Must win states for Joe Biden and Donald Trump

Should Arizona hold for Biden he can win the presidency even without a victory in Pennsylvania, which had been viewed as a deciding state in the election.The Trump campaign has said it will call for a recount in Wisconsin. “The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so,” campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a statement.LoadingStepien claimed the Trump campaign had not been given “meaningful access” to several counting locations in Michigan, and that it had filed a suit in the Michigan Court of Claims to halt counting until access was granted, The New York Times has reported. He said that Trump was “committed to ensuring that all legal votes are counted in Michigan and everywhere else,” wording which suggested that the campaign could challenge the legality of some ballots.Biden holds a narrow lead in Michigan with 96 per cent of the vote counted in Michigan, where the state’s Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, told reporters a final result may not be known today.“We know that tens of thousands of ballots are still outstanding and need to be tabulated,” she said in a news conference.“The number of outstanding ballots is still greater than the margin of difference in many races. Our goal is to ensure that we are being transparent, but also fully accurate.”LoadingAt present it appears that Republicans will hold on to a one seat majority in the Senate while Democrats will retain control of the House of Representatives, dashing Democratic Party hopes of a clean sweep of the executive and legislative branches in the election.As voting continued into the afternoon in the US, Biden held a lead over Trump in the popular vote of around 2.7 million votes. Democrats have now won the popular vote in seven out of the last eight US elections.At 2am local time Trump appeared at the White House to at once prematurely claim victory and declare that the election had been stolen from him in an act of “fraud”. He said he would call on the Supreme Court to halt the counting of mail-in ballots, but cited no specific irregularities.Here is the latest in seven battleground states:ARIZONAElectoral votes: 11Biden leads Trump, 51.0 percent to 47.6 percent, with 86 per cent of the estimated vote counted.Important fact: Trump needs to win nearly two thirds of the remaining votes to capture the state.GEORGIAElectoral votes: 16Trump leads Biden, 50.2 percent to 48.6 percent, with 93 per cent of the vote counted.Important fact: Many of the votes yet to be counted are in DeKalb County and other counties in the suburbs of Atlanta that have been breaking heavily for Biden, who would need almost two-thirds of the remaining vote to carry the state.MICHIGANElectoral votes: 16Biden leads Trump, 49.5 percent to 48.8 percent, with 94 per cent of the vote countedImportant fact: Nearly a quarter of the vote in Wayne County, a Democratic stronghold that includes Detroit, has yet to be counted, and Biden was closing the gap in Kent County, which includes Grand Rapids, with more than 15 per cent of votes outstanding.NEVADAElectoral votes: 6Biden leads Trump, 49.3 per cent to 48.7 per cent, with 86 per cent of the vote counted.Important fact: All of the election day vote has been counted, and now only Democratic-leaning late mail and provisional ballots remain.NORTH CAROLINAElectoral votes: 15Trump leads Biden, 50.1 per cent to 48.7 percent, with 95 per cent of the estimated vote counted.Important fact: With most votes now tabulated, Biden would need to win about two-thirds of the remainder to pull ahead.PENNSYLVANIAElectoral votes: 20Trump leads Biden, 52.0 percent to 46.7 percent, with 84 per cent of the estimated vote counted.Important fact: An analysis by The New York Times’ Upshot finds that the remaining vote appears to be strongly for Biden. According to turnout estimates, more than twice as many votes remain to be counted in counties won by Hillary Clinton in 2016 as in counties Trump won.Biden needs to win more than two-thirds of the remaining votes to win the state. Officials have said they expect most votes to be counted by Friday.WISCONSINElectoral votes: 10Biden was declared the winner, 49.4 percent to 48.8 percent, a margin of 0.6 percentage points.Important fact: Wisconsin law allows a recount when the leading candidate’s margin is less than one percent, and the Trump campaign has said it would request one.Nick O’Malley is National Environment and Climate Editor for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He is also a senior writer and a former US correspondent.Most Viewed in WorldLoading

Source: https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/pathway-to-victory-the-states-that-will-determine-the-next-us-president-20201105-p56bob.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_world