On Nov. 3, incumbent president Donald Trump and presidential candidate Joe Biden went head to head in one of closest presidential races in history.
As it stands on Nov. 5, according to the Associated Press, Biden leads Trump with 50 electoral votes, however these numbers are subject to change before the date of publication.
Biden maintained a narrow lead throughout the night of Nov. 3 into the next morning where he continued to secure states including Arizona, Maine, Wisconsin and Michigan.
The swing states of Nevada, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina remained uncalled in the days following Election Day.
As of Nov. 5 Biden needs to win one more state, excluding Alaska, to secure a electoral college win of 270 or above.
According to the Associated Press, Biden leads in Nevada by .9%, however the state has not been called in his favor yet and was likely to not be called until early Friday. District Attorney Sergio Garcia reported on Nov. 5 that counties such as Clark County are taking their time with the counting to ensure accuracy, according to CBS News.
"Our goal here in Clark County is not to count fast," Garcia said. "We want to make sure we're being accurate."
As for Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina it is a bitter fight to the finish with Trump currently narrowly leading. With thousands more mail-in ballots to be counted, victory for either candidate cannot be called at this time.
However, with that, counting these mail-in ballots has become increasingly more complicated as Trump and his legal team throw out lawsuits against Michigan and Pennsylvania.
According to CNBC, the lawsuits were made in an effort to allow the Trump campaign to review counted ballots and observe the tallying process in general. Updates on those lawsuits are still evolving.
Across the United States, voting looked different this year between an increased number of mail-in ballots, more options for early in person voting and COVID-19 complications resulting in closed polls.
However, more people voted in this election than in 2016. According to the Washington Post, more than 101.9 million voted early. This equated to 73% of the total voter turnout for the 2016 election.
If these projections continue, the Washington Post said, 2020 will have the highest turnout since 1900, an election in which women could not even vote yet.
In voter turnout alone, Biden surpassed Barack Obama’s 2008 popular vote total, breaking the record for most votes ever received by a candidate at a U.S. Presidential Election, as reported by the US Politics Polls.
Though the results of the election were not as immediate as voters are typically used to, an increase in voter turnout combined, particularly through mail-in ballots, plus additional legal action taken in this election have given justification for the delay.
Stay tuned to next week’s edition of The Echo for more details on the election results.
