Presidential Decision Hangs on Battleground States Outcome
It was a nail-biting 2020 Election Night across America, as polling places closed and the gap between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden narrowed considerably as the evening progressed. With an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots to be counted, the race has come down to awaiting results from several key battleground states. As of Wednesday morning, Joe Biden is ahead of Trump with 238 electoral votes to Trump’s 213. Either candidate will need a total of 270 electoral votes to officially claim victory. The outcome is far from determined; however, with those key states still in the process of tallying their official vote counts.
Individual states set their own rules regarding deadlines for ballot reporting. As it stands, Pennsylvania, where Trump unofficially leads, starts counting all ballots on election night and has up to three days beyond that to total and report votes, including mail-in ballots as long as they are postmarked by November 3. Currently, the state is one of several which could determine the final outcome. Other key states still not officially reported include Nevada, Wisconsin and Michigan, where so far Joe Biden is leading. Biden also took the lead in Arizona, where the unforeseen but hoped for blue tilt in Maricopa County turned in his favor. Trump captured the key states of Florida and Ohio and currently has a slight edge over Biden in North Carolina and Georgia. Democrats are hoping Atlanta will turn the tide blue for Biden with the populous city flipping the long-held Republican stronghold.
Election officials are once again cautioning patience with the ballot counting process. It may take several days for a decisive winner to be declared.
Ann Sullivan is a contributing staff writer covering national and world news topics. She brings dedicated experience having written international and domestic news, blogs, and web content for over 20 years. She’s also a published poet and graphic designer with degrees in Business and Graphic Communications and has been a music distributor, music industry sponsorship sales director and band manager.