’s leaning slightly towards Biden with an estimated 80% of votes counted.
If Biden wins Georgia (with its 16 electoral college votes), that could be the end for Trump.
Let’s keep an eye on this one.
Joe Biden is apparently preparing to make a statement.
Speaking of Biden, he’s won Minnesota.
He’s now on 223 electoral votes.
BREAKING: Joe Biden wins Minnesota. #APracecall at 11:13 p.m. CST. #Election2020 https://t.co/lGfinjTqT4
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
A very important win for Trump has been confirmed as he takes the 18 electoral college votes in Ohio.
He’s now on 145 electoral votes.
Biden had appeared to have a good lead here early on, but that lead through early and mail-in ballots was eroded and flipped back to Trump.
Trump has also won Montana and Iowa, incidentally.
Back to Ohio.
As the phrase goes “As Ohio goes, so goes the nation”. And it is well-earned as Ohio has selected the eventual winner in 14 straight presidential elections.
Biden will have to buck that trend in 2020 if he’s to win the White House.
Trump is confirmed as the winner in Florida. The president’s strong numbers in Miami propelled him to victory here.
He gets the 29 electoral college votes there and now sits on 174 according to the Associated Press. Biden on 223.
Biden was due to speak at 5.30am Irish time but we’re still waiting on him.
Biden is speaking now.
“We believe we’re on track to winning this election,” he says. “We’re feeling good about where we are.”
He says we need to be patient and wait for all the votes to be counted, but he’s “optimistic”.
“Keep the faith, guys, we’re gonna win this,” he says.
The video on Biden’s Twitter feed ends with Jackie Wilson’s song Higher and Higher.
What’ll Trump do in response? And I don’t mean the song choice.
Oh! And Trump has spoken.
“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 Poles are closed!”
This is going to get ugly in the coming days, you’d imagine.
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 Poles are closed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
CNN are reporting that Trump is expected to make a speech within the next hour, and make similar claims about winning the election.
He’s saying it’s a “big WIN”.
There can only be one winner, though. Trump said on Sunday he’d be sending the lawyers in. That looks inevitable now.
I will be making a statement tonight. A big WIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
Trump has reposted his original tweet claiming “they” are trying to “steal” the election.
Possibly because he misspelled polls in the first one.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
Back to Georgia, and why has the New York Times needle swung towards Biden there?
Well, that’s because although Trump is leading at the minute, most of the votes still to be counted are in the Democrat-leaning city of Atlanta.
Trump's still up 7 in Georgia, but it's basically all Atlanta from here pic.twitter.com/53vonENqHK
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) November 4, 2020
Here’s the decision desk director at Fox explaining why they’re standing over their call of Arizona for Biden.
The Trump camp were furious with this.
Fox News Decision Desk Director stands by the Arizona call: "I'm sorry, the president is not going to be able to take over."pic.twitter.com/X0yIy18H9O
— The Recount (@therecount) November 4, 2020
Twitter has added a note to Trump’s tweet about Democrats stealing the election before it can be viewed.
It says: “Some or all of the content shared in this tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.”
It also has a link to the social network’s “civic integrity policy”.
The US President won’t like that at all, at all.
In what can be read as a riposte to Trump’s tweets, Biden has tweeted: “It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare the winner of this election. It’s the voter’s place.”
It's not my place or Donald Trump's place to declare the winner of this election. It's the voters' place.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 4, 2020
Republican House representative for Illinois Adam Kinzinger has issued a rebuke of sorts to Trump.
He said: “Stop. Full stop. The votes will be counted and you will either win or lose. And America will accept that. Patience is a virtue.”
Stop. Full stop. The votes will be counted and you will either win or lose. And America will accept that. Patience is a virtue. https://t.co/iZr78QoPIH
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) November 4, 2020
The electoral college race has tightened considerably, after Trump has been confirmed to have won Texas.
Biden now has 223 electoral votes and Trump is on 212.
And it’s 270 to win.
The big ones still to be confirmed are Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Arizona (11) appears to be leaning towards Biden.
The New York Times needle has Biden in a slim lead in Georgia (16).
And the other three are too close to call.
Nebraska is one of the states that doesn’t allocate all its electoral ballots to whoever wins the state. In the second electoral district, Biden has a strong lead.
Winning this one vote here is seen as an important one on his potential road to victory.
This is not official, but NE-2 is looking REALLY good for Biden. AZ is also looking really good. Minnesota just got called for him.
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) November 4, 2020
With those three, if he wins in MI and WI, that's the ballgame. He doesn't need PA in that scenario. https://t.co/Z0tdi926TE
We still don’t have a result from Arizona, and Fox is the main outlier so far in calling it for Biden.
This would be a crucial flip for Biden, and would mean he’d only have to win two of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to win the presidency.
But, as we’ve said, it could be quite a while before we get the results from these states, particularly Pennsylvania.
On the action from Twitter earlier, it has said it had placed a warning on Donald Trump’s tweet “for making a potentially misleading claim about an election”.
“This action is in line with our Civic Integrity Policy,” the firm’s @TwitterSafety account said.
We’re still waiting on the US President, who said he’ll be making a statement soon.
After Twitter hid Donald Trump’s tweet, Facebook also added a warning to the President’s post on their platform.
Underneath Trump’s post claiming “they are trying to STEAL the election”, a message read: “Final results may be different from initial vote counts, as ballot counting will continue for days.”
It’s oh so very close in the US Presidential Race.
Here’s the most up-to-date graphic from PA based on the Associated Press projections.
Trump appears to have big margins in Michigan and Wisconsin but a lot of the counting still remains there in districts that are expected to favour Biden.
Here’s a video of Joe Biden’s remarks earlier.
Still waiting on Trump.
And still waiting on Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
Trump is expected in the next few minutes.
Also, good morning to those of you joining us now.
It’s been a long night.
We’ve got you covered though if you need to catch up:
Reporters are inside the White House waiting for the president.
Inside the White House East Room, waiting for @realDonaldTrump statement. pic.twitter.com/AW62wneBam
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) November 4, 2020
Joe Biden has won at least one of Maine’s four electoral votes.
Biden won the state’s 1st Congressional District, which is good for one electoral vote.
Maine’s state-wide vote, which is worth two electoral votes, and the state’s 2nd Congressional District have yet to be called.
Maine split its electoral votes four years ago, awarding three to Hillary Clinton and one to Donald Trump.
Trump has won four of Nebraska’s five electoral votes, while Biden won one – potentially crucial – electoral vote from the state.
I’ve been watching an empty podium for about 15 minutes, now.
It’s 2.17am in Washington DC right now, as we await Trump’s arrival.
Here he is. At last.
“A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people [who voted for me], and we will not stand for it,” he said.
“We were winning everything and all of a sudden it was just called off… we were all set to get aside and celebrate something that was so beautiful…”
He’s claiming victory in Georgia. All the votes haven’t been counted there yet.
He says “we’ve a lot of life in Arizona”. He hasn’t mentioned Fox but he’s criticising them.
Trump also says they’re winning Pennsylvania. Which is true. But there are hundreds of thousands of votes left to count there. Plenty of them are mail-in ballots that are thought to favour Joe Biden.
There’s a lot of votes still to be counted in the crucial states that Trump appears to be claiming victory in here.
“They knew they couldn’t win so they said let’s go to court,” he says. “This is a fraud on the American public. It is an embarassment to our country… we were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.”
He says he’ll go to the Supreme Court.
To clarify, there are so many more votes to be counted. Trump has not won the election. Not yet, anyway. There are still viable paths to victory for both him and Biden.
It should be noted the room is filled with Trump supporters who are whooping at every word he says. Earlier, there was plenty of cars honking for Biden’s speech.
That was a gauntlet by Donald Trump.
He believes he’s won the election. And he won’t accept any other result.
Even though there’s hundreds of thousands of votes still to be counted.
That was remarkable.
Here’s more detail on what Trump said.
He said he would go to the US Supreme Court, claiming that there was a “massive fraud” in the election.
The president said: “This is a fraud on the American public, this is an embarrassment to our country.
“We were getting ready to win this election – frankly we did win this election.
“So our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation. This is a very big moment.
“This is a major fraud on our nation.
“We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we will be going to the US Supreme Court, we want all voting to stop.
“We don’t want them to find any ballots at 4am and add them to the list.”
He also said he was ready to celebrate when it was “just called off”.
In a White House statement, he said: “We were getting ready for a big celebration tonight, we were winning everything and all of a sudden it was just called off.
“We were just all set to get outside and just celebrate something that was so beautiful, so good, such a vote, such a success.
“The citizens of this country have come out in record numbers, this is a record, there’s never been anything like it, to support our incredible movement.”
He said “it’s also clear that we have won Georgia”, adding: “We’re up by 2.5% or 117,000 votes with only 7% left – they’re never going to catch us, they can’t catch us.”
He said he has “clearly won” North Carolina and claimed there is “a lot of life” left in the Arizona race but conceded it is possible he may not win the typically Republican-backing state.
A big one for Biden as he’s confirmed to have won Arizona.
Trump made loads of claims about how he’s ahead in the other crucial states. There’s still plenty of counting left to be done there.
Biden is now on 236 electoral college votes to Trump’s 213. Biden just needs 34 more electoral votes to win.
BREAKING: Joe Biden wins Arizona. #APracecall at 12:51 a.m. MST. #Election2020 https://t.co/lGfinjTqT4
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 4, 2020
Hello, and good morning.
Cónal Thomas here taking over from my colleague Sean Murray. If you’re just joining us, Associated Press is reporting that Democrat Joe Biden has won 3 of the 4 votes in Maine:
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.
Republicans have been reacting in the last few minutes to Donald Trump’s speech at the White House where he said without evidence that the election is a “fraud” and threatened to go to the Supreme Court.
Speaking on ABC News, former New Jersey Governor and Trump adviser Chris Christie called the president’s speech the wrong move – both strategically, and as president.
“It’s a bad strategic decision,” he said. “It’s a bad political decision.”
Former Republican Senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum said he was “very distressed” by Trump’s comments. “Using the word fraud… I think is wrong,” he told CNN.
In the last few minutes Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has said there are over 1 million mail-in ballots to be counted in Pennsylvania.
The state is key in the race to the White House and carries 20 electoral votes but it could be Friday before Pennsylvania counts all its votes.
We still have over 1 million mail ballots to count in Pennsylvania.
— Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) November 4, 2020
I promised Pennsylvanians that we would count every vote and that’s what we’re going to do.
As is stands, Donald Trump hold 55.7% of the vote there with Biden at 43.0%, according to the New York Times.
If you’re just joining us, welcome.
In the last few moments CBS’ Ed O’Keefe has received a statement from Joe Biden’s campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon in response to Donald Trump’s comments claiming election fraud.
JUST IN: @JoeBiden campaign manager @jomalleydillon responds to the president’s comments on the election, calling them “outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect.” pic.twitter.com/s56VzfLNCn
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) November 4, 2020
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