Biden within reach of finish line, Trump says 'Stop the count'
Washington: Weary Americans will have to wait for some more time to know the clear winner of the closely-fought election between Republican President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden, as the final outcome hinged on a few states on Thursday where a flood of mail-in ballots triggered by the Coronavirus pandemic was still being counted.
Two days after the presidential election, Biden is nearing the magical figure of 270 electoral votes to win the race to the White House, with the former US Vice-President bagging 253 votes compared to 213 won by Trump, according to latest US media projections, till this paper went to the press.
The results in four states Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Nevada are yet to be declared as officials counted millions of votes, some that were cast on Tuesday and many more during weeks of early voting amidst the surging pandemic.
In the US election, voters decide state-level contests rather than a single, national one. Each US state gets a certain number of Electoral College votes partly based on the size of the population, with a total of 538 up for grabs.
To reach the magic figure of 270 to claim victory, Trump, 74, must win all four remaining battleground states: Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Nevada.
There are approximately 90,735 ballots still outstanding in Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office told CNN.
The state has 16 Electoral College votes.
With 71 per cent of mail-in ballots counted in Pennsylvania, officials still need to count 763,000 of the 2.6 million casts, according to the state's official website. The state has 20 Electoral College votes.
North Carolina has 15 Electoral College votes while Nevada has six. Projections on Wednesday put Biden, 77, as the winner in Michigan and Wisconsin, two states Trump won in the 2016 election.
As several battleground states continue to count votes and the margins remain razor-thin, Biden tweeted on Thursday morning: "Every vote must be counted.
"Keep the faith, guys. We're gonna win this," he tweeted.
An hour later, President Trump tweeted: "STOP THE COUNT!"
Earlier, Biden said: "I'm not here to declare that we've won. But I am here to report that when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners."
Biden could reach the 270 Electoral College vote threshold needed to win the election if he holds onto his leads in Arizona and Nevada.
Trump, however, still has a path to victory if he can take back any one of the states where Biden is leading. Trump is leading in other states that have not yet been called: Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Alaska. By sweeping these, but not flipping a Biden-leaning state, Trump would end up with 268 Electoral College votes, just short of the 270 needed to win.
Meanwhile, Twitter Inc flagged a post by Trump on Thursday that said votes received after Election Day in the United States would not be counted.
The company has applied labels to multiple tweets sent by Trump in recent days, warning users that information is disputed and might be misleading, as he fights Biden to keep his place in the White House.
Trump's latest tweet to receive the label on Thursday said: "ANY VOTE THAT CAME IN AFTER ELECTION DAY WILL NOT BE COUNTED!"
