Biden close to victory

The Nation | November 5, 2020

Democratic candidate needs six more Electoral Votes to triumph
Trump in court to challenge Wisconsin, Michigan results

Democratic candidate Joe Biden is set to win the bitterly-contested United States President election.

With results in six states still being counted this morning, Biden had won 264 Electoral College Votes – six short of the needed 270. There are 538 Electoral College votes.

Votes were still being counted in Georgia with 16 Electoral College Votes, Pennsylvania (20), North Carolina (15), Alaska (3) and Nevada (6).

Biden was leading in Nevada where 8.5 per cent of the votes had been counted.

He is projected to win the state which Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate in 2014, won by 2.4 points.

President Donald Trump has challenged the votes count in Michigan and Wisconsin which all major news media called for Biden.

Trump earlier yesterday said he would head for the Supreme Court to challenge the results. He declared himself winner and alleged irregularities. Nevada, which holds the ace to Biden’s victory, suspended the final tally till later today. A win for Biden in Nevada will seal his victory.

Trump’s initial large lead in Georgia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina were significantly narrow and and more votes were counted giving an indication that Biden could win and extend his Electoral College Votes margin.

The Trump campaign said the president would formally request a Wisconsin recount, citing “irregularities in several Wisconsin counties”.

Incomplete results indicate the margin between Mr Trump and Mr Biden in Wisconsin is less than one percentage point, which allows a candidate to seek a recount.

The campaign also filed a lawsuit in Michigan to stop counting of ballots there because it contended it was denied “meaningful access” to observe the opening of ballots and the counting.

n Detroit, Michigan, police were called on Wednesday afternoon to guard the doors to a vote-counting facility as some protesters outside demanded access to monitor the process. According to the Detroit Free-Press, there were already some 200 people observing the vote inside the building.

Officials were seen covering up the windows to the TCF Center, where postal ballots were being tallied.

The Trump campaign also filed two lawsuits in Pennsylvania to halt all vote counting “until there is meaningful transparency”.

The Associated Press news agency reports that the Trump campaign is also suing Georgia to halt the vote count there.

Mr Trump won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in his 2016 election victory.

In the early hours of Wednesday, he announced from the White House that he had won and said he would take the election to the Supreme Court.

The Trump campaign is asking Republican donors to help fund legal challenges.

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said: “The fight’s not over. We’re in it.”

Mr Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, tweeted asking supporters to contribute $5 to help pay for a fight that could “stretch on for weeks”.

Biden campaign senior legal adviser Bob Bauer said there were no grounds for Mr Trump to invalidate lawfully cast ballots.

Mr Biden’s hopes of a decisive early victory on election night were thwarted as Mr Trump defied pollsters predictions by outperforming in key battlegrounds.

Mr Trump held several important states, including Texas, Ohio and Iowa, fending off a strong Biden play.

The president also comfortably won his adopted home state of Florida, the most hotly fought battleground of the night, despite two visits there by Mr Biden’s ally and former boss, ex-President Barack Obama.

But Mr Biden fended off his rival’s attempts to pick up New Hampshire and Minnesota.