Counting votes continues past election day in a narrow presidential race

Updated on Nov. 5, 2020, at 11:14 a.m. CST

After two days since election day, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden continue in a tight race to reach the 270 electoral college votes on Thursday morning to be elected the next President of the United States. 

Five states, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Arizona, and Pennsylvania, are key to determining the next President of the United States.

As of 5:05 p.m. CST, Biden leads the electoral vote with 264 and Trump with 214 according to The Associated Press tracker. 

With Biden's current lead, AP would need to call the state of Nevada which would place him at 270 electoral college votes. Biden currently has a 1% lead against Trump in Nevada as more votes are counted throughout the day. 

2020 reported a historic voter turnout with 101.9 million Americans participating in early voting across the country.

Votes, primarily mail-in votes, are being counted in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Nevada.

Of these six states, Biden is the projected winner of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona and leading in Nevada according to the Associated Press. Trump is currently leading a narrow lead against Biden in Georgia and Pennsylvania. 

In 2016, Trump won the state of Wisconsin against Hilary Clinton with a 0.7% margin. With Biden as the projected winner of Wisconsin, the Trump Campaign is on alert and request a recount in the state. 

Trump carried Michigan throughout election night, but Michigan flipped in the early morning to show Biden leading Michigan. 

The flip has caused the Trump campaign to file a lawsuit against Michigan, as well as in Pennsylvania and Georgia, to halt the counting of votes "until meaningful access has been granted" to review the ballots. 

Georgia would provide the projected winner with 16 electoral votes and Trump leads the popular vote in the state by a thin margin of 0.8% which indicates that Georgia can go to either candidate as votes continue to be counted. 

Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger appeared on Good Morning America saying the state would have their final votes counted by the end of the day noting there were still 200,000 uncounted absentee ballots. 

In response to the tallying of votes, Trump tweeted late Wednesday morning concern over the continuous counting of mail-in ballots. 

“How come every time they count Mail-In ballot dumps they are so devastating in their percentage and power of destruction?” Trump tweeted to his followers.

Throughout his re-election campaign, Trump urged his supporters to not trust mail-in voting and encouraged them to vote in-person, whereas Biden encouraged mail-in voting for his supporters. 

Late last night, Biden addressed his supporters in Wilmington, DE expressing his gratitude to his supporters and encouraging supporters to remain hopeful as the count continues. 

“As I’ve said all along, it is not my place or Donald Trump's place to declare who won this election; that’s the decision of the American people,” Biden told his supporters.