WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the 2020 race for President of the United States: (all times local):

1:31 p.m.

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s win in the hotly contested presidential race was sparking some protests around the country.

Most of the protests remained peaceful. But there remained fears of violence erupting as President Donald Trump so far refuses to concede.

In the battleground hotspot of Georgia, pro-Trump demonstrators gathered in Atlanta to argue the race still wasn’t over.

Yet in Lansing, Michigan, some Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter demonstrators were seen praying with one another and singing Amazing Grace.

Elsewhere, in cities around the country, people flocked into the streets honking horns, banging pots and pans, and celebrating Biden’s projected win to become the nation’s 46th president.

Trump has vowed to continue to fight his case in the courts.

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11:26 a.m. Saturday

President Trump has issued a statement saying the election isn’t over and he will be contesting the results in court.

President-elect Joe Biden says he is humbled that the American people have chosen him, saying it was time to “come together.”

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10:26 a.m. Saturday

Democrat Joe Biden has defeated President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States. Biden vanquished his Republican foe after a campaign as bitter and divisive as Trump’s own presidential term.

Victories in “blue wall” northern industrial states propelled Biden to the White House, where he’ll confront America’s deep health, economic and social ills. A win in Pennsylvania sealed his victory after more than three tension-filled days of counting votes.

Record numbers of Americans voted early and by mail, many out of concern about going to polling places during the coronavirus pandemic.

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5:25 p.m.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris is expected to deliver remarks Friday alongside Joe Biden.

Biden has scheduled a prime-time address on the presidential contest as votes continue to be counted in several battleground states. Biden is on the cusp of victory as he opened narrow leads over President Donald Trump in Georgia and Pennsylvania.

Harris has appeared alongside Biden during his remarks in recent days but has not made any public comments herself on the state of the race. A campaign official confirmed she will speak Friday night before Biden does.

The California senator has been at a hotel in Wilmington, Delaware, with her family since Tuesday night.

The Associated Press has not yet declared a winner in Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Alaska.

3:30 p.m.

Top Republican officials in Georgia say they are confident the secretary of state will ensure that ballots are properly counted.

The statement Friday from GOP Gov. Brian Kemp and others came a day after President Donald Trump alleged without any details or evidence that election officials are trying to “steal the election” from him.

Trump said Thursday that the “election apparatus in Georgia is run by Democrats,” even though the top election official is a Republican whom he endorsed.

Democrat Joe Biden was leading Trump in Georgia by about 1,500 votes midday Friday. The Associated Press has not called the race for either candidate yet.

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3:10 p.m.

The federal agency that oversees U.S. election security is pushing back at unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud without mentioning that President Donald Trump is making unfounded allegations about the vote count.

A new statement from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency notes that local election offices have detection measures that “make it highly difficult to commit fraud through counterfeit ballots.”

CISA, a component of the Department of Homeland Security, published the statement Friday on a section of its website devoted to dispelling rumors. It said it was countering a rumor about the role of DHS and CISA in the printing of ballots and auditing of results. Neither agency has a role in printing or auditing ballots. CISA principally helps local and state election departments protect themselves against cyberattacks.

CISA also put out a statement noting that the systems and processes used to tabulate votes and certify results “are protected by various safeguards that help ensure the accuracy of election results.”

The agency has been urging the public for weeks to be patient during the counting of results, which was slower this year in large part because of COVID-19 and the large number of mail-in ballots. It has made no comment on Trump saying without evidence that the ballot-counting process is unfair and corrupt.

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2:50 p.m.

Pennsylvania Republicans are turning to the U.S. Supreme Court to ask for an order that mail ballots arriving after Election Day in the battleground state be segregated. The state’s top elections official already had ordered those ballots be kept apart.

The emergency request Friday came as Democrat Joe Biden inched ahead of President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.

The plea is part of an ongoing Republican appeal to the Supreme Court to try to keep ballots received in the mail after Election Day from being counted. The state’s top court granted a three-day extension, and the Supreme Court refused to block it.

But Democratic Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar told local officials to keep the ballots separate because the high court hasn’t ultimately decided whether to step in.

Republicans presented no evidence that counties are not adhering to Boockvar’s orders, but said, “It is unclear whether all county boards are following them in the post-election chaos.”

The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the state.

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2:30 p.m.

A statewide appellate court judge in Pennsylvania has dismissed a request from Republicans to stop the state or counties from counting provisional ballots that were cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were disqualified by a technicality.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s state elections bureau last month gave guidance to counties that a voter could use a provisional ballot if they “did not successfully vote” with the mail-in or absentee ballot they were issued, or if their ballot was rejected and they believe they are eligible to vote.

The Democratic National Committee, which had sought to oppose the case in court, said Republicans wanted to “throw out lawfully cast provisional ballots.”

Wolf’s top elections official, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, a Democrat, has insisted that the practice is legal and not prohibited by law.

Regardless, she said there aren’t “overwhelming” numbers of voters who cast a provisional ballot after their mail-in ballot was disqualified, but she has not given an exact figure.

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2 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has increased his lead over President Donald Trump in Nevada to 20,137 votes.

Results released Friday from Democrat-heavy Clark County, which includes Las Vegas and three-quarters of Nevada’s population, along with two rural counties, put Biden at 627,104 votes and Trump at 606,967.

Biden’s lead nearly doubled from Thursday, when he was leading Trump by about 11,000 votes.

The Associated Press has not called the presidential race. Votes are still being counted in several battleground states.

Clark County Registrar Joe Gloria says his county has an additional 63,000 mail ballots to be processed over the next few days and 60,000 provisional ballots to be processed later.

Gloria said Clark County would release more results Friday afternoon but he said he did not know exactly how many ballots could be included in that release.

The state has said it will provide an update later Friday on how many ballots are yet to be counted statewide. On Thursday, they reported that number at 190,150.

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1:50 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he “will never give up fighting for you and our nation” as he is on the cusp of losing his bid for reelection.

Trump is spending Friday at the White House tweeting, watching results come in and continuing to cast unfounded doubt over the integrity of the election.

He says in a statement released by his campaign: “We believe the American people deserve to have full transparency into all vote counting and election certification.” And he adds that, “This is no longer about any single election. This is about the integrity of our entire election process.”

There is no evidence that any votes cast illegally are being counted or that the process is unfair and corrupt. Indeed, the ballot-counting process across the country largely has been running smoothly, if slowly, because of the increase in mail-in ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But Trump is nonetheless threatening continued legal action, saying: “We will pursue this process through every aspect of the law to guarantee that the American people have confidence in our government.”

Trump’s Democratic rival, Joe Biden, has opened up narrow leads over Trump in the critical battlegrounds of Georgia and Pennsylvania.

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12:55 p.m.

Sen. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, says President Donald Trump is “damaging the cause of freedom” and inflaming “destructive and dangerous passions” by claiming, without foundation, that the election was rigged and stolen from him.

Romney lost to President Barack Obama in 2012 but was gracious in defeat. He is Trump’s most vocal critic within the Republican Party and voted to convict him in Trump’s impeachment trial early this year.

The Utah Republican offered his assessment Friday on Twitter, saying that Trump is well within his rights to challenge the results through the legal remedies available to him. But Romney says Trump is “wrong to say that the election was rigged, corrupt, and stolen from him — doing so damages the cause of freedom here and around the world.”

Democrat Joe Biden is on the cusp of winning the presidency as he opens up narrow leads over Trump in several critical backgrounds.

The Associated Press has not called the presidential race. Votes are still being counted in states including Pennsylvania and Georgia.

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12:40 p.m.

Joe Biden’s campaign says he will give a speech during prime time Friday.

The Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign announced that he would be making an address but did not say where or what he plans to say.

Biden is on the cusp of winning the presidency as he opens up narrow leads over President Donald Trump in several critical backgrounds.

The Associated Press has not called the presidential race. Votes are still being counted in states including Pennsylvania and Georgia.

He has urged the public to be patient as vote counting continues. He was spending Friday at home in Wilmington, Delaware.

A stage set up since election night for a victory party outside the city’s convention center remained intact and has been secured for days by security personnel using high fencing and car barriers.

Biden campaign staffers who arrived in Wilmington for a victory party earlier in the week have been told to hold onto their hotel rooms until early next week.

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11:50 a.m.

Democrat Joe Biden is leading President Donald Trump in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

By Friday morning, Biden overtook Trump in the number of ballots counted in the state, which Trump must win to have a shot at reelection. Biden leads by more than 9,000 votes. The contest is still too early for The Associated Press to call. Votes in the state are still being counted.

Trump’s lead dwindled after Election Day when state officials began processing mail-in ballots, a form of voting that has skewed heavily in Biden’s favor. Trump spent months claiming — without proof — that voting by mail would lead to widespread voter fraud.

If there is less than a half percentage point difference between Biden’s and Trump’s vote totals, state law dictates that a recount must be held.

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11:05 a.m.

The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the battleground state of Pennsylvania because there are tens of thousands of votes left to be counted in the contest between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden. Trump held a 675,000-vote lead early Wednesday and prematurely declared victory in the state.

But by early Friday, Biden had taken a lead of about 8,800 votes.

Many of the votes left to be counted in Pennsylvania were cast by mail, a form of voting that Biden has carried by a large margin.

The late-counted ballots were overwhelmingly in Biden’s favor.

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10:32 a.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has overtaken President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania and Georgia.

That puts Biden on the cusp of winning the presidency since the election hinges on the outcome of tight contests in those battleground states.

he new results Friday come as Trump is trying to undermine confidence in this week’s election.

With his pathway to reelection appearing to shrink, Trump advanced unsupported accusations of voter fraud Thursday to falsely argue Biden was trying to seize power.

It amounted to an extraordinary effort by a sitting American president to sow doubt about the democratic process.

Trump’s remarks also prompted a rebuke from some fellow Republicans, particularly those looking to steer the party in a different direction in a post-Trump era.

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8:00 a.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has overtaken President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania and Georgia.

The election hinges on the outcome of tight contests in those key battleground states.

The new results Friday come as Trump is trying to undermine confidence in this week’s election.

With his pathway to reelection appearing to shrink, Trump advanced unsupported accusations of voter fraud Thursday to falsely argue Biden was trying to seize power.

It amounted to an extraordinary effort by a sitting American president to sow doubt about the democratic process.

Trump’s remarks also prompted a rebuke from some fellow Republicans, particularly those looking to steer the party in a different direction in a post-Trump era.

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4:40 a.m. Friday:

Democrat Joe Biden has taken a small lead in Georgia and is inching closer to President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.

The new results Friday come as Trump is trying to undermine confidence in this week’s election.

With his pathway to reelection appearing to shrink, Trump advanced unsupported accusations of voter fraud Thursday to falsely argue Biden was trying to seize power.

It amounted to an extraordinary effort by a sitting American president to sow doubt about the democratic process.

Trump’s remarks also prompted a rebuke from some fellow Republicans, particularly those looking to steer the party in a different direction in a post-Trump era.

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6:15 p.m.

A legal effort in Nevada by President Donald Trump’s campaign and state Republicans to try to stop the count of mail ballots in Las Vegas is over.

A document submitted in an appeal pending before the state Supreme Court says the campaign, state GOP, Democrats and attorneys for the state have reached a settlement requiring Clark County election officials to supply “additional observation access” at a ballot processing facility in Las Vegas.

The state high court declined on Election Day to stop the count based on an appeal of a state judge’s decision not to stop processing mail ballots in Las Vegas and surrounding Clark County — a Democratic stronghold in an otherwise red GOP state.

In an order released Monday, Judge James Wilson Jr. in Carson City said he found neither the state nor Clark County had done anything to give one vote preference over another.

Nevada Democrats accuse Republicans of trying to suppress voting in the state’s most diverse area.

Trump campaign representatives said Thursday that they intended to file another complaint in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas to try to stop the counting of what state campaign co-chair Adam Laxalt called “improper votes.” That lawsuit was not immediately filed.

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6 p.m.

President Donald Trump is set to make his first public appearance since the early morning hours after Election Day.

The White House says Trump will deliver remarks at 6:30 p.m. Thursday from the press briefing room. It was unclear if he would take questions.

Trump last appeared in public early Wednesday, when he falsely declared victory over Democrat Joe Biden in the presidential race. Trump has also publicly called for vote counting to stop by citing baseless allegations of fraud and misconduct.

The presidential race has not yet been called because neither Trump nor Biden has yet collected the requisite 270 Electoral College votes.

Biden’s victories in Michigan and Wisconsin have put him in a commanding position to win the presidency, but Trump has showed no sign of giving up.

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5:50 p.m.

The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee have asked an Arizona judge to let them join a lawsuit that alleges vote tabulation equipment in metro Phoenix was unable to record a voter’s ballot because she completed it with a county-issued Sharpie pen.

They argued that anecdotal accounts of potential tabulation errors resulting from Sharpies demands further review and that they should be allowed to participate in the lawsuit because it will likely affect their interests in the tabulation of votes.

The lawsuit seeks a court order for all Maricopa County voters whose ballots were rejected as a result of using a Sharpie to be given a chance to fix their ballots. It also asks for such voters to be able to be present while election officials count their ballots.

The Arizona Democratic Party earlier asked to join the lawsuit, arguing that Democratic voters could be disenfranchised if the woman who filed the lawsuit was able to challenge a voter’s intent in making ballot choices without knowing the applicable standards.

A judge is holding a hearing Thursday in Phoenix in the lawsuit by Phoenix-area voter Laurie Aguilera, who also alleged ink from the marker bled through the back side of her ballot and that poll workers refused her request for a new ballot.

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4:30 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden says he feels “very good” about the outcome of the presidential election and is telling his supporters to “stay calm” as votes continue to be counted.

Biden delivered brief remarks Thursday at a theater in downtown Wilmington, Delaware. He says, “It is the will of the voters — no one, not anyone else — who chooses the president of the United States of America.”

President Donald Trump’s campaign has pursued legal efforts to halt the vote counting in some states and is seeking a recount in Wisconsin.

Biden says that “the process is working” and “we’ll know very soon” the outcome of the election. Biden and his top campaign officials have expressed confidence about the vote but have been careful to emphasize the need for every ballot to be counted.

Biden’s running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, stood next to him as he spoke.

The Associated Press has not called the presidential race yet because neither Biden nor Trump has secured the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory. Several key states remain too early to call — Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Nevada.

3:35 p.m.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered the U.S. Postal Service to perform twice daily sweeps of processing centers in states with extended ballot receipt deadlines to check for mail-in votes and to expedite them for delivery.

Thursday’s order will remain in place until the end of states’ windows for accepting ballots.

According to court records, a similar order by the same judge earlier this week found just 13 ballots in a search of 27 processing hubs in several battleground areas.

Elections officials in key battleground states are continuing presidential vote counting. Democrat Joe Biden is urging patience, while President Donald Trump is pursuing his legal options.

Several key states are too early to call — Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Nevada.

2:25 p.m.

Joe Biden is getting virtual briefings on the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout from panels of experts, sticking to a routine he’s had since March, even as the outcome of the presidential race remains in doubt.

The former vice president traveled Thursday afternoon to a theater in downtown Wilmington, Delaware, where his campaign has set up a makeshift studio. He and his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, often sit facing large screens while experts participate by video conference.

Biden has held similar public health and economic briefings about once a week since March while criticizing President Donald Trump’s administration for the federal government’s response to a pandemic that has killed more than 230,000 Americans.

Journalists traveling with Biden were not allowed inside the briefing but saw him as he entered the theater. He did not take questions.

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2 p.m.

The Arizona Democratic Party has asked a court to let it participate in a lawsuit that alleges vote tabulation equipment in metro Phoenix was unable to record a voter’s ballot because she completed it with a county-issued Sharpie pen.

A judge is holding a hearing Thursday in Phoenix in the lawsuit by voter Laurie Aguilera, who also alleged that ink from the marker bled through the back side of her ballot and that poll workers refused her request for a new ballot.

Aguilera is seeking a court order for all Maricopa County voters whose ballots were rejected as a result of using a Sharpie to be given a chance to fix their ballots. She also is asking for such voters to be able to be present while election officials count their ballots.

The Democrats say the lawsuit is based on the unconfirmed account of one voter and her request to monitor ballot processing could throw the processing of ballots in Arizona’s largest county in disarray.

In a court filing, the party says Democratic voters could be disenfranchised if Aguilera and others were able to challenge a voter’s intent in making ballot choices without knowing the applicable standards.

Arizona election officials have said voting with a Sharpie would have no impact on the votes being recorded by a tabulation machine.

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1:55 p.m.

As the nation awaits results from Nevada, Clark County Registrar Joe Gloria says it could take until Saturday or Sunday before the state’s largest county finishes tallying mail-in ballots that have been returned.

Gloria said Thursday at a press conference: “Our goal here in Clark County is not to count fast. We want to make sure that we’re being accurate.”

Gloria says Clark County has at least 63,262 ballots left to count, including 34,743 returned in drop boxes on Election Day and 4,208 returned via the U.S. Postal Service. But as mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day continue to trickle in, Gloria said he had no way of knowing the total number of outstanding ballots.

He says, “That’s a number that I can’t give you. I can’t predict to you what’s going to come through the U.S. mail.”

Gloria says the fact that Nevada’s six electoral votes could push Democrat Joe Biden beyond the 270 electoral vote threshold needed to win the presidency reaffirmed the need to not rush the count.

He said the last day to count ballots is Nov. 12.

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1:30 p.m.

A Michigan judge has dismissed a lawsuit by President Donald Trump’s campaign in a dispute over whether Republican challengers had access to the handling of absentee ballots.

Judge Cynthia Stephens noted that the lawsuit was filed late Wednesday afternoon, just hours before the last ballots were counted. She also said the defendant, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, was the wrong person to sue because she doesn’t control the logistics of local ballot counting, even if she is the state’s chief election officer.

The Associated Press called the Michigan presidential election for Democrat Joe Biden on Wednesday evening. Trump won the state in 2016.

The lawsuit claimed Benson, a Democrat, was allowing absentee ballots to be counted without teams of bipartisan observers as well as challengers. She was accused of undermining the “constitutional right of all Michigan voters … to participate in fair and lawful elections.”

Benson, through state attorneys, denied the allegations. Much of the dispute centered on the TCF Center in Detroit where pro-Trump protesters gathered while absentee ballots were being counted.

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11:45 a.m.

A judge in Georgia has dismissed a lawsuit by the state Republican Party and President Donald Trump’s campaign that asked him to ensure one county was following state laws on processing absentee ballots.

Chatham County Superior Court Judge James Bass did not provide an explanation for his decision Thursday at the close of a roughly one-hour hearing. The county includes the heavily Democratic city of Savannah.

The suit had raised concerns about 53 absentee ballots that poll observers said were not part of an original batch of ballots. County elections officials testified that all 53 ballots had been received on time.

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11:40 a.m.

Joe Biden’s campaign is expressing optimism at the ultimate result of the election but warning supporters to “stay patient and stay calm” as vote counting continues.

Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said Thursday on a briefing call with reporters that “the story of today is going to be a very positive story” for their campaign, but cautioned that as the counting continues, “we need to allow it to get done and get done well.”

She says the campaign expects their lead to fluctuate in some states as more votes come in.

O’Malley Dillon also charged that legal challenges by President Donald Trump’s campaign to halt vote counting in some states and seek a recount in Wisconsin are a “flailing strategy” that are an “attempt to distract and delay” from the results of the election.

The Associated Press is not calling the presidential race yet because neither candidate has secured the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory. Several key states were too early to call — Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Nevada.

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10:38 a.m.

Arizona state officials say there are about 450,000 ballots still to be counted in the Western battleground.

The AP says it is monitoring that vote count as it comes in. The AP has called the presidential race in Arizona for Democrat Joe Biden.

AP executive editor Sally Buzbee says: “The Associated Press continues to watch and analyze vote count results from Arizona. We will follow the facts in all cases.”

Biden holds a 2.35 percentage point lead over Trump in Arizona, an advantage of about 68,000 votes.

The vast majority of the ballots yet to be counted are from Maricopa County, the most populous area of the state.

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This item has been corrected to show that 450,000 ballots, not 375,000 ballots, still need to be counted.

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9:40 a.m.

With Joe Biden edging closer to unseating him from the White House, President Donald Trump says he wants to put a halt to vote counting.

The extraordinary statement by an incumbent president to voice support for ceasing the count of legally cast votes came in a Thursday morning tweet, saying only: “STOP THE COUNT!”

Elections are run by individual state, county and local governments. Trump’s public comments have no impact on the tallying of votes across the country.

So far, the vote count across the country has been conducted efficiently and without evidence of any misconduct, despite Trump’s public complaints.

Trump’s comments come as his campaign has filed legal action in several states to try to stop vote counting, claiming a lack of transparency. Still, Trump’s campaign has held out hope that continued counting in Arizona could overcome a Biden lead in the state.

Find AP’s full election coverage at APNews.com/Election2020.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden stands on the brink of winning the presidency, needing to clinch just one more battleground state to defeat President Donald Trump.

Biden already has won the fiercely contested prizes of Michigan and Wisconsin, part of the “blue wall” that slipped away from Democrats four years ago.

Two days after Election Day, neither candidate has amassed the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.

But Biden’s victories in the Great Lakes states have him at 264, meaning he is one battleground state away from becoming president-elect.

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5:56 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has carried Michigan and its 16 electoral votes, further dismantling Donald Trump’s Rust Belt wall of support that helped deliver him the presidency four years ago.

The flip from red back to blue was a huge blow to Trump, whose victories in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2016 sent him to the White House. Biden also carried Wisconsin, though Pennsylvania hasn’t been called yet.

Biden’s victory in Michigan pushes him to 264 Electoral College votes, six short of the 270 needed to win the White House. Trump is at 214 electoral votes. Nevada, which has six electoral votes, is among the states Democrat Hillary Clinton won in 2016 that hasn’t yet been called.

Biden’s campaign had particularly focused on turning out Black voters in Detroit, who failed to show up for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the numbers that Barack Obama received during his two presidential bids.

Despite needing to win Michigan, Trump took frequent swipes at the state’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, who was the target of an alleged kidnapping plot that was foiled by federal law enforcement. Chants of “Lock her up!” toward Whitmer echoed at Trump’s rally, and he railed against the governor on Twitter for her cautious approach to the coronavirus pandemic.

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5:20 p.m.

The top elections official in Nevada’s most populous county says more results will be released Thursday morning that include mail-in ballots received on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon that he did not yet know how many ballots had been received but uncounted in the Las Vegas area.

Early results showed Democrat Joe Biden with a slim lead over President Donald Trump in Nevada, but it was too early to declare a winner in the race Wednesday with a large number of ballots yet to be counted.

The Nevada secretary of state’s office initially said a new batch of results would be released Thursday morning. But Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Wayne Thorley said in a text message that the state would likely release some additional results Wednesday afternoon but that he did not know how many would be included.

Gloria said he would be holding daily 10 a.m. news conferences until all ballots were counted, including provisional ballots that were cast by voters taking advantage of same-day registration, electronic ballots sent to overseas voters or ballots for disabled voters.

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5:15 p.m.

The Associated Press has not yet declared winners of the presidential contests in Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina or Michigan.

President Donald Trump, however, has prematurely declared that he has carried the states.

We have claimed, for Electoral Vote purposes, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (which won’t allow legal observers) the State of Georgia, and the State of North Carolina, each one of which has a BIG Trump lead. Additionally, we hereby claim the State of Michigan if, in fact,…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020

Trump tweeted Wednesday that he has “claimed, for Electoral Vote purposes, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (which won’t allow legal observers) the State of Georgia, and the State of North Carolina, each one of which has a BIG Trump lead.”

“Additionally, we hereby claim the State of Michigan if, in fact,” he says, “there was a large number of secretly dumped ballots as has been widely reported!”

Trump has been trying for months to undermine public confidence in the election if he does not win.

Trump’s Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, currently has 248 electoral votes, while Trump has 214. It takes 270 to win the presidency.

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4:55 p.m.

President Donald Trump’s campaign has accused a Michigan election official of failing to ensure that challengers and bipartisan observers watch the processing of absentee ballots.

The Republican campaign filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to stop the count, which was mostly centered in Detroit, until Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson allows more inspectors. There was no immediate response from a Court of Claims judge.

The Associated Press has not yet called Michigan.

Trump’s allies chanted, “Stop the count!” inside TCF Center, where ballots were being handled. The Detroit elections department was expected to finish counting absentee ballots by Wednesday evening.

Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel says, “Michigan’s elections have been conducted transparently, with access provided for both political parties and the public, and using a robust system of checks and balances to ensure that all ballots are counted fairly and accurately.”

More than 3 million absentee ballots were cast in Michigan in the first major election since a new law made them available to any voter. But local election clerks couldn’t start counting them until after polls closed Tuesday.

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4:20 p.m.

Joe Biden says he’s not ready to declare victory as vote counting continues in the presidential election, but he says, “When the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.”

The Associated Press hasn’t called the presidential race. Biden currently has 248 electoral votes, while President Donald Trump has 214. It takes 270 to win the presidency.

Biden addressed reporters Wednesday afternoon from Wilmington, Delaware, alongside his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris.

Biden says, “Every vote must be counted.” He added, “We the people will not be silenced.”

Biden also tried to sound like a president-elect, promising to reach out to political opponents and insisting that the presidency “itself is not a partisan institution.”

Biden did not take questions. President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan as ballots continue to be counted in both states.

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3:35 p.m.

President Donald Trump’s campaign says it’s suing to temporarily stop the vote count in Pennsylvania, claiming lack of “transparency.”

Justin Clark, Trump’s deputy campaign manager, said in a statement Wednesday that the campaign is “suing to stop Democrat election officials from hiding the ballot counting and processing from our Republican poll observers.” He said the campaign wants “to temporarily halt counting until there is meaningful transparency and Republicans can ensure all counting is done above board and by the law.”

Clark also said the campaign would seek to intervene in an ongoing Supreme Court case involving the deadline for receiving mail-in ballots.

There have been no reports by law enforcement of fraud or any type of ballot concerns out of Pennsylvania. The state had 3.1 million ballots mailed out that take time to count, and an order allows them to be counted up until Friday if they are postmarked by Nov. 3.

The Associated Press has not yet called Pennsylvania. Democrat Joe Biden currently has 248 electoral votes, while Trump has 214. It takes 270 to win the presidency.

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2:16 p.m.

Joe Biden has defeated President Donald Trump in battleground Wisconsin, securing the state’s 10 electoral votes and reclaiming a key part of the blue wall that slipped away from Democrats four years ago.

The Associated Press called Wisconsin for Biden after election officials in the state said all outstanding ballots had been counted, save for a few hundred in one township and an expected small number of provisional ballots.

Trump’s campaign has requested a recount. Statewide recounts in Wisconsin have historically changed the vote tally by only a few hundred votes; Biden leads by .624 percentage points out of nearly 3.3 million ballots counted.

The victory for Biden bumps him up to 248 electoral votes, while Trump has 214. It takes 270 to win the presidency.

In 2016, Trump won Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes, a breakthrough that along with wins in Michigan and Pennsylvania helped hand him his first term in the White House. Democrats were determined to reclaim Wisconsin, a state that before Trump hadn’t gone for a Republican since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

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2:02 p.m.

President Donald Trump’s campaign says it has filed a lawsuit trying to halt the vote count in battleground Michigan.

The latest counts gives Trump’s Democratic challenger Joe Biden a small lead, but the race is still too early to call.

Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien says in a statement Wednesday that the campaign “has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law.”

He says a suit was filed Wednesday in the Michigan Court of Claims “to halt counting until meaningful access has been granted.”

Michigan is a critical battleground state that helped deliver Trump the presidency four years ago, along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Neither Wisconsin or Pennsylvania has been called yet.

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1:30 p.m.

Joe Biden will address the election results Wednesday afternoon, even as it remains too early for The Associated Press to call the presidential race.

The Democratic presidential candidate will issue a televised address in Wilmington, Delaware. He’s been watching the returns come in with family from his home there.

Biden’s campaign manager expressed confidence in an eventual win for Democrats during a call with reporters earlier Wednesday, pointing to their projections of the outcome in Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

But the AP is not calling the presidential race yet because neither candidate has secured the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory. The AP called Arizona for Biden, but several key states remain too early to call: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Nevada.

As it stands, Biden has 238 electoral votes, while Trump has 214.

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1:24 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won one of Maine’s four electoral votes, just as he did in 2016.

Trump carried the state’s 2nd Congressional District, the more rural and conservative of Maine’s congressional districts.

While Democrat Joe Biden easily carried the state itself, Maine is one of only two states that divides its electoral votes.

Biden won the 1st Congressional District and the statewide tally, good for three electoral votes. Trump’s victory in the 2nd Congressional District means he wins one electoral vote.

Maine split its electoral votes four years ago, awarding three to Democrat Hillary Clinton and one to Trump.

2016 marked the first time in state history that Maine divided its electoral votes.

In the race to the 270 electoral votes needed to win, Biden has 238 while Trump has 214.

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12:45 p.m.

President Donald Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien says the president plans to “immediately” request a recount in the battleground state of Wisconsin, where the race remains close.

In Wisconsin, if a race is within 1 percentage point, the trailing candidate can force a recount.

Stepien says in a statement Wednesday: “The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so.”

The fate of the United States presidency is hanging in the balance, with Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, battling for three familiar battleground states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — that could prove crucial in determining who wins the White House.

In the race to the 270 electoral votes needed to win, Biden has 238 while Trump has 213.

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12:10 p.m.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is discounting President Donald Trump’s early claim that he’d already won the election, saying it’s going to take a while for states to conduct their vote counts.

The Kentucky Republican and Trump ally said Wednesday that “claiming you’ve won the election is different from finishing the counting.”

McConnell also says he is untroubled by Trump’s vows to contest the vote count in key states, telling reporters in Louisville that “you should not be shocked that both sides are going to have lawyers there.”

He added that “the courts will decide disputes. That’s the way we do it in this country.”

Early Wednesday, Trump said, “We will win this, and as far as I’m concerned we already have won it.”

But the outcome is still unclear in key states Trump would need if he is to win against Democrat Joe Biden.

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9:08 a.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump carried the prized battleground of Florida, then he and Democrat Joe Biden shifted their focus early Wednesday to three Northern industrial states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — that could prove crucial in determining who wins the White House. A late burst of votes in Michigan and Wisconsin gave Biden a small lead in those states, but they remain too early to call. Hundreds of thousands of votes were also outstanding in Pennsylvania.   Voting was generally calm in the conclusion of an epic campaign that will shape America’s response to the surging coronavirus pandemic and foundational questions of economic fairness and racial justice.

5:57 a.m.

2:40 a.m.

President Donald Trump is vowing to ask the Supreme Court to weigh in on the inconclusive election. The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the presidential race.

Trump appeared before supporters at the White House early Wednesday morning and cried foul over the election results, calling the process “a major fraud on our nation.” But there’s no evidence of foul play in the cliffhanger.

The night ended with hundreds of thousands of votes still to be counted, and the outcome still unclear in key states he needs if he is to win against Democrat Joe Biden.

Nevertheless, he has cast the night as a disenfranchisement of his voters. He said: “We will win this and as far as I’m concerned we already have won it.”

Trump says: “We’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court — we want all voting to stop.” In fact, there is no more voting — just counting.

1:27 a.m.

President Donald Trump has won four of Nebraska’s five electoral votes, while Democrat Joe Biden has won one electoral vote from the state.

The 1st Congressional District was called for Trump early Wednesday. He also won the 3rd Congressional District earlier, as well as the statewide vote. Trump gets one electoral vote for each congressional district, plus two electoral votes for winning the statewide vote.

Biden’s win in the 2nd Congressional District, which includes Omaha, is a flip from 2016, when Trump narrowly won it against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

While Trump easily carried the state itself, Nebraska is one of only two states that divides its electoral votes.

In 2016, Trump won all five of Nebraska’s electoral votes.

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1:22 a.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has won Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes Omaha. That flips a district that Donald Trump won in 2016.

Nebraska, one of two states that divides its electoral votes, has five total electoral votes up for grabs. On Tuesday, Trump won the statewide vote, which is good for two electoral votes. He also won the 3rd Congressional District, which nets him a third vote.

Biden earns one electoral vote for winning Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District. Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District hasn’t yet been called.

In 2016, Trump narrowly won Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

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1:12 a.m.

Twitter is hiding an election-related post by President Donald Trump, warning that its content is disputed and could be misleading.

Trump stated without evidence early Wednesday that Democrats were trying to “steal” the election. He also falsely said votes cannot be cast after polls are closed.

States allow voters to cast ballots if they are in line when polls close. Some states also allow mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day but received later to be counted.

Trump’s tweet came after his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, delivered remarks as the race was too early to call in key battleground states.

Biden told his supporters to be patient while all the votes are counted.

Twitter says placing a warning on the tweet is in line with its “Civic Integrity Policy.” The tweet is still visible after clicking through the warning.

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1:06 a.m.

President Donald Trump has won Texas and its 38 electoral votes despite a furious, late push by Democrats to turn America’s biggest red state blue.

An avalanche of early votes fed Democrats’ high hopes of ending decades of losses in Texas, where polls showed Joe Biden running unusually close. But Trump carried Texas for a second straight year.

Trump won Texas by 9 percentage points in 2016 and all but took a win here for granted. He didn’t swing through Texas for campaign rallies or swamp television airwaves, and his conservative allies on the ground scoffed at Biden’s chances as a far reach.

Trump sought to make an issue out of Biden’s answer during their final presidential debate that Biden would “transition away from the oil industry” if elected president. Texas is among the swing states with voters who depend on the oil industry to make a living.

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12:35 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won Florida and its 29 electoral votes, the biggest prize among the perennial battlegrounds and a state crucial to his reelection hopes.

A victory in Florida means reelection is within Trump’s grasp. A loss in the state would have made it nearly impossible for Trump to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to retain the White House.

Democrat Joe Biden’s campaign had hoped the devastating toll of the coronavirus pandemic, particularly among older adults, would put him in a strong position in a state popular with retirees.

Trump moved his official residence to his Palm Beach estate Mar-a-Lago from New York last year.

Trump narrowly beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state in 2016.

.@JoeBiden remarks on #ElectionNight – LIVE on C-SPAN https://t.co/TpV5zHqUnt#ElectionNight pic.twitter.com/1Vk8CrJVLA

— CSPAN (@cspan) November 4, 2020

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12:25 a.m.

Democrat Joe Biden will speak shortly on the election results, as many of his key states remain too close to call.

The Biden campaign gathered the press pool that covers him in Wilmington, Delaware, for an early Wednesday morning statement but offered no further guidance.

Biden has spent the night watching the returns come in from his home, while reporters waited near the Chase Center in downtown Wilmington for potential remarks.

Biden began his day early Tuesday with a handful of campaign stops across the all-important state of Pennsylvania as voters went to the polls.

Hours after the polls have closed across America, however, the result of the presidential election remains unclear. A number of key states still have hundreds of thousands of ballots outstanding, after a large influx of mail ballots have slowed down the count in states across the nation.

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12:21 a.m.

President Donald Trump has won Iowa and Montana.

The Republican nominee on Wednesday was awarded six electoral votes from Iowa and three electoral votes from Montana.

Trump won Iowa by more than 9 percentage points four years ago against Democrat Hillary Clinton, but his support eroded significantly over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the overall direction of the country.

Trump rallied in Iowa in the final stretch of the campaign, going so far as to announce he would be awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Iowa wrestling legend Dan Gable. In an appeal to the state’s farmers, he told them he was responsible for $28 billion in aid designed to help offset damage stemming from his trade war with China.

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12:19 a.m.

President Donald Trump has won Ohio and its 18 electoral votes, holding on to a battleground state where the race against Democrat Joe Biden had tightened in recent months.

The Republican nominee comfortably carried the Midwestern state four years ago, but polls heading into the final weeks showed Biden well within range, forcing the president to spend more time in the state than anyone expected.

In 2016, Trump saw notable support from blue-collar manufacturing and mining communities disenchanted with his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, and buoyed by the Republican’s promise to bring back jobs to their hard-hit communities.

Biden saw the gap as overly daunting early on but seized an opening in the closing months amid Trump’s softening support among college-educated suburban women. The campaign responded with a summer ad blitz and string of in-person campaign appearances.

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12:13 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has carried Minnesota, turning back a strong push by President Donald Trump and holding on to a state narrowly won by Democrat Hillary Clinton four years ago.

Biden was awarded the state’s 10 electoral votes on Tuesday.

Biden made up for his campaign getting a late start in Minnesota compared with Trump, who held several campaign rallies in the state this election cycle. The former vice president took advantage of anti-Trump sentiment and organizing efforts by the state’s Democrats, who stressed COVID-19 and health care issues.

Trump came within 1.5 percentage points of carrying Minnesota in 2016 and made winning the state this time a personal priority. Republicans invested time and money in building a field organization to boost GOP turnout, focusing on conservative rural Minnesota and suburban areas that were once mostly Republican but have become swing territory.

The last Republican presidential candidate to capture the state was Richard Nixon in 1972.

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12:06 a.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has won the state of Hawaii.

He was awarded its four electoral votes on Tuesday.

Hawaii is a reliably Democratic state and last went for a Republican presidential candidate in 1984, when it was won by Ronald Reagan.

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11:15 p.m.

Several hundred people have gathered in Black Lives Matter Plaza, just one block from the White House, holding signs and chanting about democracy.

It was a generally festive atmosphere Tuesday night as election results came in, with a few scuffles along the edges.

There were fears of widespread unrest connected to the election, and authorities around the country were on alert in their communities.

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11:08 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won the state of Utah.

The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its six electoral votes.

Utah hasn’t supported a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Trump won Utah in 2016, but independent candidate Evan McMullin had a strong showing in the state owing to widespread distaste of both Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. McMullin captured more than 20% of the vote.

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11 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has won California, Oregon and Washington state, while President Donald Trump has won Idaho.

California, Oregon and Washington are all liberal states, while Idaho is conservative.

California has 55 electoral votes, the biggest haul of any state. It’s also the home of Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris. She served as the San Francisco district attorney and the state’s attorney general before winning election to the Senate in 2016.

Biden nets 74 electoral votes for the three Western states, while Trump takes four electoral votes from Idaho.

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10:54 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has won New Hampshire and its four electoral votes, holding on to a state that President Donald Trump only narrowly lost in 2016.

The state was considered a 2020 battleground despite not going for a Republican presidential candidate since George W. Bush in 2000.

Four years ago, Democrat Hillary Clinton won the small state over Trump by roughly 2,700 votes. That’s less than 1% of the 732,000 ballots cast, and it was the second-closest margin of victory in the country.

Biden didn’t fare as well in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation Democratic primary in February. He finished a dismal fifth, behind Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren. But his candidacy took off after a commanding win later that month in the South Carolina primary, leading to the exits of several of his competitors.

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10:31 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won the state of Missouri.

The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its 10 electoral votes.

In 2016, Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state by 18 percentage points.

10:15 p.m.

Republicans and President Donald Trump’s campaign got no quick decision from the Nevada Supreme Court on an appeal aimed at stopping the count of mail-in ballots in the Las Vegas area.

The state high court did not stop election night counting, calling instead for written filings to be completed Monday, Nov. 9, in a case that could affect the vote tally in Clark County, a Democratic stronghold in an otherwise red GOP state.

Trump campaign officials say they want transparency.

State Democrats say Republicans are trying to undermine the election.

Nevada is a presidential battleground state with six electoral votes at stake. Democrat Hillary Clinton won the state in 2016.

9:59 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won the state of Kansas.

The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its six electoral votes.

In 2016, Trump coasted to victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton by 20 percentage points in the state.

9:37 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has won the state of Colorado.

He was awarded its nine electoral votes on Tuesday.

The state, which went for Democrat Hillary Clinton four years ago, has trended sharply to the left since President Donald Trump’s 2016 election.

The state also has a competitive Senate race between Republican incumbent Cory Gardner and the state’s former governor John Hickenlooper. Gardner is considered one of the nation’s most vulnerable senators.

9:27 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has won the District of Columbia.

He was awarded its three electoral votes on Tuesday.

District voters have been allowed to cast presidential ballots since 1964 and have always voted overwhelmingly Democratic. Hillary Clinton’s win in the District over Republican Donald Trump in 2016 was the widest margin ever.

—-

9 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won Louisiana, Nebraska, Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, while Democrat Joe Biden has won New Mexico and New York.

Nebraska, one of two states that divides its electoral votes, has five total electoral votes up for grabs. Trump won the statewide vote, which is good for two electoral votes. He also won the 3rd Congressional District, which nets him a third vote.

Nebraska’s 1st and 2nd congressional districts haven’t yet been called.

Trump nets 20 electoral votes from his wins in Louisiana, Nebraska, Nebraska’s 3rd, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, while Biden takes 34 electoral votes for winning New Mexico and New York.

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8:52 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won the state of Indiana.

The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its 11 electoral votes.

Indiana is the home state of Trump’s running mate, Vice President Mike Pence.

Trump won Indiana by 19 percentage points in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

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8:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won the state of Arkansas.

The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its six electoral votes.

Arkansas is a reliably Republican state that hasn’t gone for a Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton in 1996.

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8:20 p.m.

A judge in Nevada has ordered 30 Las Vegas-area voting sites to remain open for an extra hour after President Donald Trump’s campaign and Nevada Republicans cited reports that some locations did not open on time.

Clark County District Court Judge Joe Hardy Jr. in Las Vegas heard immediate arguments in an Election Day lawsuit filed to extend voting times to 8 p.m. for 22 specified sites, which had been scheduled to close at 7 p.m.

Hardy added eight additional sites at the request of attorneys for Democrats.

Clark County has 125 voting centers in and around Las Vegas. The judge ordered that anyone in line at the 30 sites at 8 p.m. will be allowed to cast a ballot.

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8 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee, while Democrat Joe Biden has won Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

The results were not a surprise. Biden is very strong in the states that went for him, just as Trump is strong in the states he won.

Trump takes 33 electoral votes for winning those four states, while Biden adds 69 electoral votes to his total for winning seven states.

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7:56 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won the state of South Carolina.

The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its nine electoral votes.

Trump handily won the state in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton. South Carolina hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Joe Biden’s victory in the South Carolina primary in February started a wave of wins that helped cement his status as Democrats’ presidential nominee. South Carolina Republicans didn’t hold a primary, an early sign of their support for Trump’s reelection.

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7:36 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has won the state of Virginia.

He was awarded its 13 electoral votes on Tuesday.

Democrat Hillary Clinton won Virginia over Republican Donald Trump in 2016, helped in part by her choice of running mate: Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine.

Virginia has grown increasingly liberal over the last four years, and as a result of the 2019 elections, Democrats now control every branch of government in the state.

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7:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump has coasted to victory in West Virginia, taking its five electoral votes.

The Republican nominee defeated Democrat Joe Biden on Tuesday in a reliably conservative state.

The last Democrat to win a presidential race in West Virginia was Bill Clinton in 1996.

Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in West Virginia four years ago by 42 percentage points, one of his highest margins of victory in the nation. Many in the state credit him for his conservative populism and promises to help the declining coal industry, even as few expected he could bring back jobs in a dying field.

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7:20 p.m.

The Trump campaign and Nevada Republicans are asking a state court judge to extend voting by one hour at 22 Las Vegas-area locations, citing reports that those sites did not open on time Tuesday morning.

An Election Day lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court was getting an immediate hearing before Judge Joe Hardy.

Polls are scheduled to close at 7 p.m. Pacific time, but election officials keep sites open until the last person in line at that time can vote.

Clark County has 1,150 precincts bunched into 125 voting centers in and around Las Vegas.

The lawsuit filed against Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria points to a Twitter message posted by the Nevada Secretary of State elections division at 7:22 a.m. referring to several polling locations having technical problems that delayed opening.

The message urged people in line to be patient, saying the sites would open soon.

The Trump campaign and Nevada GOP have been involved in several legal fights in Nevada, including an appeal on Tuesday to the Nevada Supreme Court, seeking to stop the mail-in ballot count in Democratic-leaning Las Vegas.

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7 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won Kentucky, and Democrat Joe Biden has carried Vermont.

They are the first two states called in the 2020 presidential election.

Kentucky is reliably conservative, while Vermont is considered one of the most liberal states.

Trump wins eight electoral votes from Kentucky, while Biden takes three for winning Vermont.