US Election 2020: Nevada result delayed, 200k votes still to count

Nevada’s election result was delayed on Thursday as officials scrambled to count the remaining 200,000 votes there and Biden’s lead increased from 8,000 votes to 11,500 in the face of ongoing claims from President Trump that the entire election is a fraud that involved tens of thousands of votes being cast in dead people’s names. 

Officials had expected to give a result on Thursday but Clark County – where Las Vegas is and where there are more than 1.9million people – said it had 51,000 votes that would not be counted until tomorrow. Biden is leading in Nevada but only by 11,545 votes which is around 1 percent. If he claims the state today, he will win another 6 electoral college points, giving him 270 when factoring in the 11 that come from Arizona.

Arizona was called for him on Wednesday morning by Fox and the AP but with 450,000 votes still outstanding, it remains in play for Trump. If Biden loses Arizona, he has 259 electoral college votes. He’d need another 11 from either Georgia – which holds 16 – North Carolina – which holds 15 – or Pennsylvania – which holds 20 – to win.

Arizona will not finalize its results until tomorrow, nor will Pennsylvania and Georgia is expected by the end of the day. It’s unclear when North Carolina will announce, but it is expected to go to Trump as it did in 2016. 

The race in Nevada has been tight. For most of the morning, Biden led by only around 7,000 votes there.

Officials had hoped to deliver a result at noon but the deadline came and went. Now, it’s unclear when they will report one. 

The race could narrow enough to prompt network decision desks and the AP to call the state for him before officials do, however with previous states like Arizona thrown into doubt and with tensions simmering across the country over just how close the race is, it is impossible to tell when it will be called. 

Trump’s team used the gap to file a lawsuit to halt the vote, alleging widespread voter fraud.  

They say they have ‘evidence’ that ‘tens of thousands of votes’ had been cast there fraudulently. 

‘We are confident that when all legal votes are tallied — and only legal votes are tallied — President Trump will win the state of Nevada,’ Former Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell told Fox News on Thursday morning. 

 

Ric Grenell, Donald Trump adviser and former acting director of national intelligence, speaks during a news conference in front of the Clark County Election Department, Thursday. They say they have ‘evidence’ that tens of thousands of votes were cast fraudulently in Nevada 

STATES STILL IN PLAY

ARIZONA – 11 electoral college votes: Votes still being counted, deadline for result unclear

50.49% Biden

48.14 Biden

Fox and the AP gave Arizona to Biden before dawn on Wednesday. 

On Wednesday afternoon, officials said that there were still 600,000 votes left to be counted which suggested that it could be put back in play. 

The AP is standing by its call, saying the outstanding votes are in Biden strongholds that will not flip back to Trump.     

Biden’s lead in Arizona has shrunk to about 68,000 votes.  

Maricopa is the largest county in Arizona, home to Phoenix and 62% of the state’s 7.28 million residents. A candidate cannot win the state without it

Counting will resume Thursday. Maricopa county will next report Thursday evening, local time 

GEORGIA – 16 electoral colleges votes: Result expected sometime on Thursday

49.57% Trump

49.2%  Biden

NEVADA – 6 electoral college votes: Result expected 12 EST Thursday

49.33% Biden

48.69% Trump

NORTH CAROLINA – 15 electoral college votes: Result expected some time Thursay

50.09% Trump

48.69% Biden

PENNSYLVANIA – 20 electoral college votes: Result expected Friday

Trump 50.72%

Biden 48.13%

‘The reality is transparency is not political. Ballots are not automatically legal votes until they’re checked. We are not being able to check. 

‘There’s a 30 day residency requirement in the state of Nevada. If you haven’t been in the state for 30 days it is illegal to vote.

‘We are filing this federal lawsuit to protect legal voters. 

‘It is unacceptable in this country to have illegal votes counted. That is what’s happening in the state of Nevada,’ Grenell claimed at a press conference. 

Nevada law states that to be eligible to vote, a person has to have been a resident of the state for at least 30 days before the election. 

That does not necessarily mean that they have to have been physically in the state for the 30 days preceding the election.  

Trump’s people also claim that many of the votes in Nevada came from people who no longer live there, or were cast under the names of deceased people. 

Trump is also suing in Pennsylvania – where voting in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh was temporarily halted on Thursday because of his ongoing court battles – Michigan – which was called for Biden on Wednesday – and Georgia – where 60,000 votes remain uncounted. 

He is demanding a recount in Wisconsin, which was called for Biden on Wednesday.

On Twitter, he fumed on Thursday morning: ‘Stop the count!’ and said that no ballots cast ‘after election day’ would be counted. 

He was talking about the number of mail-in ballots that will be allowed to be counted, specifically in Pennsylvania, until Friday, so long as they were mailed-in by November 3, the election day. 

Trump performs better among in-person voters and Biden performs better in mail-ins. 

The Trump campaign had a minor legal victory in Pennsylvania on Thursday when a judge ruled ballot observers can watch officials count ballots within six feet. Representatives of both campaigns were in the room to watch the counts but at a further distance because of the coronavirus.

They can now sit closer as long as they take the proper COVID precautions.

Democrats, however, are appealing the case, and vote counting has stopped in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, two heavily Democratic areas, while lawyers battle it out. Biden has been closing the gap with Trump in Pennsylvania as mail-in ballots are counted. 

Additionally a judge in Chatham County, Georgia, where Savannah is located, ruled against the Trump campaign’s legal challenge to some absentee ballots. The judge declared officials took the proper precautions to ensure it was legal ballots that were counted.  Trump’s lead in Georgia fell to fewer than 20,000 votes as more vote totals were released.

The Biden campaign accused the Trump team of using the court system to delay the inevitable. 

‘What we’re seeing on these legal suits are that they are meritless and nothing more than an attempt to distract and delay what is now inevitable – Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States,’ campaign manager Jennifer O’Malley Dillon told reporters Thursday morning.  

Trump has also accused Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar of unilaterally extending the deadline by which mail-in voters whose voter ID was missing to provide proof.

In a press conference held in Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon Giuliani and Eric claimed the president won the state, despite roughly one million mail-in ballots still needing to be counted.

Like Trump himself, neither man offered a legal argument for a win or proof of any voter fraud, but nonetheless made claims of cheating.

‘They’re trying to cheat, they’re trying to cheat,’ Eric Trump said repeatedly of the Democrats.

Giuliani ranted for several minutes about mail-in ballots which he claimed – without proof – could be falsified.

‘This is beyond anything I have ever seen before,’ he said. ‘Do you think we’re stupid? Do you think we’re fools?

‘You know something, Democrats do think you’re stupid,’ Giuliani added.

‘And they do think you’re fools. That’s why you get called ‘deplorable’ and ‘chumps’. 

Protesters in Las Vegas on Wednesday night demanding that every vote be counted as the tight race for the White House rumbles on

Protesters in Las Vegas on Wednesday night demanding that every vote be counted as the tight race for the White House rumbles on

Supporters of President Donald Trump protest the Nevada vote in front of the Clark County Election Department, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Las Vegas

Supporters of President Donald Trump protest the Nevada vote in front of the Clark County Election Department, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Las Vegas