Americans woke up to a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the nation as there is still no answer as to who will become the next President
Democrat Joe Biden is leading in battleground states but ballots remain to be fully counted.
1. FIVE STATES TO KEEP AN EYE ON
- According to the Associated Press, Biden is leading with 264 electoral votes, just six electoral votes shy of the target of 270 to claim victory. He is one battleground state away to becoming president-elect.
- Trump is trailing with 214 electoral votes, with 60 electoral votes not yet called.
- Meanwhile, CNN has put Biden in the lead with 253 electoral votes (Trump - 213) as at 1pm (Malaysian time). Here are key states remained in contest:
- Nevada (6 electoral votes)
- Georgia (16)
- North Carolina (15)
- Pennsylvania (20)
- Arizona (11) *
- The Associated Press had earlier called Biden the winner in Arizona, but CNN has yet to call it.
- Arizona is a longtime Republican state that Trump won in 2016
- As at 1pm, with 86% of the expected vote count in Arizona, Biden was ahead with a roughly 79,000-vote lead over Trump.
2. BIDEN FLIPPED MICHIGAN AND WISCONSIN
- Biden won the electoral battleground of Michigan and Wisconsin
- Trump won Wisconsin by less than a percentage point in 2016
- Michigan was one of the battleground states Trump prematurely claimed that he was “winning”
- “We’re winning Michigan by — I’ll tell you, I looked at the numbers,” Trump said during an appearance at the White House.
3. TRUMP’S LEGAL ACTION
- Trump’s campaign has filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia
- The filings join existing Republican legal challenges in Pennsylvania and Nevada
- Trump’s campaign raised absentee ballot concerns and demand better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted
- Trump’s campaign is also seeking to intervene in a Pennsylvania case at the Supreme Court that deals with whether ballots received up to three days after the election can be counted
- But here’s why experts think the Supreme Court may not have the final say in the presidential election despite Trump’s threat
4. HIGHEST ELECTION TURNOUT
- Experts are forecasting the 2020 U.S Election could feature the highest turnout rate -- the percentage of the eligible population that votes -- since women were granted the right to vote in the 20th century.
- Biden has received the most votes in history for a U.S. presidential candidate with more than 72 million votes (and counting)
- Biden surpassed Barack Obama's 2008 record of 69.5 million votes
- As at 1pm, Trump has received close to 68.9 million votes
- The record voter turnout was buoyed by more than 100 million ballots cast during the early voting period amid the Covid-19 pandemic that led to many states expanding mail-in and in-person early voting
- While Biden is edging closer to the White House, his Democrats are coming up short in their effort to win control of the Senate, where Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority.
- Democrats, however, are expected to retain control of the House of Representative.
- A divided government means gridlocks and hurdles in passing legislations on issues ranging from health care to climate change, to an economic stimulus.
- Republicans controlling the Senate means they can block every proposal from a Biden administration
