As vote counting continues in earnest following the close of polls on November 3rd, both Republican Party candidate and incumbent President Donald Trump and his Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, have hinted at their possible wins, with the former threatening legal actions as the race gets tighter.
In a brief statement Wednesday afternoon, Biden said his campaign was on track to win 270 electoral votes but that he was not declaring victory until the count was completed in key states. He also said he was encouraged by the extraordinary turnout in the election and dismissed Trump’s attempts to undermine the results.
“Here, the people rule. Power can’t be taken or asserted,” Biden said in his speech in which he pledged to bring the country together and to work for national healing as president.
Earlier that same day, Trump made a brief appearance before the public, calling for vote counts to stop in some contested states, where he claimed the Democratic Party was trying to steal the elections. The Trump campaign is challenging vote counts in the key states of Wisconsin, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Winning all three of these Rust Belt states would hand Biden victory.
Trump’s Case
With more than 40 pre-election cases by Republicans, Trump’s strategy is to argue that any measure to make voting easier and safer during a pandemic is unconstitutional and open to fraud, a framing aimed at the Supreme Court.
A second argument that has been deployed several times is that many of the measures to ensure voting is easy to have been made by state officials – like governors – rather than state legislatures, opening a path, say conservatives, for a constitutional challenge.
Projections
CNN projects Biden will win at least three of Maine’s four electoral votes, Wisconsin, Michigan, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Virginia, California, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Delaware, Washington, DC, Maryland, Massachusetts and one of Nebraska’s five electoral votes. Nebraska and Maine award two electoral votes to its statewide winner and divides their other electoral votes by congressional district.
CNN projects Trump will also win in Montana, Texas, Iowa, Idaho, Ohio, Mississippi, Wyoming, Missouri, Kansas, Utah, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, Indiana, Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee and four of Nebraska’s five electoral votes.
Record Turnout
Overall turnout in Tuesday’s election was projected to be the highest in 120 years at 66.9%, according to the US Election Project.
