Election 2020 presidential results

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

Updated 1020 GMT (1820 HKT) November 6, 2020
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8:39 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

Biden: "Every vote must be counted"

As several battleground states continue to count votes and the margins remain razor-thin, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden tweeted Thursday morning: “Every vote must be counted."

The tweet included a short video showing people who, presumably, voted.  

8:59 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

There are about 140,000 mail-in ballots left to be counted in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania

From CNN's Kate Bolduan and Lauren Moore

Philadelphia County employees process mail-in ballots on November 4, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia County employees process mail-in ballots on November 4, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock

There are about 140,000 outstanding mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania's Philadelphia County, a source involved with the canvassing in Philadelphia told CNN.

The Secretary of State’s website still reads 120,128 remaining to be counted. 

This suggests that the total mail-in ballots received has increased which would not be surprising – in press conferences, Philadelphia Commissioner Lisa Deeley has said that she was estimating 350,000 total mail-in ballots, but that number did not include ballots received after Sunday. 

And state law allows for mail-in ballots post marked by Election Day can be received and counted until tomorrow.  

Watch:

8:39 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

Pennsylvania senator says Philadelphia ballots could push Biden to win the state

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

Workers for the City Commissioner's office count votes at a convention center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, November 4.
Workers for the City Commissioner's office count votes at a convention center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, November 4. Ryan Collerd/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey said he is confident Joe Biden will win the state, and that ballots still being counted from Philadelphia alone may decide it for the former vice president.  

Biden will “be able to overtake [Trump], especially when we get a much higher Philadelphia number,” Casey said to CNN’s Don Lemon. “We've only seen with Philadelphia about maybe 70 or so percent of the vote counted. A lot's going to come in this morning. And when that comes in, that alone, just in Philadelphia, might be enough to have the margin go in Joe Biden's direction.”

Casey said he predicts counties surrounding Philadelphia, including Montgomery, Bucks and Delaware, will also push Biden to a win. 

The state as a whole has about 750,000 mail-in ballots to be counted, according to the secretary of state’s website, though this figure has not been updated recently.

Casey said that Biden could overtake former President Obama’s numbers from the city. “President Obama almost won Philadelphia by 500,000. Because the turnout is so much higher, Joe Biden might get to that, but he doesn’t necessarily have to,” he said. 

Casey also said that he spoke with Biden after midnight on Wednesday morning and the former vice president was “very upbeat.”

Watch:

8:07 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

International observers say Trump's election claims "harm public trust"

From CNN’s Vasco Cotovio in London

President Trump speaks on November 4 in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC.
President Trump speaks on November 4 in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

A team of international observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has called President Trump’s claims of voting irregularities “baseless” and says they “harm public trust in democratic institutions.”

The organization — of which the United States is a member — complimented the voting itself, calling it “competitive and well managed despite legal uncertainties and logistical challenges,” according to a preliminary report released on Thursday. 

Despite the various compliments, the OSCE said “late legal challenges and evidence-deficient claims about election fraud created confusion and concern among election officials and voters.”

It also criticized Trump’s claims of irregularities in the vote.

“ Baseless allegations of systematic deficiencies, notably by the incumbent president, including on election night, harm public trust in democratic institutions,” it said. 

The OSCE praised the arrangements put in place by election officials across the country contributed to a higher turnout “despite challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic,” rejecting President Trump’s criticism of the postal voting system. 

“Despite numerous public statements by the incumbent President over the integrity of postal voting, the number and scale of alleged and reported cases of fraud associated to absentee ballots remained negligible,” it said. 

About the group: The OSCE sent a team of 102 observers to oversee the voting process in the United States, at the invitation of the US authorities. It will publish a final assessment after the conclusion of the electoral process. 

8:26 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

Fulton County, Georgia, is counting its last votes this morning. Here's when we can expect an update.

From CNN's Aditi Sangal

Election workers count Fulton County ballots at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on November 4.
Election workers count Fulton County ballots at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on November 4. Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

If everything is on track, an update is expected from Fulton County, Georgia, officials around 11:00 a.m. ET about the final votes being counted in the county.

President Trump’s lead is narrowing in Georgia as more mail-in votes are counted, Director of Registration Richard Barron told CNN Thursday.

Barron said there are 10,000 to 11,000 ballots left to count. He said they have scanned 137,134 ballots and adjudicated 132,272, and they will continue to open and scan ballots this morning.

The vote review panel will then return at 10 a.m. ET, Barron said, and that the review should take an hour. 

“We are going to finish up this morning,” he said. 

The certification of the final results from Fulton County is scheduled for Nov. 13.

Watch:

7:44 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

This is when we'll hear from election officials across the country today

From CNN's Ross Levitt and Kevin Bohn 

Maricopa County Elections employee Alba Parra tabulates early ballots at the Maricopa County Elections Headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona on November 4.
Maricopa County Elections employee Alba Parra tabulates early ballots at the Maricopa County Elections Headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona on November 4. Mark Henle/USA Today Network

Two days after the election, Joe Biden is nearing 270 electoral votes, but CNN has not yet projected a winner in the presidential race.

Paths to 270 remain for both Biden and President Trump as votes continue to be counted in the six states where CNN has not yet projected a winner.

Here's a look at when we'll get updates from local officials today:

  • 10:30 a.m. ET: Georgia's Secretary of State will hold a news conference. There's currently a 33,000-vote margin between Trump and Biden, and there’s around 90,000 votes remaining to be counted.
  • Noon ET: Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas, will give an update. The country has the largest share of votes in Nevada, and was silent on updates yesterday. Across Nevada, Biden holds a slim 8,000 vote lead.
  • 9 p.m. ET: Officials in Arizona's Maricopa County — the biggest county in Arizona, which in the Phoenix area — plan to give their next update. The county tweeted overnight that 275,000 ballots remain.
7:26 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

Here's where vote-counting stands in 4 key states

From CNN's Ross Levitt and Kevin Bohn 

Maricopa County elections officials and observers watch as ballots are tallied at the Maricopa County Recorders Office in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday, November 4.
Maricopa County elections officials and observers watch as ballots are tallied at the Maricopa County Recorders Office in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday, November 4. Matt York/AP

It's the Thursday after Election Day, and CNN has not yet projected a winner in the presidential race.

Ballots are still being counted in several key states, with elections officials expected to provide updates later today.

Here's a look at four states we're watching today:

  • Arizona: Joe Biden holds about a 69,000 vote lead in CNN’s count. Maricopa, the biggest county in Arizona, has released the second of two sets of new votes promised Wednesday night – shrinking the Biden lead there by just over 10,000 votes. Early this morning, the county tweeted that 275,000 remain and that its next update will come at 9 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, the next biggest share of votes come from blue-leaning Pima County. The state’s website said 46,000 votes remained to be counted in Pima as of last night.
  • Georgia: Fulton County, in the Atlanta area, just added 8,300 ballots to its tally, further cutting into Trump’s lead in the state. Georgia’s largest county still has about 7,564 ballots left to count, Fulton County's Regina Walker said just after 5 a.m. ET. But remember: Georgia could be the next target for President Trump to request a recount. CNN reported a source familiar with the matter says that if Georgia is close, “of course” the Trump camp will ask for a recount if he loses. 
  • Nevada: Biden holds a slim 8,000 vote lead. Clark County — home to Las Vegas — has, by far, the largest share of votes in Nevada. After a full day of silence from Clark county and the state overall, all eyes will be on Clark when it updates at 12 noon ET. 
  • Pennsylvania: The state as a whole has about 750,000 mail-in ballots to be counted, according to the Secretary of State’s website, though this figure has not been updated recently. Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, has finished tabulating mail-in and absentee ballots. Officials say the county will resume tabulating several precincts’ worth of in-person votes later this morning.
7:01 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

Trump's lead in Georgia narrows further as the largest county reports thousands more ballots

On-air analysis from CNN's Phil Mattingly/ Written by CNN's Adrienne Vogt and Kevin Bohn

Election workers count Fulton County ballots at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on November 4.
Election workers count Fulton County ballots at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on November 4. Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

President Trump’s lead in Georgia has narrowed over the past few hours, and that just happened again. That’s due to another batch of votes that just came in from Fulton County — the largest county in the state and home to Atlanta — according to CNN’s Phil Mattingly. 

Fulton County reported the results of more than 8,000 additional ballots. Trump’s lead in the state narrowed from more than 30,000 at midnight to just more than 18,500. 

Overnight, Fulton had about 20,000 absentee ballots to be counted. The county just reported the results of 8,351 of those, with Biden getting 6,410 of those votes and Trump getting 1,941 of them.

County election workers have been processing and counting those votes all night and continue now. 4% of the vote in Georgia still remains to be counted. 

While some counties that have voted overwhelmingly for Trump are still waiting for votes to be counted, most of the outstanding ballots are from more populous blue areas around Atlanta, Savannah and Columbus, Mattingly explained. 

“If [Biden] continues to win this vote that's outstanding at a rate of around 60 to 62%, he has a chance to overtake Donald Trump,” Mattingly said. 

“To give you some context here, the vote that was coming in out of Fulton County over last couple of hours has been coming in at a rate of 80% to 20% Biden. That is above that 60 to 62% range. Will that hold? That will dictate whether or not Joe Biden ends up overtaking Donald Trump in the state of Georgia, but there's a pathway right now for Joe Biden in Georgia,” he added. 

Watch:

7:44 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

If Biden wins Pennsylvania, he'll have the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election

On-air analysis by CNN's Phil Mattingly / written by CNN's Aditi Sangal

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks to supporters in Scranton, Pennsylvania on November 3.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks to supporters in Scranton, Pennsylvania on November 3. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

If Joe Biden wins Pennsylvania, he will get to the 270 electoral votes that he needs to win the US presidency.

“Pennsylvania for the Biden campaign is everything. It is the ball game. They can get to 270 without Pennsylvania. But with Pennsylvania, particularly given that Pennsylvania is probably going to start picking up their count pretty soon, Pennsylvania ends it, no matter what else happens in the rest of the race,” Phil Mattingly said Thursday morning.

Currently, President Trump is leading the Keystone State, but his lead has significantly narrowed in the last 24 hours. As more mail-in ballots were counted, Trump went from an over 600,000-vote margin to now being ahead with about 164,000 votes.

“Joe Biden has been, with regularity, progressively eating away in major chunks at Donald Trump's lead,” Mattingly said, adding that with 11% of votes in Pennsylvania still to be counted, it means Biden can overtake Trump and lead in Pennsylvania based on the current state of the race.

In Philadelphia County, for example, Biden leads with 79% of the counted vote in his favor. It is yet to report about 30% more of its outstanding vote here. Given that Hillary Clinton won this county by about 584,000 votes in 2016 and 2020 has produced a record voter turnout, the number of votes for Joe Biden is likely to increase.

But remember: The path for 270 is still open for both candidates.

Joe Biden could lose Pennsylvania and could still win 270 electoral votes if he wins Arizona and Nevada.

If President Trump holds on to Pennsylvania, he can get to 270 electoral votes with Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia. It will have to be “some combination of Pennsylvania and three other states,” Mattingly said.

Watch: