This Is Where Things Stand In The 2020 Presidential Race

As Joe Biden creeps closer to the 270 mark, President Trump and his legal team have filed a flurry of lawsuits, according to the AP.

They’re hoping to improve the president’s chances, or at the very least cast doubt on the election results, requesting a recount in Wisconsin and filing lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia. Statewide recounts in Wisconsin have historically changed the vote tally by only a few hundred votes, however, according to the AP. Wisconsin is among the states that have been called for Biden. He currently leads by 20,000 ballots out of nearly 3.3 million counted.

Still, Trump Campaign manager Bill Stepien said the president would cite “irregularities” in several counties while requesting a recount in Wisconsin. Stepien and the campaign’s legal team explained that they would file suit in Michigan and Pennsylvania to halt ballot counting on grounds that their observers weren’t given proper access to observe.

President Trump tweeted “STOP THE COUNT!” Thursday morning, a tweet that’s practically destined to be censord.

STOP THE COUNT!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 5, 2020

Still other legal actions are being launched in Georgia.

As we explained yesterday, Trump is pushing to take the battle all the way to the Supreme Court, where he believes the conservative majority would give him an edge.

Anyway, here’s a rundown of where we currently stand via Newsquawk:

Where do we currently stand?

There are currently some discrepancies between various news organization depending on whether or not they include Arizona’s 11 Electoral College votes.

Source: WaPo

If you were to include it, as per Politico, this would put Biden on 264 vs. Trump on 214 (270 EC votes are required for victory): this follows on from swing states such as Michigan and Wisconsin being called in Biden’s favor.

The path ahead:

Several key states remain to be called including Georgia (16 EC votes), Pennsylvania (20 EC votes), North Carolina (15 EC votes) and Nevada (6 EC votes).

Given the above arithmetic, if Nevada (6 EC votes) was to be called in Biden’s favor, this would be enough to secure the presidency for the former Veep; as it stands, NYT tallies Biden at 49.3% and Trump at 48.7% with 86%.

For Trump to win, he would need to pick up all of the remaining swing seats: Georgia (16 EC votes), PAY (20 EC votes), NC (15 EC votes).

Expected timings (via NYT):

Nevada (6 EC): update expected Thursday at noon. Currently Biden 49.3% vs Trump at 48.7%; 86% votes counted.

Arizona (11 EC votes): Update expected after 2100ET Thursday. Currently Biden 50.5% vs. Trump 48.1%.

Georgia (16 EC votes): Counting still ongoing, no guidance on next update. Currently, Biden 49.1% vs Trump 49.6%; 95% of votes counted.

North Carolina (15 EC votes): Counting still ongoing, no guidance on next update. Currently – Biden 48.7%, Trump 50.1%; 95% votes counted.

Pennsylvania (20 EC votes): No guidance on next update, majority expected to be counted by Friday. Currently Biden 48.1% vs. Trump 50.7%; 89% of votes counted.

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Remember, Several states allow mailed-in votes to be accepted after Election Day as long as they were postmarked by Tuesday. That includes Pennsylvania, where ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 can be accepted if they arrive up to three days later.