06-11-20, 14:01
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TV Networks Cut Off TRUMP/Fed Judges Deny TRUMP-Counting Votes Must Continue
US Election 2020:
BIDEN- 264 TRUMP- 214
Biden Edges Ahead of Trump in Georgia as Pennsylvania Race Tightens
Biden takes lead in Pennsylvania and Georgia as he inches closer to beating Trump
Tally of mail ballots continues to skew heavily in Democrat’s favor as his lead in the national popular vote stretches to over 4m
Philadelphia election officials continue vote count as Trump tries to create chaos
While the president attempts to sow doubt about results, workers have been methodically counting the city’s 358,257 mail-in ballots
The Guardian UK, 6 NOV 2020.
Joe Biden, the US Democratic presidential challenger, has reached what appears to be a tipping point in the contest for the White House, taking the lead in Pennsylvania and Georgia as the tally of postal ballots continued to skew heavily in the Democrat’s favour.
With a Biden victory looking assured, CNN reported that a “national defence airspace” would be established above the Democratic candidate’s house in Wilmington, Delaware, meaning he would begin to receive the protection of the US military, the first trappings of the presidency.
But a smooth transfer of power still looked far from certain. Donald Trump and a handful of loyalists continued to allege election fraud, without any evidence. Biden was reported to be seeking to rally prominent figures from both parties to endorse the legitimacy of the election, at a nervous moment for US democracy.
After whittling down a substantial lead for Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on election night, Biden’s vote count passed the president just before 9am, building up a narrow edge of 5,587. Many of the roughly 130,000 votes yet to be counted in the state are in Democratic areas, and Democrats make up a disproportional share of postal ballots.
Winning Pennsylvania would also win the presidency, no matter what happens in the other states remaining undecided, but Biden also had the advantage there.
In the early hours of Friday morning in the US, Biden had moved to a 1,096-vote advantage in Georgia with thousands of ballots still left to be counted – many in counties where the former vice-president was in the lead.
The Georgia secretary of state reported late on Thursday there were about 10,000 ballots still to be counted in the state, a must-win for Trump in order to keep any chances of re-election alive in the race for the 270 electoral college votes that will determine the presidency.
Biden’s lead over Trump in the nationwide popular vote stretched to over 4m, as he amassed a record 73.7m, but the president’s tally of 69.7m was the second highest in US political history – reflecting the fact that while Trump seemed doomed to defeat, Trumpism will remain very much a force.
As Biden closed in on victory on Thursday night, he urged calm after an inflammatory and falsehood-filled Trump address from the White House where the president once again claimed he had won.
The latest voting figures accelerated increasingly frantic efforts by Trump and his campaign to undermine confidence in the election, threatening a rash of litigation amid unfounded claims of election rigging.
Donald Trump has again claimed he is being defrauded in a rigged US election in a speech so dishonest that multiple TV networks cut away mid-stream.
His surrogates, including his sons Eric and Don Jr and personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, have been spreading similar misinformation on social media.
All eyes are now on Pennsylvania, the battleground state most likely to declare a result next.
With ballot counting still ongoing in a handful of battleground states, federal and state officials have not reported any instances of widespread voter fraud.
Judges in two closely contested states — Michigan and Georgia — have already dismissed lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign.
The campaign said it had also launched a lawsuit against the Philadelphia board of electors, seeking an injunction to bar ballot counting unless Republican observers are present.
Trump’s baseless claims of electoral fraud have spurred continued protests outside counting centres in key states like Pennsylvania and Arizona.
In Philadelphia, police have uncovered a plot to attack a building where ballots were being counted.
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