Donald Trump claims election is a ‘fraud on the American people’

Donald Trump claimed the election was a ‘fraud on the American people’ and that he was going to the Supreme Court to stop all vote counting immediately in a White House statement at 2.30am.

He effectively made his own declaration of saying: ‘Frankly we did win this election.’

He set the stage for a titanic struggle with Joe Biden over the millions of ballots which are still to be counted and which might not be fully counted until as late as Friday.

Biden had been first to speak, just after midnight, saying ‘it ain’t over till every vote is counted,’ in an address from Wilmington, Delaware.

Trump tweeted immediately to accuse Biden of fraud and say he was ‘winning BIG’ and would make his own statement.

‘Votes cannot be cast after the Poles are closed!’ he tweeted from the White House residence – spelling polls incorrectly, but making clear that the battle will be over late-arriving mail-in ballots.

The outcome of the election had effectively ground to a halt just after midnight with Donald Trump on 213 electoral college votes and Joe Biden on 224, and seven battleground states too close to call.

Biden’s failure to land a knockout blow by taking Florida, Ohio or Texas means that the race comes down to Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin – the ‘blue wall’ which Hillary Clinton lost in 2016.

But it will take days to determine the results from those states, setting the scene for a battle which was headed to the courts.   

The Democrats were handed Arizona by Fox News in a call which the White House was disputing. If it holds, it gives Biden a precarious path to victory through two of the three states.

Both he and Trump are now effectively in a stalemate which can only be ended by the lengthy process of counting mail-in ballots.

‘We feel good about where we are, we really do. I’m here to tell you tonight, we believe we’re on track to win this election,’ Biden, alongside wife Jill, told supporters gathered outside the Chase Center. He pointed to the gain of Arizona and Minnesota, which NBC News said was leaning Biden minutes before he came onstage.

‘And we’re still in the game in Georgia, although that’s not one we expected,’ Biden said. ‘We feel real good about Wisconsin and Michigan. And, by the way, we’re going to win Pennsylvania,’ he said, getting copious honks from his drive-in crowd.

Biden said he was ‘encouraged,’ especially, by turnout in Philadelphia, which is adjacent to Wilmington.

‘Look, we could know the results as early as tomorrow morning. It may take longer as I’ve said all along,’ he said. ‘It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to call who wins this election, that’s the decision of the American people.’

‘I am optimistic about this outcome,’ he said.

Right before he exited he told the crowd that he and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, would be talking tomorrow.

As Biden was pulling in, the jumbotrons, which were playing MSNBC, announced that President Donald Trump had officially won Florida – the first sign Tuesday that the U.S. was in for a long night.

Big swaths of potentially Democratic votes were outstanding in places like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Detroit and Atlanta when Biden appeared.

After 1am, Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional district – which is worth one electoral vote – was called for Biden.

Trump’s team had determined that his support in the eastern area of the state was wobbly, with the president holding a rally in Omaha on October 27. That event made news when hundreds of the president’s supporters were left outside for hours in the cold when shuttle buses couldn’t reach the event site.

The gain for Biden is notable because it will prevent a 269-269 tie between the two presidential candidates. In 2016, Trump won all three of Nebraska’s Congressional districts and thus all of its five electoral votes.

Trump snatched the biggest electoral prizes of the night in the closing minutes of Tuesday, as he took Ohio and Fox News declared him the winner in Florida and Texas.

But Biden scored the first takeaway of the evening as he was also given Arizona by Fox News, making the western battleground the first state to change hands from 2016.

The gain provided Biden a precarious path to victory even if he were to lose one of three Midwestern states with tight races that are part of his battle plan.

But that means the election now hinges on results which are certain to take well into Wednesday and probably even longer to be determined.

Keeping Ohio, Florida and Texas also suggested that polls had badly underestimated Trump’s support in the key battlegrounds – with some giving Biden double-digit leads with days to go, only for it to evaporate.

Ohio, with its 18 Electoral Votes, is a state Trump carried in 2016, but it represented an opportunity for Biden. He made a quick visit to Cleveland one of his final trips of the campaign.

Biden also eyed Florida as a prime electoral prize, but it was only a part of several electoral vote scenarios his team prepared to execute.

Having Florida and Ohio in his column handed the president key pieces of his 2016 successful electoral map – depriving Joe Biden of an early prize that would have sent a powerful signal had he won it.

However, the AP and other networks stopped short of calling Florida for Trump, given the close margin, outstanding vote, and the state’s history of close and contested elections.

A Trump loss in Florida had been potentially devastating. Instead, he was on track to keep a state where public polls had Biden with a narrow lead. Trump made Florida, a regular battleground, his official residence after moving it from New York.

With three quarters of the vote in, Biden was leading Trump 54 to 45 in Arizona.

The projected victory means he can take away the state’s 11 electoral votes from the 306-vote coalition Trump assembled four years ago.

That means Biden now needs to win two of the three Midwestern states which Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 to get to 270 electoral college votes. But with Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin all saying that mail-in ballot counting is going to run into Wednesday and even later, that means there is no rapid resolution in sight.

Biden made Arizona a top target, hoping to bank on demographic changes there. He got another boost when Cindy McCain, widow of the late Arizona Senator John McCain, endorsed him and campaigned with him. John McCain has been a regular Trump target, and his vote in the Senate helped kill a GOP effort to repeal Obamacare.

With Florida out of reach, Biden could still look to North Carolina, but he was trailing Trump there with 95 per cent of the vote in. Trump also held a narrow lead in Iowa with 84% of precincts reporting. In Georgia, Trump was leading 53 to 45, with 80% of precincts reporting.

Adding to the confusion and drama of the evening, each state counted its votes differently – with some running through early votes quickly, and others starting with Election Day votes, and mail-in ballots continuing to be the wild card.

The first sign of trouble for the Democrat began with disappointing vote totals coming in from Miami-Dade County in Florida. Biden ran ahead of President Trump there – but was only up 53 to 46% with 95% of precincts reporting. 

That wasn’t enough to match Hillary Clinton’s totals, and didn’t appear to be enough to offset Trump advantages in other rural parts of the state. It was a sign that Biden hadn’t done what he needed to do to lock down support among the state’s many Cuban-American, Venezuelan-American, and other Hispanic voters. 

Improvements over Clinton’s numbers outside Tampa and around Jacksonville might not be enough to make up the difference, and the state was too close to call with 94% of precincts reporting, although Trump was holding on to a narrow lead.

Florida has a long history of close elections and contested counts, and networks were loath to make final calls even with Trump leading 51 to 48 with 94% of precincts reporting.   

An early lead for Biden in Texas also slipped away, with Trump leading 51 to 47 with 80% of precincts reporting.

None of those state results were final, and there were also encouraging signs for Biden, including outperforming Clinton in some suburban areas that were key to Trump’s victory.

Biden’s camp could still look to the ‘blue wall,’ and votes were slower to come into Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, although Trump was leading in all three in the early count.

In a sign that Democrats’ vast fundraising had failed to bring about success, the $100million spent by Jaime Harrison to unseat Lindsey Graham in South Carolina failed, with the Republican winning by a projected margin of as much as 10 points.

‘WE ARE LOOKING REALLY GOOD ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. THANK YOU!’ Trump tweeted early Tuesday evening before the votes came in, after sounding hoarse and tired in an early morning radio interview and scheduling a quick visit to his campaign headquarters Tuesday.

Trump held an early lead in Michigan, leading 55 to 44 with 38% of precincts reporting.

But less than a third of the vote was in in vote-rich Wayne County, which includes Detroit. Biden was up 52 to 47 in Oakland County outside Detroit with 58% of the vote in.

Arizona, another prize, remained very much in play. With three-quarters of the vote counted, Biden was leading Trump 54 to 45. However, early in-person and mail-ballots were expected to come in first, providing Trump a chance to gain ground.

Trump was leading by 2 percentage points in Wisconsin with 40% of the vote counted.

With votes being counted there was nothing for the two candidates to do but wait. 

President Trump is watching returns in upstairs residence of the White House with family and close advisers. Downstairs in the East Wing, Trump supporters watched returns on TV screens showing Fox News and snacking on fast food, including French fries and hamburgers.

Biden is at his home in Wilmington, watching returns with his family.   

Trump won eight electoral votes from Kentucky, five from West Virginia and 11 from Indiana, while Biden took three for Vermont. 

Arizona, Iowa, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin are among the states to watch.

The winner of some of those states may not be known for days. The Supreme Court extended deadlines in North Carolina and Pennsylvania for officials there to accept mail-in ballots, a blow to Republicans. 

Trump, in particular, has railed against the Pennsylvania decision and has threatened legal action in the state against any disputed ballots.   

‘We believe this to be a tight race,’ Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said Tuesday evening on a call with reporters. ‘We believe every votes going to matter. It’s going to come down to turnout. We think we’re better positioned in that sort of in that type of campaign.’

There have been reports of long lines at polls across the country. As long as voters are in line by the time polls close, they are allowed to vote.

Biden refused to say how the night will go, telling reporters Tuesday outside a Delaware community center that he’s ‘superstitious’ about offering predictions but remains ‘hopeful.’

‘The things that are happening bode well for the base that has been supporting me — but we´ll see,’ he said.

But he noted things were ‘so uncertain’ because of the large number of states in play.

Biden and Trump were switching back and forth between having the lead in Florida, though early totals out of Miami-Dade seemed to spell trouble for Biden, as Trump has heavily courted the Latino population, particularly in Miami’s Cuban communities.

He held a midnight rally in the Miami area on Sunday, which attracted an estimated 12,000 supporters. CNN was reporting that Biden was underperforming Clinton’s totals in Miami-Dade by more than 5%. 

In Florida, a machine recount is triggered when the margin between the candidates is less than or equal to .5% of the total votes. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell scored the first important win of the election night, with networks calling his race for reelection soon after the polls closed in Kentucky.

It was a result that political experts had forecast – but it dashed the hopes of Trump ‘resistance’ members who poured contributions into the race in hopes of turning back a prime facilitator of the president’s agenda.

McConnell, the architect of the strategy to push through a quick confirmation for Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, was leading Democrat Amy McGrath 56% to 40%, with about two-thirds of the state’s vote counted.

McConnell, who also helped push through Trump’s tax cuts and confirmed a raft of appeals court judges, also designed the strategy to block President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland.

What is still unknown is whether he will return to the Senate next year as majority leader or as minority leader – with Democrats holding a decent chance of taking over the chamber, where Republicans hold a 53 to 47 edge.

He won in a what was looking to be a difficult year for incumbent Republicans after spending 36 years in the Senate, defeating McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot, as President Donald Trump carried the state.

Democrats made McConnell a top target even with ample other opportunities on the map, funneling $88 million to McGrath and shattering records compared to $55million for McConnell, a proven fundraiser.

Both Biden and Donald Trump have been eyeing Pennsylvania as one of the key swing states in the White House race. 

Pennsylvania accounts for a significant 20 electoral votes meaning both Republicans and Democrats – as well as pollsters – believe the outcome of the state could dictate the entire race.  

Concerns are mounting that Trump will declare victory in the state long before votes are counted or that he will attempt to stop mail-in votes being counted after election day. 

Democrats are thought to be more likely to vote by mail-in voting given Trump’s constant rhetoric that the process is ‘rigged’. 

Colorado Senator Cory Gardner became the first major political casualty Tuesday night, after former governor and Denver mayor John Hickenlooper defeated him.

Gardner was considered one of the most endangered Republican incumbents on the ballot Tuesday, running in a state where Joe Biden was running strongly against President Trump.

His defeat would take the GOP’s narrow Senate majority down to 52 votes – however should Republicans knock off Alabama Democratic Sen. Doug Jones it would be a wash.

Gardner trailed Hickenlooper in opinion polls going into election day, and Hickenlooper overcame some of his own stumbles after he was forced to pay a state ethics fine. He ran for president this year and stumbled, but was considered a top Democratic prospect in his state.

Like other Senate Republicans, Hickenlooper became tied to Trump, who was viewed negatively in the state. Although he once criticized Trump during the 2016 campaign after the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape, Gardner, a former leader of his party’s campaign wing, didn’t put much distance between himself and the president.

He said he thought Trump was moral and ethical when asked about it during a candidates’ debate. ‘I wish he could be more specific in his communications with the American people,’ Gardner added.

 

Trump won the state by less than a point over Hillary Clinton back in 2016 however the latest polls show Biden is ahead by around 5 points.

Biden has visited the state more times than any other battleground state during his campaign trail and Trump has also focused heavily on drumming up support in the state. 

Democrats scored their first big win of the night Tuesday when they knocked off incumbent Republican Sen. Cory Gardner in Colorado – but failed to take down South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Gardner was considered among the most vulnerable GOP incumbents. Graham’s race became a surprise tossup of the election cycle.

Graham’s challenger, Jaime Harrison, became a potent fundraiser, and as the race tightened Graham was forced to go on Fox News repeatedly to ask national viewers to make contributions to his reelection effort.

He became a favorite target of Democrats, having forged a reputation as an independent-minded Republican who befriended John McCain and ran against Trump – only to become one of the president’s most loyal allies.

Graham in 2016 called Trump a ‘race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot,’ while Trump once gave out his personal cell number at a campaign rally. But the two mended fences after Trump one, and Graham became the president’s frequent golf partner and advisor.

Graham headed up an investigation of the FBI’s crossfire hurricane probe of Russian election interference. Then, upon the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, he oversaw the quick confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Trump’s nominee.

Harrison, a former party official in the state, blew through fundraising records and amassed $57 million in the final quarter. But it wasn’t enough. Graham was leading 55 to 44% with 43% of precincts reporting, and the Associated Press called the race around 10pm.

Nearly 100 million Americans nationwide have voted early, and now it falls to election day voters to finish the job.

Biden entered election day with multiple paths to victory while Trump, playing catch-up in a number of battleground states, had a narrower but still feasible road to clinch 270 electoral college votes. 

Control of the Senate is at stake, too: Democrats needed to net three seats if Biden captures the White House to gain control of all of Washington for the first time in a decade. 

If Biden loses to Trump, the Democrats can still take control of the Senate if they take four Republican seats.  

Meanwhile, the House is expected to remain under Democratic control.  

FLORIDA 

Trump admitted Tuesday that he doesn’t take losing well as he rattled off a confusing message on when he expects the election winner to be known, claiming he wants to know by Election Night, but doubling down on preparing to launch a legal battle in several states over the results.

‘I’m not thinking about a concession speech or acceptance speech yet. Hopefully we’ll be doing only one of those two,’ Trump told reporters as he visited his campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia Tuesday afternoon as voters lined up all over the country to cast their ballots.

‘And you know, winning is easy,’ the president continued. ‘Losing is never easy. Not for me, it’s not.’

The president was joined by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, his Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and a very dressed-down Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and senior adviser, for the trip.

Reports emerged over the weekend that Trump is preparing to declare victory tonight before a winner is officially called – but the president denied this, claiming the reports were ‘false.’ 

Just hours before polls closed, Joe Biden addressed a large crowd of supporters in Philadelphia. 

This marked the second stop on a tour of two cities in Pennsylvania Tuesday as the Democrat makes a final play for the battleground state where pollsters and both political parties feel the White House race could be won or lost.

On his first stop he visited his childhood home in Scranton Tuesday morning where he left a poignant message on the wall of the living room. 

The Democratic candidate wrote the message ‘from this house to the White House with the grace of God’ alongside his signature and the date of the 59th US presidential election. 

Biden was then mobbed by a huge crowd of supporters who had gathered outside in a show of support – a far cry from the smaller turnouts at the socially distanced rallies he has held throughout the campaign season.      

INDIANA 

Biden made an embarrassing gaffe during his final pit stop as he introduced his granddaughter Finnegan as his late son Beau Biden, then called her by her cousin Natalie’s name, before finally correctly introducing Natalie as Beau’s daughter to a crowd of supporters in Philadelphia. 

‘This is my son, Beau Biden who a lot of you helped elect to the Senate in Delaware,’ he said as he put his arm around Finnegan’s shoulder.  

He then continued with the slip-up by calling her Natalie and saying she is Beau’s daughter. Natalie, 16, is Beau’s daughter while Finnegan, 20, is actually the daughter of Biden’s other son Hunter.

‘This is my granddaughter, Natalie,’ Biden continued, before saying: ‘No wait, we got the wrong one.’

He then finally put his arm around Natalie’s shoulder, who was standing close by, and said correctly: ‘This is Natalie, this is Beau’s daughter.’  

Biden’s trip to Scranton came after he started election day by attending morning mass and visiting Beau’s grave at St. Joseph On the Brandywine Catholic Church in Wilmington, Delaware, with his wife Jill and teenage granddaughters Finnegan and Natalie.    

The family attended a short mass at their local church before paying a visit to the grave of Biden’s late son Beau, an Iraq War veteran and Delaware attorney general, who was laid to rest there following his death in 2015 from brain cancer.  

Biden’s late first wife Neilia and baby daughter Naomi, who both died in a car crash in 1972, are also buried in the cemetery.     

GEORGIA

Trump told ‘Fox & Friends’ in a call-in interview Tuesday morning that he would declare victory ‘only when there’s victory.’

During his visit to the Washington D.C. suburb, which aired live on TV, Trump told a room of his staffers that the winner of the election should be decided Tuesday, again railing against mail-in ballots.

‘When do you think we’ll know a winner and should every vote be counted no matter how long it takes?’ a reporter gathered for the quick trip across the line from D.C. asked the president.

‘Well I think you will know possibly tonight depending on the extent of a victory. I think you could know tonight,’ Trump said.

‘I think the ruling on Pennsylvania was an unfortunate one by the Supreme Court because I think we should know what happens on the night,’ he said. ‘Let people put their ballots in earlier. But you have to have numbers, you can have these things delayed for many days and maybe weeks. You can’t do that. The whole world is waiting, this country is waiting – but the whole world is waiting.’

‘You have to have a date, and the date happens to be November 3,’ Trump reiterated. ‘And we should be entitled to know who won on November 3.’

‘They should put the ballot in earlier, there’s no reason why they can’t put the ballot in a few weeks earlier, one week earlier,’ he said. ‘I think it’s a very dangerous decision for a country in many ways dangerous, in many ways.’

VIRGINIA 

The president is particularly upset with the swing state Pennsylvania, which could decide the outcome of the election.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Democrats in Pennsylvania who put in a new guideline due to an influx of mail-in ballots this year allowing the state election board to count those votes that were received up to three days after Election Day.

Trump says this is just a cover for Democrats to try and ‘steal’ the election by committing fraud.

The court also ruled that North Carolina, another swing state – a bit less consequential than the Keystone State – has up to eight days after the election to collect and count ballots as long as they were postmarked by Tuesday, November 3.

‘And a lot of shenanigans, a lot of bad things happen with ballots when you say, ‘Oh let’s devote days and days and all of a sudden, the ballot count changes.’

Trump has continuously flip-flopped on how the rest of the election should move forward, claiming he wants results known on Election Night, but promising to launch legal battles that could hold up the results.

The president predicted that he will win with an even larger Electoral College margin than in 2016, but said he will only declare that he has won ‘when there’s a victory.’

‘So my number last time was 306,’ Trump said when the ‘Fox & Friends’ panel asked him how many Electoral College votes he thinks he will earn.

‘I ended up with 306, that was good numbers – 223-306,’ he said in reference to the outcome against Hillary Clinton in 2016 – but the Democratic candidate actually earned 232 not 223.

‘And that was a big number,’ the president said. ‘And I think we will top it. I’ll leave it at that. I think we’ll top it.’

 KENTUCKY 

SOUTH CAROLINA 

Speaking hoarsely and 45 minutes later than scheduled after arriving back at the White House about 2am Tuesday, he voiced confidence in his ability to win.

According to Cook Political Report, Trump likely holds around 163 Electoral College votes as of now out of those states that are solid, likely and lean Republican. If he were to win all of the Electoral College votes of the states that are deemed a ‘toss up,’ his total would move up to 248.

This means he would need to earn 58 votes from solid, likely or lean Democrats states to even reach the threshold he won at in 2016.

When Trump was asked during the call-in interview when he will declare he has won the election, the president said ‘only when there’s victory.’

‘I mean, there’s no reason to play games. And I think we’ll have victory,’ he said during his interview where he could be heard but not seen.

‘I look at it as being a very solid chance of winning,’ he continued. ‘I don’t know what the chances are – I don’t know how they rate the chances but I think we have a very solid chance of winning.’

VERMONT 

Reports emerged over the weekend with sources claiming the president has extensively discussed his plans for election night, which they say includes declaring victory early.

The Axios report on Sunday said Trump privately discussed in delta plans to walk up to the podium on Tuesday and declare he has won before official Electoral College results are revealed.

Trump denied the claims, stating Sunday: ‘No, no that was a false report,’ after he landed in North Carolina for his third rally of the day.

The president touted Tuesday his hectic campaign schedule in the days leading up to Election Day, which included 14 rallies in three days. And said the massive crowd sizes, which regularly include thousands of loyalists, are proof that he will win reelection.

‘There was no small event – every place, no matter where we went,’ Trump said of his rallies in the days leading up to the election.

‘I really did six yesterday,’ he claimed. ‘Because the one from the day before went until two in the morning. So then I got up and did one at 8:00 a.m.’

During his rally in Michigan Monday – the last before Election Day – Trump told the crowd: ‘I think we’re going to win everything. I think tomorrow is going to be one of the greatest wins in the history.’

‘This is not the crowd of somebody who is going to lose the state of Michigan,’ he said of the rust belt swing state. ‘This is not the crowd of a second place finisher.’

Get ready for the most nailbiting election in history: Your hour-by-hour guide to what to expect as America decides between Donald Trump and Joe Biden  

Election night 2020 is unlike any American has seen before – with the presidency in the balance, and a record number of votes being counted in the teeth of the COVID pandemic.

Once polls close, the potential for chaos and crisis only begins. Here is DailyMail.com’s hour by hour guide to what to look out for as the U.S. passes its verdict on whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden should be in the White House, and who controls the Senate. 

All times are EST. 

6PM 

First polls close in parts of Indiana and Kentucky.   

7PM

All polls close in Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia. The remainder of Indiana and Kentucky’s polls close. Florida polls except those in the Panhandle, which is in Central Time, close. 

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

EXIT POLLS: The first exit polls could come within minutes – but in a pandemic year, it is unclear how accurate they will be, with at least 93 million having voted early or by mail-in ballot. A huge turnout in Georgia could mean lines still outside polling places – a problem which has bedeviled it in recent elections. 

7.30PM

All polls close in North Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

NORTH CAROLINA – TRUMP WON IN 2016

First results will come within minutes – but they might be very small percentages of the total vote. North Carolina expects to have about 80% of its votes counted on election night, starting with in-person early voting totals and mail-in ballots received by November 2. In the hours following polls closing, the state will report the in-person election day votes. The state does allow mail-in ballots to come in until November 12, so if it’s close, it may take several days to announce a final result.

Polls in North Carolina have flipped repeatedly between Trump and Biden. Trump won the state in 2016. An Emerson poll that ended surveying on October 30 shows the candidates tied. The Real Clear Politics polling average has Trump a tiny .5% ahead. The Senate race is equally close fought, with Republican Thom Tillis hoping to hang on but Democrat Cal Cunningham up 2.2% in recent averages despite admitting to sexting a woman who was not his wife.

SOUTH CAROLINA – REPUBLICANS DEFENDING ONE SENATE SEAT

 Not in play for the presidential election – but a closely-fought Senate race could end Republican Lindsey Graham’s career and put Democrat Jaime Harrison in his place. Graham has been ahead in the three most recent polls by between three and six points but Harrison has out fundraised him by tens of millions of dollars and there has been too little polling to be sure that Graham is safely ahead. The state says it will start reporting from around 

EXIT POLLS: Polls covering swing states of North Carolina and Ohio can be expected now. Biden’s campaign believes it can flip Ohio, despite it having gone to Trump by 8.3% in 2016. Its Republican governor predicts an ultra-narrow Trump win.

8.00PM

All polls close in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi,  Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and  Washington, D.C. Most polls close in Texas and Michigan. Central time polls close in Kansas, North and South Dakota. Remaining polls, those in Central Time in the Panhandle, close in Florida.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

FLORIDA – TRUMP WON IN 2016

 The first official results are expected within minutes of the Panhandle’s polls closing – and will give some indication how the perennial swing state has gone. Florida is used to processing large numbers of mail-in ballots. Early voting numbers will come out quickly as well. Those tallies will be followed by in-person voting. But officials believe they will still be counting into daylight on Wednesday.

Biden could have an early lead in that state and see it diminished as the night goes on. He has just a 1 point lead in the Real Clear Politics polling average in Trump’s adopted home state. By 8.30PM there should be a significant proportion of Florida’s results reported – so the state will at least indicate if one candidate or another can expect a blowout

OHIO – TRUMP WON IN 2016

First results could be announced as early as 8pm. Counties are required to announce the results of all absentee ballots received by Election Day and all early votes. They can then start counting ballots cast on election day and these will be updated through the night. The number of outstanding absentee ballots will be reported on election night, meaning number crunchers will be able to determine if there are enough outstanding ballots to sway the presidential race. Ballots marked postmarked November 2 can be counted until November 13 – so a clear result could take more than a week

Late-breaking polls in Ohio gave Trump a slim advantage in the state he won over Clinton in 2016, but that President Barack Obama and Vice President Biden carried in 2008 and 2012. The Real Clear Politics polling average shows Trump 1.4 points ahead.

OTHERS: The Associated Press, Reuters and TV networks are likely to start a rapid-fire declaration of likely winners in a series of states soon after 8pm – but it is only likely to already be considered safely Republican or Democratic already. 

8.30PM

Arkansas polls close 

9.00PM

All polls close in Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Remaining polls close in Kansas, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

GEORGIA – TRUMP WON IN 2016, REPUBLICANS DEFENDING TWO SENATE SEATS

Georgia is expected to take about two hours to start reporting results. The state was allowed to start processing mail-in ballots on October 19. Additionally, after court challenges, mail-in ballots had to be returned by the time polls close – not just in the mail. The only exception is for Georgia voters living abroad. 

Polls show an extremely tight race with Trump ahead by .2% in the Real Clear Politics polling average . At the peak of Biden’s support, in mid-October, he was just 2 points ahead. 

But there are two other races which could shape the senate. Republican Kelly Loeffler is running for the seat she was appointed to in a three-way battle: she is up against Republican Dan Collins and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, the Democrat. Warnock needs 50% for an outright win, or the race goes to a top-two run-off. Polls put him between 34 and 46%, not enough for a knockout, while who between Collins and Loeffler is in second place is unclear. 

Unusually, the other Senate seat is also in play, Republican David Perdue is running for anther term and may be in trouble with Democrat Jon Ossoff up 0.7% on average in a formerly safely Republican state. Both Republican incumbents have faced probes into possible insider trading – of which they were cleared – but realistically, both races are likely to become a January runoff which could determine who controls the Senate.

TEXAS – TRUMP WON IN 2016, REPUBLICANS DEFENDING ONE SENATE SEAT

It is possible that exit polling from Texas will give some indication of the race there as it closes completely. But what happens next is unknown. Texas allowed mail-in votes to be counted before election day, so the Lone Star state is expecting to know those results, as well as in-person voting on election night. Mail-in ballots have until November 4 at 5 p.m. to arrive, so if the state is extremely close, there could be some waiting at the end. The way the results are announced could show a Biden, then Trump swing – with a boost at the end for Biden from the remaining mail-in ballots.

The Real Clear Politics polling average gives Trump a 1.2 point advantage in the historically red state. Two polls – an Emerson and a Quinnipiac survey – from October showed the candidates tied. For most of the race, however, Trump has been more solidly ahead, with a poll here and there showing the state going blue. Officials expect rapid counting and results. In 2016, the winner was declared just after midnight – Trump took the state by nine points. But a close race will slow the Associated Press, Reuters and TV networks’ ability to call the race.

In the Senate, John Cornyn is looking for a fourth term as a Republican. He is polling ahead of Trump, averaging 6.8% over M.J. Hegar, the Democratic challenger. If Cornyn lost, it would be a sign that Texas is officially a purple state.

OTHERS: Safe states including New York are likely to be called rapidly from 9pm to 10pm. Biden’s numbers will go up more than Trump’s at this point thanks to New York’s 29 electors, and Illinois’ 20. By shortly after 9PM both campaigns are likely to have more than 100 electoral college votes in their column.

10:00PM

Polls close in Iowa, Montana, Nevada and Utah. Mountain time polls close in Idaho and Oregon.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

ARIZONA – TRUMP WON IN 2016, REPUBLICANS DEFENDING ONE SENATE SEAT

 The state is anticipating the first precinct reporting numbers by about 10PM. Early and absentee ballots that were cast by the weekend will have been pre-counted and those results will be announced rapidly. Ballots cast on election day are also expected to come in Tuesday night – the state historically counts quickly. But last-minute absentee ballots could take several days to be tabulated with Thursday or Friday thought to be realistic.Biden has been several points ahead of Trump in Arizona polls for months, but a Trafalgar Group survey and a Rasmussen poll showed Trump 3 and 4 points ahead in late October, potentially indicating a narrowing of the race. The Real Clear Politics polling average has Biden 1 point ahead.

Also in play here is the Senate seat to which Martha McSally was appointed: that held by John McCain. Democrat Mark Kelly, a former astronaut married to Gabrielle Giffords, the former Congresswoman left badly injured in a mass shooting, however is consistently ahead in the polls, by an average of 6.2%. Flipping McCain’s seat would be a massive blow to Republicans and suggest that Arizona is not just purple but trending blue.

ALABAMA: DEMOCRATS DEFENDING ONE SENATE SEAT

Alabama says to expect all results on election night. 

The ruby-red state’s Senate seat went to Doug Jones, a Democrat, in a special election in 2017. Republicans saw their vote collapse when already controversial candidate Roy Moore was hit by allegations of inappropriate conduct with teenage girls, which he denies. Jones won by 1.5% and now faces Tommy Tuberville, a former Auburn University coach. Limited polling has given the Republican an 11-point lead in October.

MONTANA – REPUBLICANS DEFENDING ONE SENATE SEAT

 Not competitive for Trump and Biden but Democratic governor Steve Bullock is running for Senate against Republican incumbent Steve Daines. Polling has been relatively scarce in this tiny state with the three most recent polls all suggesting a close race, with Bullock either behind Daines by three points, tied, or ahead by one. 

10:30PM

WHAT TO WATCH FOR 

WISCONSIN – TRUMP WON IN 2016

First results will start to be reported by now, with Washington County, which is mostly rural but has some Milwaukee suburbs, likely to be first to fully declare. The last results are expected from heavily-Democratic Milwaukee county by 7am. The Supreme Court prevented ballots arriving after November 2 being counted, meaning a complete count by Wednesday is realistic. 

Trump took Wisconsin by just 0.8% in one of the 2016 upsets which cost Clinton the White House. Trump has held repeated rallies there – including in Kenosha on Monday night (right). In recent weeks the state has been one of the worst affected by coronavirus, but Trump has kept coming in the belief that he can repeat the 2016 surprise.  His poll average there has been poor since summer, and it now puts Biden 6.6% up. 

11:00PM 

Polls close in California and Washington state and Pacific Time polls close in Oregon and Idaho. 

WHAT TO WATCH FOR 

MINNESOTA – CLINTON WON IN 2016, DEMOCRATS DEFENDING ONE SENATE SEAT

Expect some idea of the direction of Minnesota by now. Minnesota gave itself two weeks to start counting mail-in ballots, so results should come in November 3. Ballots in the state had to be returned by election day, which could also speed up the process. 

Polls have never shown Trump in front of Biden, though the president has made a play for the blue state anyway, suggesting its demographics are similar to Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which won him the White House in 2016. The Real Clear Politics polling average has Biden ahead by 4.3 points. 

Democratic senator Tina Smith is seeking re-election with a challenge from Republican Jason Lewis. She has polled an average of five points clear of the challenger, who had to stop campaigning for much of last week because of emergency hernia surgery. 

NEBRASKA – TRUMP WON SINGLE ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTE IN 2016

Nebraska started counting its mail-in ballots prior to election day and absentee ballots had to be returned by November 3, so the expectation is the results will be out quickly. Nebraska splits its electoral college votes so that each Congressional district has one. Only one is competitive – Nebraska-02 , representing Omaha and its suburbs. It went for Trump by just two points last time and what little polling there has been puts Biden safely ahead by three points – although Democrats believe it could be more. Trump campaigned in Omaha in the hope of keeping the vote because in a narrow fight, it could be crucial. Nebraska is usually relatively quick and all results are due by midnight so look for it to be known by now. 

COLORADO: REPUBLICANS DEFENDING ONE SENATE SEAT

Colorado was already mostly mail-in ballots so is expecting to be able to handle the pandemic’s effects more easily than some states. Partial results are uploaded come roughly every 90 minutes, so the first should be safely processed by now.

Cory Gardner, the sitting Republican senator, is facing popular former Democratic governor John Hickenlooper. There have been only two polls in October, each putting Hickenlooper up eight or nine points. In a state which was Clinton by 4.9 points in 2016, Gardner has closely associated himself with Trump, which Democrats believe will seal his fate.

OTHERS: Calls will come for the safely Democratic west coast. By now Joe Biden is likely to have more than 200 electoral college votes secured, with California’s mammoth 55 key to his big advantage – Trump may be on as few as 104 by this point. Now it is entirely down to the competitive states to see what happens next. Trump’s path to re-election might have ended by now, or might be a nail-biter. 

MIDNIGHT

Polls close in Alaska (except for those in its Hawaii time zone) and Hawaii

WHAT TO WATCH FOR 

IOWA – TRUMP WON IN 2016, REPUBLICANS DEFENDING ONE SENATE SEAT 

 Counts relatively quickly and first results should be trickling through by now. Trump has overtaken Biden in recent polling in Iowa, after the Democrat had the lead through most of the fall. The Real Clear Politics polling average has Trump ahead by 1.4 points. 

The last four polls had Trump winning in the state. The Des Moines Register survey gave Trump the biggest advantage, beating Biden by 7 – 48% to 41%. However, ballots postmarked by November 2 that arrive by November 9 can be counted too. This could give Biden a boost if the race is tight.

In the Senate Republican Joni Ernst is facing a formidable challenge from Theresa Greenfield. Four out of five polls have put Ernst ahead in October, but only one outside the margin of error, while another said the same for Greenfield.

1AM

Final polls close in Alaska – the voting is over everywhere 

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

NEVADA – CLINTON WON IN 2016

Nevada mailed out ballots to every registered voter this year and those ballots just have to be postmarked by November 3 – meaning counting could go on for days. However, mail-in ballots can be counted before election day, so there could be some results reported on November 3. If it’s close, ballots being counted later will likely trend toward Biden. 

Biden has been consistently ahead of Trump in Nevada polling, with Trump never ahead in a survey for the past year. The Real Clear Politics polling average has the Democrat winning the state by 3.6 points. 

02:29AM

In 2016, this was when the Associated Press declared Trump had won and Hillary Clinton had lost.

THE UNKNOWNS

MAINE – TRUMP WON ONE ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTE IN 2016, REPUBLICANS DEFENDING ONE SENATE SEAT

Like Nebraska, Maine splits its electoral college votes, with one for each Congressional district. Maine officials are allowing mail-in ballots to be counted prior to polls closing. 

But Maine uses a ‘ranked preference’ system which means that if one candidate breaks 50%, the result is likely before midnight. But if one does not, ballots go to Augusta for second preferences to be tabulated, which could take it far into Wednesday. 

Trump pulled away one Electoral Vote from Hillary Clinton in 2016 thanks to Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, in the north of the state. However, all three polls conducted in October showed Biden ahead by around 3 points there. 

Republican senator Susan Collins also appears to be deeply vulnerable to Democratic challenger Sara Gideon.

Collins, who Trump has not campaigned for, is down by between four and seven points in October’s polls and was overwhelmingly outfundraised. She had held her seat with a 37-point advantage in 2014 but Democrats believe she is the most vulnerable Republican senator of all. 

MICHIGAN -TRUMP WIN IN 2016, DEMOCRATS DEFENDING ONE SENATE SEAT

Michigan’s results will be slow to come in as mail-in ballot counting didn’t start until November 2. Michigan’s secretary of state estimated that it could take until Friday for all the ballots to be counted. The state could trend toward Biden later in the week, as Democrats are more prone to mail their ballots in. 

Polling has had Biden ahead in Michigan, one of the three ‘blue wall’ states Trump won in 2016, for months – however, a late-breaking Trafalgar poll showed Trump up by 2 points. Overall, the Real Clear Politics polling average has Biden ahead by 5.1 points. 

Democratic senator Gary Peters is also defending his seat against Republican John James. James, who is black, has been seen as a Republican rising star. But Peters’ polling average is ahead by 5.5 points, almost identical to Biden’s lead.  

PENNSYLVANIA – TRUMP WON IN 2016

Mail-in ballots can’t begin being processed in the Keystone State until 7 a.m. on November 3 – meaning a final result could take days. Some Pennsylvania counties also plan to count in-person Election Day votes first – this could give Trump a perceived edge in the state, only for later ballots to move the count toward Biden. 

Mail-in ballots postmarked on election day can arrive as late as November 6, further lengthening the process. The counting deadline is November 23 – a whole 20 days after the election – but officials have pointed to Friday as when most Pennsylvanians’ votes will be counted. 

Pennsylvania polling had given Biden the advantage for months, but several late October surveys show Trump ahead in the state that clinched him his Electoral College win in 2016. The narrowed race has Biden up by 2.9 points in the Real Clear Politics polling average. 

AND WHERE TO FIND THE CANDIDATES  

TRUMP: The president will throw a party at the White House with several hundred supporters – who will all be tested for coronavirus, as the event will be held inside. The Trump campaign promoted an election night shindig at the president’s Washington, D.C., hotel, but Trump pointed a finger at D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser – who in ‘phase two’ is limiting gatherings to 50 people – as the party pooper. As the White House is federal property, Trump can do whatever he likes.

BIDEN: The Democratic nominee will be in Wilmington, Delaware with his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris on election night. The campaign has yet to release additional details on their plans. Before that, Biden will make one more trip to the Pennsylvania town where he was born, Scranton, and he’ll make a stop in Philadelphia, where his campaign offices were based. Harris will make a final election day stop too, in Detroit. As will Dr. Jill Biden, the former VP’s wife. She’ll be in Tampa and St. Petersburgh, Florida and then head to Wake County, North Carolina. Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff will be in Columbus, Ohio.

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America has its say: Huge lines form at the crack of dawn outside polling stations across the country as Election Day voters add to 100 million ballots ALREADY cast 

Americans have started casting their Election Day ballots in the bitterly contested presidential race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden as polling places opened across the United States.

Long lines started forming well before dawn on Tuesday with polls opening in some eastern states as early as 6am EST. 

Those casting their ballots on Election Day will add to the record number of Americans – nearly 100 million – that voted early either in person or by mail.

Some who voted early were motivated not only by concerns about waiting in lines on Election Day amid the COVID-19 pandemic but also by extraordinary levels of enthusiasm after a polarizing campaign. 

While there were long lines in many places, in some states lines were shorter – potentially a reflection of the massive early vote. 

In Pennsylvania, dozens of voters lined up bundled in jackets and hats on an unseasonably chilly morning. Some voters in suburban Ohio and Michigan braved the cold temperatures as they started lining up outside polling stations before the sun had even risen. 

In McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania, Martin Seylar, a 45-year-old welder who had just finished his shift, said of Trump, his preferred candidate: ‘He’s a bit of a jerk, and I appreciate that.

‘He doesn’t get everything that he says done, but the way I see it is he’s trying, versus where everybody else blows smoke at us.’

In Detroit, Republican voter Nick Edwards, 26, cast a ballot for Biden but voted for Republican candidates for Congress.

‘Honestly, decency in the White House,’ Edwards said when asked about his main concern. ‘When someone leads the party, they need to hold those values, as well. I don’t think Trump encompasses that.’

Biden, the Democratic former vice president who has spent a half century in public life, has held a strong and consistent lead in national opinion polls over the Republican president. But Trump is close enough in several election battleground states that he could piece together the 270 state-by-state Electoral College votes needed to win the election. 

The most closely watched results will start to trickle in after 7pm EST when polls close in states such as Georgia.

Definitive national results, however, could take days if the contest is tight.  

Results in Florida, where mail-in ballots can be counted before Election Day, are expected to begin to come in relatively quickly on Tuesday night. 

But Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin will not begin counting the vast majority of mail ballots until Election Day, raising the possibility of a prolonged vote count that could stretch for several days.