The current standings in the elections for president in the United States looks encouraging for Democratic candidate Joe Biden. President Donald Trump previously claimed the victory unfounded and now casts doubt on the legitimacy of the result.
Biden will be in the lead around 6 p.m. Dutch time in the important swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin, although the margins are not large. Arizona and Nevada also seem like the Democrats for now. These four states together would give 77-year-old Biden the victory, although it may take days before all these results are in.
The eyes are also still on the swing state of Pennsylvania. With 20 electors, this is an important state for both candidates to reach the required 270 electors and thus be proclaimed president. Trump is currently still in favor of this, but it is expected that Biden can quickly catch up when the votes from, for example, the metropolis of Philadelphia arrive.
More than 160 million Americans voted in this year’s election. That is the largest number in 120 years, according to forecasts by the US Election Project. It now appears that 66.9 percent of those eligible to vote have voted.
Postal votes play a major role in these elections. The majority of these votes go to the Democrats. Trump has been trying to question the legitimacy and reliability of these votes for weeks, continuing on Wednesday through his Twitter account. The reason why it takes a long time for these results to arrive comes from the Republeines. In several swing states, Trump’s party prevented post votes from being counted before election day.
These important states are still uncertain
- Pennsylvania (20 electorial votes)
- Michigan (16 electorial votes)
- Wisconsin (10 electorial votes)
- Arizona (11 electorial votes)
- Georgia (16 electorial votes)
- North Carolina (15 electorial votes)
- Nevada (6 electorial votes)
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Trump is raising doubts through his Twitter account
Biden is also still in the running in Georgia and North Carolina. Trump is still ahead in these two states, but the margins are small there too. In Georgia in particular, many votes have yet to come in from, for example, the city of Atlanta. If one of these two states went to the Democrats, Trump’s chances diminish further.
On his Twitter account, the president mainly raised doubts, saying that it is “very strange” that states that previously seemed to choose him are now heading in Bidens’ direction. Twitter intervened by putting a label over its tweets indicating that the information could be misleading.
Trump previously made a speech from the White House in which he said he was “heading towards a great victory.” “But the Democrats are trying to steal the election. We’re not going to allow that,” he added, without providing any evidence for his claim. He received a lot of criticism from both Democrats and Republicans.
Margins are thin in decisive swing states
The incumbent president does not have to give up hope completely. Margins in Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona and Michigan are thin. In addition, he has other arrows on his bow.
The Republicans are preparing for legal battle. Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said he expected the president to win “if we count all legal votes.” He added that Wisconsin is likely to be eligible for a recount.
The talk of ‘legal votes’ in the Trump camp suggests there is also such a thing as an ‘illegal vote’. The president himself gave some hints on Wednesday morning about what that means according to the Republicans. “We want the law to be used correctly,” he said. “We are going to the Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop.”
He seemed to be referring to Pennsylvania, where postal notes arriving until November 6 may still be counted.
The Supreme Court can still act
The National Supreme Court twice declined before Election Day to hear Republican objections to this. The Pennsylvania electoral council decided to set aside the ballots in question after counting, in case new legal complications ensued.
It is quite possible that the Supreme Court will consider the case at Republican request. But it’s also quite possible that Biden doesn’t need Pennsylvania to pack up for a four-year stay at the White House anyway.
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