Presidential election results 2020

By Meg Wagner, Melissa Macaya, Veronica Rocha, Melissa Mahtani and Amanda Wills, CNN

Updated 2:44 p.m. ET, November 23, 2020
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1:36 p.m. ET, November 3, 2020

Trump is visiting RNC offices in Virginia: "I feel very good"

From CNN's Kaitlan Collins and Jason Hoffman

President Donald Trump visits his campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia on November 3.
President Donald Trump visits his campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia on November 3. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

President Trump just walked into the bullpen of his campaign headquarters in Virginia to sustained cheers from campaign staff.

"I hear we are doing very well in Florida and we're doing very well in Arizona. We're doing incredibly well in Texas. We're doing, I think we're doing -- I'm hearing we're doing well all over," Trump said. "I think we are going to have a great night."

"I feel very good," Trump told reporters.

Trump said his message to America was that "everybody should come together, and success brings us together." 

CNN reported earlier, that Trump huddled with his top campaign staffers in a conference room at the headquarters, a source tells CNN, including Bill Stepien, Justin Clark and several others. They met for about 20 minutes. 

Watch Trump address campaign staff at RNC headquarters:

1:24 p.m. ET, November 3, 2020

North Carolina election board to meet this hour to consider extending polls

From CNN’s Dianne Gallagher and Pamela Kirkland 

Voters wait in line at a polling location in Durham, North Carolina on Tuesday, November 3.
Voters wait in line at a polling location in Durham, North Carolina on Tuesday, November 3. Gerry Broome/AP

The North Carolina State Board of Elections says the board will meet at 1 p.m. ET this afternoon to consider extending hours at four voting locations.

The locations are: one polling place in Guilford County, one polling location in Cabarrus County, and two locations in Sampson County.

An extension of hours at even one of these locations would delay the reporting of results statewide. 

Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said one of the reasons the sites opened late was because of poll workers arriving late. 

CNN reported earlier that slight opening delays had been reported in Sampson and Guilford counties. 

There was a printer issue at Marks First Missionary Baptist Church in Concord, North Carolina, which is in Cabarrus County. Kasia Faryna Thompson, Cabarrus County Director of Communications, estimates the issue delayed the poll from opening by about 15-20 minutes. 

Under state law, the State Board of Elections, by a majority vote, may extend voting hours at a polling place if polls are delayed in opening for more than 15 minutes or are interrupted for more than 15 minutes after opening.

The State Board may extend the closing time by an equal number of minutes. 

1:25 p.m. ET, November 3, 2020

What are poll watchers and what do they do?

From CNN's Fredreka Schouten

Poll observers watch as citizens receive their ballots to vote at Faith Lutheran Church Celebration Ministry Center on November 3, 2020, in Appleton, Wis.
Poll observers watch as citizens receive their ballots to vote at Faith Lutheran Church Celebration Ministry Center on November 3, 2020, in Appleton, Wis. Dan Powers//USA Today Network/Reuters 

Poll watchers, as the name implies, are expected to watch or observe what happens at polling places. Their primary job: Help ensure that their party has a fair shot at winning. Both parties do it.

But poll watchers can't interfere in any way with the actual voting process.

They can closely monitor the administration of the election to ensure that votes are counted accurately. And in some states, poll watchers can also challenge an individual voter's right to cast a ballot. Partisan poll watchers, however, must conduct those challenges through official poll workers and cannot stop or otherwise try to interfere with someone trying to vote.

Even if a poll watcher challenges an individual voter – for instance, by arguing that the person's name doesn't appear on the local voting rolls – states often allow that person to cast a "provisional" ballot to be counted later, once his or her right to vote has been verified.

Poll watchers can also help turn out the vote by counting the voters who have cast ballots and helping their respective candidates track which potential supporters haven't yet voted. That helps campaigns mount last-minute Election Day efforts to get those voters to cast their ballots before polls close.

Read more here.

12:55 p.m. ET, November 3, 2020

Pennsylvania's Luzerne County has begun processing mail-in ballots

From CNN's Scott Glover

Luzerne County in Northeastern Pennsylvania, which voted for Barack Obama in 2012 but went for President Trump in 2016, has begun processing approximately 52,000 mail-in ballots and expects that number to grow to nearly 60,000 by the time polls close at 8 p.m. ET, according to release from County Manager David Pedri.

He said volunteers were processing approximately 2,000 ballots an hour.

If that pace continues, workers will have processed a little more than one third of the anticipated number of mail-in ballots by 8 p.m. local time.

Pedri said the county was “experiencing great voter turnout at almost every polling place across the County.”

Pedri said there were “a few reported issues” at the county’s 129 polling places this morning, most of which were technical and resolved once diagnosed.

He said voters should anticipate waiting in a line and noted that as long as they were in line by 8 p.m. local time they would be allowed to vote.

 

1:00 p.m. ET, November 3, 2020

Ohio governor says he thinks Trump “squeaks out” a win in the state

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine speaks with CNN on Tuesday, November 3.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine speaks with CNN on Tuesday, November 3. CNN

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said he thinks Ohio will know the results of the presidential election tonight. 

Early ballots will be counted first, DeWine told CNN’s Erin Burnett. 

“The early numbers that will come back will be those early votes, those would be the absentee. One would expect that Biden at that point would be ahead and then the rest of the night, frankly, is the President trying to catch Biden. And you know, he either will or he won't. I think he will. I think it's going to be a very, very close race. I think the President squeaks it out,” DeWine said. 

The governor said he thinks Trump will perform well in rural areas of the state. 

“I think he could exceed even the votes he got the last time,” DeWine said. “…I think the intensity is there. The ground game it seems to me, from what I can observe for the Trump team, you know, has been a lot better than the ground game for the Biden team.” 

Watch:

12:59 p.m. ET, November 3, 2020

More than 102 million pre-election ballots have been cast

From CNN's Adam Levy, Ethan Cohen, and Liz Stark

Volunteers process absentee ballots at Ramsey County's absentee ballot count center on November 2 in St Paul, Minnesota.
Volunteers process absentee ballots at Ramsey County's absentee ballot count center on November 2 in St Paul, Minnesota. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

More than 102 million Americans have voted nationwide before the polls opened on Election Day, according to a survey of election officials by CNN, Edison Research, and Catalist.   

These votes represent more than 48% of registered voters nationwide. 22 states and Washington, DC have seen more than half of their registered voters cast ballots already.   

Pre-Election Day voting has skyrocketed nationwide amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. At least seven states, including Texas, Hawaii, Nevada, Washington, Arizona, Montana and Oregon, have surpassed their total turnout from the 2016 general election in recent days.  

In an additional seven states and DC, the pre-election vote represents at least 90% of their 2016 total vote – Utah, New Mexico, North Carolina, Colorado, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. 

Nationwide, the 102.7 million ballots already cast represents 75% of the more than 136.5 million ballots cast in the 2016 presidential election.   

39 states and Washington, DC have crossed their halfway marks for total 2016 ballots cast, including 14 of CNN’s 16 most competitively-ranked states - Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, Maine, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska and Ohio.  

A little less than half of the votes already cast this cycle comes from those 16 key states, which will play a crucial role in determining who wins the presidency this year. 

Some voter information comes from Catalist, a company that provides data, analytics and other services to Democrats, academics and nonprofit issue-advocacy organizations and is giving insights into who is voting before November.   

Here's a breakdown of early voting by state so far:

12:54 p.m. ET, November 3, 2020

Biggest Iowa county has counted all absentee ballots received before Election Day

From CNN’s Katie Lobosco

The biggest county in Iowa, which includes Des Moines, has finished counting all absentee ballots received through Monday, according to a tweet from the Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald. 

The results from those ballots will be posted shortly after polls close at 10 p.m. ET (9 p.m. CT.)

Polk County went for Hillary Clinton by 11 points in 2016.

The county has more than 300,000 registered voters and more than 136,731 had already voted or sent in an absentee ballot through Saturday.

Of those early voters, 58% were registered Democrats, 23% were registered Republicans, and 19% were not registered with either party.

Iowans still have time to return their absentee ballots. They will be counted as long as they are postmarked by Nov. 2 and arrive by Nov. 9.

12:46 p.m. ET, November 3, 2020

Here's where the candidates are today

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks to residents in his old hometown Scranton, Pennsylvania, on November 3.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks to residents in his old hometown Scranton, Pennsylvania, on November 3. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden started his day at his home in Wilmington, Delaware. He attended mass at his Catholic church and spent a brief visit to his son Beau Biden's grave site, also visiting the grave site of his late wife and baby daughter. 

From there, Biden traveled to his old hometown Scranton, Pennsylvania. He stopped by his boyhood home, writing on the wall: "From this house to the White House with the Grace of God, Joe Biden November 3rd, 2020."

Biden has just landed in Philadelphia, where he's making a few stops trying to get out the vote. Then he's going to return to Wilmington. He'll be watching the returns from his home and then move to an election center. 

President Trump left the White House a short time ago and arrived at his campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, according to the press pool traveling with the President.

From the pool:

"The motorcade rolled out of the White House down 17th Street and took I-66 across the river to Arlington, taking the exit for Rosslyn. We passed a large group of Trump supporters as we rolled through the streets. They appear to be waiting outside HQ."

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are expected to spend Election Night at the White House.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports from Wilmington, Delaware:

12:34 p.m. ET, November 3, 2020

CNN reporters tell us what races they're watching closely tonight

From CNN's Janelle Davis

As the race for the White House comes to a close, there are several key states that remain a toss-up. CNN’s political correspondents and reporters tell us what races they're watching and why:

CNN Political Correspondent Abby Phillip is watching Arizona:

"This Election Day, I'm looking at the state of Arizona. It is a red state, but this year, it is very much in play. I'm hoping that they're able to count their ballots pretty quickly, so we can have a sense of what's going on in that state. And whether Joe Biden has a shot of flipping a state that Donald Trump won four years ago."

Arizona’s increasingly diverse and suburban electorate has rapidly turned what was once a GOP stronghold into a swing state with 11 electoral votes up for grabs. Polls close in Arizona at 9 p.m. ET.

Read more on Arizona here.

Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash is watching Pennsylvania:

"On Election Day, I'm going to be watching Pennsylvania like a hawk. It's really critical for both candidates in each path to 270 that magic number to get the presidency. And it is so close."

Pennsylvania polls close at 8 p.m. ET. It's the largest electoral vote prize of the "blue wall" states with 20 electoral votes up for grabs, and polls have shown it could be the most competitive. Biden and Trump both barnstormed the state in the race's final days, underscoring its importance.

Read more on Pennsylvania here.

Senior Political Reporter Nia-Malika Henderson is watching Georgia

"The state I'm going to be watching most closely on election night is Georgia. Sixteen electoral votes up for grabs. Two open Senate seats as well. Can a Democrat flip that state in the Sun Belt region. So, my eyes are on the Peach State."

Georgia will be the first true battleground of the night, with 16 electoral votes. It’s poll close at 7 p.m. ET. Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Ohio are crucial to the President's narrow path to victory. The Southeastern states are expected to count votes relatively quickly, offering an early window into Trump's chances of winning reelection.

Read more on Georgia here.