Americans continued to count votes as the US presidential race entered its second day, with a handful of closely contested states yet to declare an outcome.
Democrat challenger Joe Biden believes he is going to win, saying his team has a clear path to 270 electoral college votes. But Trump says he has the lead in several key battleground states.
What you need to know:
- Biden has 253 electoral votes, while incumbent President Donald Trump has 214.
- The states Biden's won: Vermont (3), Virginia (13), Delaware (3), Rhode Island (4), New Jersey (14), Massachusetts (11), Nebraska CD2 (1), Maryland (10), Illinois (20), Connecticut (7), New Mexico (5), New York (29), District of Columbia (3), Colorado (9), California (55), Oregon (7), Washington state (12), Hawaii (4), New Hampshire (4), Minnesota (10), Maine (3), Wisconsin (10), Michigan (16).
- The states Trump's won: South Carolina (9), Kentucky (8), West Virginia (5), Oklahoma (7), Tennessee (11), Mississippi (6), Alabama (9), Arkansas (6), Indiana (11), Wyoming (3), South Dakota (3), North Dakota (3), Louisiana (8), Nebraska (4), Kansas (6), Missouri (10), Idaho (4), Utah (6), Maine CD2 (1), Florida (29), Ohio (18), Montana (3), Iowa (6), Texas (38).
- States still up-for-grabs: Nevada (6), Arizona (11), Georgia (16), North Carolina (15), Pennsylvania (20), Alaska (3).
- Both candidates made speeches on Wednesday night, each seemingly confident in their ability to take home the presidency. Biden said he believed he was "on track" to win the election, and Trump caused outrage by saying he had won and calling the election "a fraud on the American public".
- Trump has threatened to go to the Supreme Court and halt the legitimate counting of the votes in states where he was winning. It's unclear how that would actually work.
- Trump has requested a recount of the votes in Wisconsin where Biden leads. He has filed a lawsuit asking for vote counting to stop in Michigan. The campaign claims it hasn't had access to counting locations.
These live updates have finished.
9:50pm - That's it for Newshub's live updates on the US election for Thursday.
There are still six states remaining to declare a winner: Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia.
For updates on whether Biden or Trump is winning the states throughout the night, keep up to date with the New York Times here.
You can tune into The AM Show in the morning to catch up with the latest developments.
9:30pm - While Joe Biden or Donald Trump will become the next President of the United States, there's a third-party candidate who is also receiving a large number of votes.
Jo Jorgensen, a psychologist and senior lecturer at Clemson University, is the Libertarian Party's nominee for President.
According to The Guardian's election tracker, Jorgensen has received thousands of votes across the US, and generally gained 0.5 - 2 percent of the vote in each state.
She was particularly popular in Montana (2.5 percent of the vote), North Dakota (2.6 percent) and South Dakota (2.6 percent).
With Biden and Trump neck and neck in the race to win many states, commentators have questioned if Jorgensen wasn't in the race, where would those votes go.
9:15pm - The next release of votes from Maricopa County in Arizona is not expected until Thursday night (US time), according to the New York Times.
8:56pm - Joe Biden is currently on 71,947,976 votes (50.4 percent), and Trump trails on 68,351,734 votes (47.9 percent).
8:53pm - Another 60,000 votes have been counted and registered in Arizona's Maricopa County, which encompasses Arizona's capital city Pheonix.
Trump has been given a significant boost of votes and a CNN analyst says if the trend continues, the incumbent President could take out Arizona.
Biden was previously ahead in the state with 50.7 percent to Trump's 47.9 percent but the new votes have narrowed the gap.
Now Biden's on 50.5 percent and Trump is on 48.1 percent with 86 percent of the vote counted so far.
8:40pm - Nevada's attorney general told CNN the state is ready to rebuff Trump's legal challenges around the US election.
The state, where there are six electoral votes up for grabs, is currently yet to decide a winner but Biden is ahead on 49.3 percent.
Nevada's Democratic attorney general Aaron Ford said: "We feel quite invulnerable".
"If you take a look at the track record we've already established against Mr Trump," he said.
"[Trump] sued us twice, maybe three times, already. Each time my office has been able to work with our local district attorney ... and defeat those lawsuits."
He said they have safeguards in place to prevent fraud and he thinks it is "pretty impenetrable when it comes to a legal challenge against us".
8:30pm - Votes are slowly trickling in across the United States but in the majority of the states yet to declare a winner, the percentages for each candidate remain the same. Here's what they are:
- Nevada (6) - Biden ahead on 49.3 percent to Trump's 48.7 percent with 86 percent of the votes counted
- Arizona (11) - Biden ahead on 50.7 percent to Trump's 47.9 percent with 86 percent of the votes counted
- Alaska (3) - Trump ahead on 62.9 percent to Biden's 33.0 percent with 56 percent of the votes counted
- Georgia (16) - Trump ahead on 49.6 percent to Biden's 49.1 percent with 95 percent of the votes counted
- North Carolina (15) - Trump ahead on 50.1 percent to Biden's 48.7 percent with 95 percent of the votes counted
- Pennsylvania (20) - Trump ahead on 50.7 percent to Biden's 48.1 percent with 89 percent of the votes counted
8:16pm - Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani and son Eric criticised an apparent lack of "transparency" over voting counts in the US election on Thursday.
Giuliani gave a lengthy rant in Pennsylvania where he claimed postal ballots could've come from Mars, Canada or dead people.
Eric labelled the continuing vote counting as "rampant corruption".
"The Democrats know the only way they can win this election is to cheat in Pennsylvania," he told a crowd of supporters.
7:55pm - Police in the city of Portland made arrests and seized fireworks, hammers and a rifle after late night demonstrations, as Oregon Governor Kate Brown activated the state's National Guard in response to "widespread violence" on the night after voting in the US presidential election.
Portland Police said it arrested ten people in the demonstrations after declaring riots in the city's downtown area, while the New York Police Department said it made about 50 arrests in protests that spread in the city late on Wednesday.
"All of the gatherings that were declared riots were downtown. We have made 10 arrests", a Portland Police spokesman told Reuters in an emailed statement.
Demonstrations were also seen in a few other US cities on Wednesday night as activists demanding that vote counts proceed unimpeded rallied in several cities, including Atlanta, Detroit, New York, and Oakland.
Earlier on Wednesday (local time), about 100 people gathered for an interfaith event before a planned march through downtown Detroit, in the battleground state of Michigan, to demand a full vote count and what they called a peaceful transition of power.
Local partners of Protect the Results - a coalition of more than 165 grassroots organizations, advocacy groups and labor unions - have organised over 100 events planned across the country between Wednesday and Saturday.
- Reuters
7:40pm- Here's how many popular votes each candidate currently has:
- Biden - 71,922,848 votes (50.4 percent)
- Trump - 68,315,823 votes (47.9 percent)
7:30pm - Local US media station WSB-TV reports all votes have been counted in Georgia's DeKalb County. During the 2020 election they processed 369,948 total votes including:
- Election Day - 47,553
- Advance Voting - 195,376
- Absentee by Mail - 127,019
7:14pm- The gap is closing between the presidential candidates in Georgia. Trump is now only leading by 0.5 percentage points on 49.6 percent. Biden is now on 49.1 percent and 95 percent of the votes have been counted.
There's only 23,009 votes separating the Democratic challenger and Republican candidate.
7pm - The Guardian reports that after several contradictory reports, vote counting is continuing in Maricopa county, in Arizona, although reporters have been asked to leave the building.
6:50pm - Donald Trump's lead in Georgia continues to narrow. There are now only 28,827 votes between the candidates.
6:41pm- The states we're watching:
- Georgia: New votes have come in from Georgia but the percentages still remain the same: Biden - 49.1 percent, Trump - 49.7 percent.
- Pennsylvania: Trump appears to hold a solid lead in Pennsylvania with 50.7 percent of the vote. Biden is trailing behind on 48.1 percent.
- Arizona: Biden maintains the lead in Arizona. He currently has 50.7 percent of the vote to Trump's 47.9 percent with 86 percent of the votes counted.
6:30pm- A wave of new votes are expected to come in from across the battleground states in the next 15 minutes. Stay tuned to see if any of the state's leaders change due to the votes.
6:25pm - Maricopa County elections department in Arizona is reportedly closing due to safety concerns.
Demonstrators have been outside the department on Wednesday (US time) with a local journalist Briana Whitney tweeting that police were attending in tactical gear to potentially make a move on the protesters.
6pm - It's hit 12pm ET and there are more votes expected to come in in half an hour. Here's how the race for the presidency is looking:
Electoral votes:
- Biden - 253
- Trump - 214
- Remaining - 71
Popular votes:
- Biden - 71,910,320 votes (50.4 percent)
- Trump - 68,312,331 votes (47.9 percent)
The states yet to declare a winner:
- Nevada (6) - Biden ahead on 49.3 percent to Trump's 48.7 percent with 86 percent of the votes counted
- Arizona (11) - Biden ahead on 50.7 percent to Trump's 47.9 percent with 86 percent of the votes counted
- Alaska (3) - Trump ahead on 62.9 percent to Biden's 33.0 percent with 56 percent of the votes counted
- Georgia (16) - Trump ahead on 49.7 percent to Biden's 49.1 percent with 95 percent of the votes counted
- North Carolina (15) - Trump ahead on 50.1 percent to Biden's 48.7 percent with 95 percent of the votes counted
- Pennsylvania (20) - Trump ahead on 50.7 percent to Biden's 48.1 percent with 89 percent of the votes counted
5:45pm - A viral "ballot" burning video shared by Eric Trump has been revealed as fake.
The video surfaced on election day in the US showing a person claiming to set on fire 80 ballots "all for President Trump".
But on Thursday, City of Virginia Beach officials, where the names on the papers corresponded to, said the ballots are not official as they don't have barcode markings that real ballots do.
5:33pm - Biden is again closing Trump's lead in Pennsylvania, increasing to 48.1 percent. The incumbent US President is still on 50.7 percent.
5:25pm - According to two sources, CNN reports Trump's campaign is considering legal action in Arizona and Nevada, two battleground states where Biden is currently holds the lead.
The campaign has already launched legal action in several battlegrounds and called for a recount in Wisconsin.
The sources said officials are preparing to test the outcomes of Arizona and Nevada and buy themselves time to slow the counting of votes in states Trump could lose.
5:10pm - More votes are rolling in in the state of Pennsylvania in favour of Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Trump's ahead on a diminishing lead of 50.7 percent but Biden is now climbed up to 48 percent with 89 percent of the votes counted so far.
5:05pm - A reporter for Fox9 says police have trapped protesters as they marched through a street in Minneapolis, Minnesota and intend to arrest them all.
4:50pm - The gap between the presidential candidates continues to close in Georgia. Trump remains ahead on 50.1 percent but Biden has increased his percentage point by another 0.1 to 49.1 percent.
Here's how the candidates are sitting in the battleground state:
- Biden - 2,426,877 votes
- Trump - 2,395,129 votes
4:43pm- Protests in New York are escalating with photos from Wednesday night (US time) showing fires, arrests and police on the streets.
4:33pm- Protests are continuing into Wednesday night (US time) across the United States, the Guardian reported.
The majority of demonstrators are aligned with the Democrats and are calling for every vote to be counted.
This comes after Trump demanded counting be stopped in some states during his speech at 2am on Wednesday morning.
Other demonstrations from Republican supporters have gathered in Arizona's state capitol building in Pheonix.
The crowd is chanting "Shame on Fox" after Fox News controversially declared Biden the winner in Arizona before any other news outlet.
4:20pm - Donald Trump is currently only leading the state of Georgia by 33,300 votes.
- Biden - 2,392,805 (49 percent)
- Trump - 2,426,105 (49.7 percent)
An advisor for the Trump administration told CNN the campaign's focus is currently on the state.
"Georgia is a big deal," they said.
The advisor also told the news outlet that they believe Trump will be able to claw back enough votes in Arizona to win the state by a narrow margin.
"We get AZ," the adviser said.
Currently Biden is ahead in the state with 50.7 percent of the vote to Trump's 47.9 percent. So far 86 percent of the votes have been counted.
4:05pm - Trump's lead in the battleground states of Georgia has also decreased by 0.1 percentage point bringing the candidates within 0.7 percentage points. Trump is ahead on 49.7 percent of the vote with Biden just behind on 49.0 percent. That's with 95 percent of the votes counted. There are 16 electoral votes to be won in the winner-takes-all system so it could provide a boost to each candidate.
4pm - Trump's lead in Pennsylvania has slightly decreased to 50.8 percent with 3.202 million votes. Biden is now on 47.9 percent (3.015 million votes) with 88 percent of the state's votes counted so far.
3:55pm - Along with the election to elect a new President, Americans have also been voting for the Senate and House. Here's how they are currently going:
Senate:
- Democrats - 48
- Republicans - 48
- Remaining - 4
Democrats need to gain four seats to guarantee control of the Senate after a six-year Republican majority, the New York Times reported. But if Biden becomes President, and Kamala Harris Vice President, then the Democrats only need to secure three seats, and Harris can cast a tie-breaking vote.
House:
- Democrats - 205
- Republicans - 190
- Remaining - 40
Democrats are expected to keep control of the House after caputuring the majority in the 2018 midterm election.
3:43pm - US President Donald Trump's reelection campaign on Wednesday said it had filed a lawsuit in Georgia to require that Chatham County separate and secure late-arriving ballots to ensure they are not counted.
The lawsuit, brought against the Chatham County Board of Elections, asked a judge to order the county to secure and account for ballots received after 7 pm on Election Day, according to a court document released by the campaign.
The campaign said it filed the suit after receiving information that late-arriving ballots in the county, which includes Savannah, were improperly mingled with valid ballots.
"President Trump and his team are fighting for the good of the nation to uphold the rule of law, and Georgia's law is very clear: to legally count, mail ballots must be received by 7:00pm on Election Day," deputy campaign manager Justin Clark said in a statement.
- Reuters
3:35pm - Here's how the popular vote is currently stacking up:
- Biden - 71,774,695 votes (50.4 percent)
- Trump - 68,231,937 votes (47.9 percent)
Here's how it compares to the final results from the 2016 election where Clinton won the popular vote, but Trump took out the electoral vote and Presidency.
- Clinton - 65,853,625 votes (48.0 percent)
- Trump - 62,985,106 votes (45.9 percent)
3:25pm - Fulton County (Georgia) elections director Richard Barron says he expects all their votes to be counted by the end of Wednesday night (US time).
"We are bringing in fresh people, because people have been here all day. We expect this probably to go until midnight or more," he told reporters.
"We are going to finish tonight.. As long as it takes, we are going to be here, that's why we're bringing in fresh bodies."
3:06pm - Biden is currently leading Arizona, which could be crucial to obtaining the Presidency. The former Vice President is now on 50.7 percent with Trump on 47.9 percent. So far 86 percent of the votes have been counted.
3:05pm- New results have come in for Maricopa County in the battleground state of Arizona showing Biden on 51.8 percent and Trump on 46.8 percent.
3pm - The Democratic candidates have launched a "Biden-Harris Transition" website in anticipation of the results from the US election.
The website called "Build Back Better" says votes are still being counted in several states, but the team is preparing to take the White House.
"The crises facing the country are severe - from a pandemic to an economic recession, climate change to racial injustice - and the transition team will continue preparing at full speed so that the Biden-Harris Administration can hit the ground running on Day One."
2:50pm - "New York is already on fire."
Hundreds of people gathered in Manhattan on Wednesday evening (US time) to protest how the votes are being counted in the election.
But as it nears 9pm in the city, images and video shows protesters setting fires on the streets and clashing with police.
2:45pm - There are six states left to declare a winner, with the candidates less than 5 percentage points apart in each. Here's who's currently ahead:
Nevada (6) - Biden ahead on 49.3 percent to Trump's 48.7 percent with 86 percent of the votes counted
Arizona (11) - Biden ahead on 51.0 percent to Trump's 47.6 percent with 86 percent of the votes counted
Alaska (3) - Trump ahead on 62.9 percent to Biden's 33.0 percent with 56 percent of the votes counted
Georgia (16) - Trump ahead on 49.8 percent to Biden's 49.0 percent with 95 percent of the votes counted
North Carolina (15) - Trump ahead on 50.1 percent to Biden's 48.7 percent with 95 percent of the votes counted
Pennsylvania (20) - Trump ahead on 50.9 percent to Biden's 47.8 percent with 88 percent of the votes counted
2:30pm - It's got even closer in Georgia. There is now just 0.8 percent separating Trump and Biden. That's with 95 percent of the vote returned.
2:20pm - If you are looking above and see that we have Biden on 253 electoral college votes, but that other news outlets have him on 264, here's the reason: Different news outlets will call or project states at different times.
For example, Fox News and AP have called Arizona for Biden. However, Newshub is using the New York Times for our count above. It and CNN have not yet called Arizona.
But regardless of whether our count changes, if a major news outlets makes a projection, we will let you know in our updates.
2:15pm - CNN is reporting that a source within the Trump campaign says if the Republican candidate loses Georgia, then he will lose the election.
Georgia remains extremely close with Trump only leading Biden by 1 percent.
2pm - The Trump campaign continues to be confident it will win Pennsylvania. Votes are still being counted and Trump is in the lead. But there is still a way to go.
1:55pm - Ardern says as votes are still being counted, the whole world is waiting for the result of the US election.
We can continue to have "faith in the institutions in the United States", Ardern says, but as there is no final count yet, she won't comment further.
"Our strong view is that other democracies should be left to run their course."
She will work with whoever America decides upon and takes the job of advocating for Kiwis very seriously.
1:50pm - Donald Trump has become such a divisive figure that most of the world wants to "move on" from him, according to The AM Show sports reader Mark Richardson.
Richardson made the comments after he and co-hosts Duncan Garner and Amanda Gillies had finished speaking to Newshub national correspondent Patrick Gower, who's in the US covering the knife-edge election between Trump and Democrat Joe Biden, during Thursday morning's show.
1:40pm - NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to speak to media soon. You can watch that in the video above. It's likely she will be asked about the US election.
1:30pm - According to CNN, there has been no formal communication between Biden and Trump on Thursday.
1:25pm - While the focus is on the electoral college, it's interesting to look at the popular vote.
Biden now has 71,185,821 votes - the most of any US presidential candidate ever. Trump has 67,739,934 votes - the highest of any Republican candidate ever and about 5 million more than what he got in 2016.
1:20pm - We have some new results in for Georgia and its bringing Biden closer to Trump. There is now just 1 percent in it between the two candidates with 95 percent of the vote counted. Many of those votes came from the counties around Atlanta, which lean to the Democrats.
1:15pm - Sportsbet.com.au has tweeted that it is calling the election for Joe Biden. No major news outlet has declared victory for either candidate.
1:05pm - The Associated Press is reporting that the Trump campaign is filing a lawsuit in Georgia to halt the vote count there.
1pm - CNN reports that we can expect a big dump of votes from Georgia's Fulton County soon. That's a big one for the Democrats as it includes Atlanta and many suburbs. At the moment, in that single county, Biden is leading 72 percent to Trump's 26.8 percent.
In Georgia overall, Trump leads 50 percent to Biden's 48.8 percent with 94 percent of the vote returned.
12:55pm - Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar say it will be "a matter of days before the overwhelming majority of ballots are counted."
According to the New York Times, just 19 of 67 countries in the state have reported absentee votes.
Trump is sitting on 51.4 percent to Biden's 47.3 percent with 86 percent of the vote reported.
12:50pm - Unsubstantiated claims alleging some votes cast for President Donald Trump were not counted in Maricopa County, Arizona - an important battleground in the 2020 US election - because voters used Sharpie pens began spreading among right-wing social media accounts on Tuesday night as election results trickled in.
Dubbed "Sharpiegate" by conservatives on social media, the allegations could be used to try to undermine election results in the historically Republican state of Arizona, which the Associated Press called for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden with 51 percent of the vote.
Similar rumors about Sharpies or other writing tools and ballots have circulated in Chicago, Michigan, Massachusetts and Connecticut in recent days.
Maricopa County officials were trying to inform voters that Sharpies did not interfere with ballots, and had posted a video explaining that on Election Day.
The county - which includes Arizona's biggest city, Phoenix - last year rolled out new tabulation equipment that made Sharpie pens the best option on Election Day because they have the fastest drying ink, said Megan Gilbertson, the Maricopa County Elections Department's communications director.
"The Sharpies are just fine to use," Gilbertson said in an interview. "They do not impact tabulation, and we encourage them on Election Day because of how fast the ink dries."
By Tuesday night, some Arizona Trump voters had begun to question whether ballots had been counted.
Andrea Thiele, 48, of Surprise, Arizona, said in an interview that when she took her daughter to vote she noticed Sharpies and found them "fishy."
The voting machine accepted her daughter's ballot, she said.
Later, however, she discovered a viral Facebook video saying that Trump voters had their ballots rejected after Maricopa County poll workers had given voters Sharpies.
Now, she is concerned the ballot wasn't counted.
"I suspect there's fraud happening, absolutely," she said.
The state attorney general's office said in a statement to Reuters on Wednesday it had received hundreds of complaints about Sharpie use and sent a letter to Maricopa County officials to investigate the concerns.
"There is no concern about ballots being counted because of the pen being used to count ballots," Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said on CNN Wednesday.
By Wednesday afternoon, the video Thiele saw had been shared on Facebook 101,000 times, and had been promoted by prominent conservatives, including Sidney Powell, the attorney representing former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Following those 101,000 shares, it was labeled "false information" on Facebook by fact-checkers who have partnered with the social media company to root out disinformation about the 2020 election.
Facebook has also blocked the hashtag "#sharpiegate," Facebook spokeswoman Andrea Vallone said, while a Twitter spokeswoman said the social media company was labeling tweets that "misleadingly claim ballots were invalidated."
American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp has also repeated the fraud claims on Twitter and urged voters to report them to the Arizona attorney general's office.
Schlapp and Powell could not immediately be reached for comment.
Alex Stamos, Facebook's former chief technology officer and now director of the Stanford Internet Observatory, told reporters Wednesday the allegations were "disinformation."
"Once this idea was out there in the zeitgeist, it was picked up," he said.
- Reuters
12:40pm - On top of Georgia, Biden is also close to surpassing Trump in Pennsylvania. He is now at 47.2 percent compared to 51.5 percent for Trump. About 86 percent of the estimated vote has been returned.
The areas still needing to return their vote include Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Democrat centres.
12:25pm - We are expecting a lot of Arizona vote to drop at 3pm and 6:30pm. There have also been reports that officials will begin releasing more results from Nevada this afternoon.
If Biden wins both of these states - which he is currently leading in - then he will have 270 electoral colleges votes, enought to become the 46th President of the United States.
However, Biden can lose those states and pick up one Trump is leading in, and still become President.
12:20pm - Biden has significantly closed in on Trump in Georgia. There is roughly only 60,000 votes now in it. Trump has been leading there since early on Wednesday afternoon. However, most of the votes coming in now are from Atlanta, a strong city for the Democrats.
About 94 percent of the vote has been counted and Trump is leading 50 percent to Biden's 48.
12:15pm - The US Ambassador to New Zealand has spoken out against President Donald Trump, saying it was wrong of him to declare victory before the votes have been counted.
Scott Brown told The AM Show on Thursday that while he was happy with the voter engagement, he didn't agree with Trump's decision to declare the election for himself.
"Should he have gone on TV and announced victory? I think no."
12pm - AP has now called Michigan for Biden. That puts AP in line with Fox with Biden at 264 electoral college votes. Both of those outlets have also called Arizona for Biden, which the likes of CNN and the New York Times have not.
11:55am - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is refusing to criticise Donald Trump's election night comments.
"I'm not a participant in the US political process. I'm a partner. Australia is a partner with the United States and we respect the decisions that the American people make in their democracy. And we'll be patient and we'll await the outome of their process."
11:50am - Here's a look at the new front pages of some of the British newspapers.
11:35am - It's unlikely we will be hearing from Trump on Thursday, according to this tweet.
11:30am - A reminder that to win the presidency, a candidate needs 270 electoral college votes. Currently, Biden has 253 votes to Trump's 213. That's based on what states have so far been called.
In states yet to be called, Trump is leading in Georgia, North Carolina, Alaska and Pennsylvania. But things can change, especially in Pennsylvania, which is taking its time with counting mail-in votes that favour Biden. Both campaigns expect to win that state.
Biden is leading in Arizona and Nevada. However, again, it's close and votes are still being counted.
If Biden can hold Arizona and Nevada, then he becomes President. If Trump can win the states he is leading in, and add either Arizona or Nevada, then he can win.
CNN's Jim Acosta reports that the mood is darkening within the Trump campaign.
11:20am - Emotions are certainly running high in the United States. Here's a video out of Nevada, which is still counting votes.
11:10am - Twitter has now put a warning on those two Trump tweets.
"Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process," the warning says.
11:02am - New tweets in from Trump where he claims to have won Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina - three states that major news outlets are yet to call. He is leading in each, but there are votes still to be counted.
The President cannot declare he has won states when there are still votes to be returned.
"Additionally, we hereby claim the State of Michigan if, in fact, there was a large number of secretly dumped ballots as has been widely reported!"
That last statement by the President is not verified in anyway. There is no evidence of dumped ballots.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden is again saying every vote must be counted.
"No one is going to take our democracy away from us, not now, not ever."
11am - CNN reports that at about 3pm (NZT) on Thursday, we should get more results from Arizona. The Trump team really needs to win that.
There are also reports that Nevada will release more results sometime in the coming hours.
10:55am - Fox News currently has Biden on 264 electoral votes. That's because it has called Arizona for the former vice-President. AP has also done this, but CNN is yet to. The Trump campaign is adamant it can win the state.
10:50am - According to CNN's Jim Acosta, the Trump campaign may not request a recount in Wisconsin as it previously said it would.
10:45am - Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump's lawyer, is currently speaking to supporters. He is echoing comments from the campaign that legal action will be taken after observers allegedly couldn't have access to some vote counting sites.
He claims Trump has won the election.
10:40am - "Power can't be taken or asserted, it flows from the people, and it's their will that determines who will be the President of the United States," tweets Biden.
10:30am - So, let's have a look at Michigan, the state CNN has just called for Biden.
With 97 percent of the vote returned, Biden is leading 49.8 percent to Trump's 48.6 percent. Breaking it down by county, Wayne County - where Democrat stronghold Detroit is found - has only returned 85 percent of its vote. That's one of the key areas where this late Biden surge is coming from. There are Republican counties with vote not yet counted, but these have fewer people in them so won't make as much of a difference.
The New York Times also says that just 13 of 83 counties in the state have reported absentee votes. These have been favouring Biden 68.3 percent to Trump's 30.4 percent.
10:20am - In a big projection, CNN says Joe Biden will win Michigan. CNN is the first major news outlet to make that call. We will wait for another outlet, such as AP, to call it before we add Michigan to Biden's count above.
If Biden can now hold Nevada and Arizona (with Michigan), he will become the 46th President of the United States.
10:15am - Biden says that he and Kamala Harris will receive more votes than any other ticket in history. After the election, he says the rhetoric of the campaign needs to be put "behind us" and for people to listen to each other.
He says it will be hard to come together as a nation, but to make progress, people have to start treating their opponents not as enemies.
Biden promises to govern as an American President, not as a Democrat. He says the office of President is for every American.
"The presidency is not a partisan institution. It is the office that governs for all Americans. I will govern as hard for everyone who didn't vote for me as who voted for me."
He wants every vote to be counted.
"No one is going to take our democracy away from us... America has come too far," Biden tells supporters.
10:10am - Biden says democracy is the heartbeat of the United States as it has been for two centuries, pointing out that more Americans have voted in this election that in any other election. That's despite the world being in the middle of a pandemic.
"More Americans voted this election than ever before in American history. Over 150 million people cast their votes. I think that is just extraordinary. And if we had any doubts, we shouldn't have any longer about a government of, by and for the people. It is very much alive, very much alive in America."
He says the people rule and that power flows from the people. It is their will who determines who will be President.
It is clear that he is winning enough states to get to 270 electoral votes, Biden says. But he is not going to declare just yet.
"Now after a long night of counting, it's clear that we are winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. I'm not here to declare that we have won. But I am here to report when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners."
Biden says he expects to win in Pennsylvania as the remaining mail-in votes should mostly go his way.
10:05am - Joe Biden is about to speak in Delaware.
10am - According to Vanity Fair reporter Gabriel Sherman, Trump was so annoyed by Fox's call that Arizona was going to Biden that he rang Rupert Murdoch for a retraction. Murdoch stood by his Fox team. The Trump campaign still believes it can win Arizona, where Biden leads.
9:55am - Protests have begun in Michigan, where Donald Trump wants vote counting to be halted. His campaign claims observers haven't had meaningful access to watch the count.
Meanwhile, in a bit of non-presidential race news, NBC projects the Democrats to win 227 seats in the 435-seat House of Representatives.
9:40am - Biden is finally on his way to speak.
9:35am - Eric Trump, the son of the President, has tweeted: "We have won Pennsylvania".
Again, to be clear, votes are still being counted in PA. Many mail-in ballots won't be counted there for days. Trump is currently leading with 82 percent of the vote counted, but many of the votes still to come in are from Democrat areas which are heavily favouring Joe Biden. Only 28 percent of counties have reported absentee votes.
Thursday, 9:45am - 82 percent of votes counted in PA:
Donald Trump: 52.6 percent
Joe Biden: 46.1 percent.
We are expecting to hear from the Trump campaign soon. The Guardian reports campaign manager Bill Stepien as declaring victory on a press call.
9:15am - New from the Trump campaign:
Justin Clark, the Trump campaign deputy manager, says "bad things are happening in Pennsylvania" where the President is currently leading. There are still many more votes to be counted in the state, however.
Clark says "Democrats are scheming to disenfranchise and dilute Republican votes" and that the Trump team is "fighting to put a stop to it".
He then accuses the local Secretary of State of trying to "bake in a backdoor to victory for Joe Biden with late, illegal ballots in collusion with the partisan state Supreme Court".
Clark mentions the campaign will make several legal moves.
9:10am - Donald Trump's speech on the night of the US election, in which he falsely claimed victory, has been condemned as being more appropriate for a dictator than a US President.
With counting still going on in a number of battleground states key to victory, Trump wrongly claimed he'd already defeated Joe Biden - and went on to say counting every vote, such as those sent by mail, would be a "fraud on the American public".
9am - If you are just joining us, we are waiting for Biden to speak. He was expected to come out at 8:30am, but there has been no sign of him yet.
8:55am - Trump has threatened to go to the Supreme Court. But can he?
While President Donald Trump has promised to ask the US Supreme Court to weigh in on a presidential race that is still too close to call, the nation's top judicial body may not be the final arbiter in this election, legal experts said.
Election law experts said it is doubtful that courts would entertain a bid by Trump to stop the counting of ballots that were received before or on Election Day, or that any dispute a court might handle would change the trajectory of the race in closely fought states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.
With vote-counting still underway in many states in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Trump made an appearance at the White House and declared victory against Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
"This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we'll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop," he said.
The Republican president did not provide any evidence to back up his claim of fraud or detail what litigation he would pursue at the Supreme Court.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the election still hung in the balance. A handful of closely contested states could decide the outcome in the coming hours or days, as a large number of mail-in ballots cast amid the coronavirus pandemic appears to have drawn out the process.
However, legal experts said that while there could be objections to particular ballots or voting and counting procedures, it was unclear if such disputes would determine the final outcome.
Ned Foley, an election law expert at Ohio State University, said on Twitter that the Supreme Court "would be involved only if there were votes of questionable validity that would make a difference, which might not be the case."
Both Republicans and Democrats have amassed armies of lawyers ready to go to the mat in a close race. Biden's team includes Marc Elias, a top election attorney at the firm Perkins Coie, and former Solicitors General Donald Verrilli and Walter Dellinger. Trump's lawyers include Matt Morgan, the president's campaign general counsel, Supreme Court litigator William Consovoy, and Justin Clark, senior counsel to the campaign.
Benjamin Ginsberg, a longtime Republican election lawyer, said on CNN that any attempt to toss out legally cast votes would likely "be viewed by any court including the Supreme Court as just a massive disenfranchisement that would be frowned upon." Ginsberg represented George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2000 when the Supreme Court ended a recount in Bush's favor against Democrat Al Gore.
Trump attorney Jenna Ellis on Wednesday defended Trump's bid to challenge the vote count and evaluate his legal options. "If we have to go through these legal challenges, that's not unprecedented," Ellis told Fox Business Network in an interview. "He wants to make sure that the election is not stolen."
Bringing a case to federal court immediately was one possibility, she added, without giving further details. "We have all legal options on the table."
The case closest to being resolved by the Supreme Court is an appeal currently pending before the justices in which Republicans are challenging a September ruling by Pennsylvania's top court allowing mail-in ballots that were postmarked by Election Day and received up to three days later to be counted.
The Supreme Court previously declined to fast-track an appeal by Republicans. But three conservative justices left open the possibility of taking up the case again after Election Day.
Even if the court were to take up the case and rule for Republicans, it may not determine the final vote in Pennsylvania, as the case only concerns mail-in ballots received after Nov. 3.
In a separate Pennsylvania case filed in federal court in Philadelphia, Republicans have accused officials in suburban Montgomery County of illegally counting mail-in ballots early and also giving voters who submitted defective ballots a chance to re-vote.
If Biden secures 270 electoral votes without needing Pennsylvania, the likelihood of a legal fight in that state diminishes in any case, legal experts said.
And any challenge would also need to make its way through the usual court hierarchy.
"I think the Court would summarily turn away any effort by the President or his campaign to short-circuit the ordinary legal process," said Steve Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.
"Even Bush v. Gore went through the Florida state courts first."
- Reuters
8:50am - To put the US President's request for a Wisconsin recount into context, the state's Governor Scott Walker says Trump has a high hurdle to pass.
8:45am - So, it looks like Donald Trump won't be present at the 9:30am press conference we reported earlier. His family will be though.
8:35am - Donald Trump's campaign team is very confident it can still win Arizona.
8:30am - We are waiting for Joe Biden to speak. We will carry that live in the video above.
8:25am - AP and the New York Times has now called Wisconsin for Biden.
8:20am - Speaking to The AM Show, US Ambassador to NZ Scott Brown said the political pollsters were once again wrong. He points to the fact that Republicans will continue to control the Senate and that no real blue wave has eventuated in the presidential race.
He said it is Trump's legal right to request a recount in Wisconsin.
"There is a sense of frustration certainly with the President. Should he have gone on TV and declared victory? I think no," Brown said.
8:10am - Donald Trump has tweeted: "We are winning Pennsylvania big, but the PA Secretary of State just announced that there are 'Millions of ballots left to be counted'."
The result of PA remains unknown.
8:05am - CNN has just called Wisconsin for Biden. Trump has requested a recount here.
8am - The Trump campaign is claiming that it hasn't had access to several counting locations in Michigan to "observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law".
Trump's campaign manager says the campaign has "filed suit today in the Michigan Court of Claims to halt counting until meaningful access has been granted".
It also wants to "review those ballots which were opened and counted while we did not have meaningful access".
"President Trump is committed to ensuring that all legal votes are counted in Michigan and everywhere else".
Michigan remains on the knife-edge, with Biden ahead just.
7:55am - Reuters reports that the Trump campaign will hold a press conference in Philadelphia - one of the Pennsylvania Democrat strongholds awaiting results - at 9:30am (NZT). It's unclear if Donald Trump himself will be there.
7:50am - Another misleading claim from Donald Trump. He says that Michigan "has now found the ballots necessary to keep a wonderful young man, John James, out of the US Senate".
"What a terrible thing is happening".
To be clear, state officials aren't just finding random votes, they are still in the process of counting those legitimately cast.
7:45am - With ballots still to be counted, Joe Biden has received more votes than any other candidate in US history. Donald Trump has received about 4 million more votes than he did in 2016, the most any Republican has ever got.
Thursday 7:40am (NZT):
- Joe Biden: 69,763,198
- Donald Trump: 66,836,998.
7:30am - Kia Ora, good morning. If you are just waking up now, here's a look at the current play of the key states still up for grabs. We'll use The New York Times' current set of results/projections for this.
Nevada: This western US state was narrowly won by Hillary Clinton in 2016 and the Trump campaign wanted to try and take it from the Democrats this election. With 86 percent of the vote counted, it's unclear if the incumbent will pull that off. Biden sits on 49.3 percent and Trump is at 48.7 percent. But according to the Times, only 6 percent of counties here have reported their absentee votes and those are very, very heavily favouring Biden.
Arizona: This state was won by Trump in 2016, but looks to be going Biden's way with 86 percent of the vote returned. Biden is at 51 percent to Trump's 47.6 percent. Both Fox News and the Associated Press has called it for Biden, but others are yet to so far. The Trump campaign is confident they can pull off a win here, touting a possible election-day surge. Unlike in Nevada, all absentee votes have been counted here.
Georgia: Another normally Republican state currently still in play, Georgia looked to be a win for Trump early on Wednesday night, but has since tightened as votes from Democrat-stronghold Atlanta have come in. Trump is leading 50.3 percent to Biden's 48.5 percent with 93 percent counted. However, in some Democrat areas, there is still a good chunck of vote to count.
North Carolina: With 95 percent of the vote counted, Trump holds a 50.1 percent to 48.7 percent lead. Mail ballots postmarked by election day can be accepted here until November 12.
Wisconsin: This is the first of the so-called rust-belt states. Trump destroyed the 'blue wall' here in 2016 and Biden wants to rebuild it. The vast majority of votes have been counted here and Biden leads 49.4 percent to Trump's 48.8 percent. Trump looked like he was leading early in the night, but that was before Democrat areas like Milwaukee came in. The incumbent has already called for a recount here.
Michigan: Another state which has switched from Trump to Biden over the course of the night. Biden is leading here 49.6 percent to Trump's 48.7 percent with 94 percent of the vote counted. There are still many absentee votes to count here, however. Those are favouring Biden. A "very clear picture" of the result is expected sometime Thursday afternoon (NZT).
Pennsylvania: Finally, this state is in a similar position where not all mail-in ballots have been counted. Officials expect they will be counted by Saturday (NZT). At the moment, Trump is leading 53.4 percent to Biden's 45.3 percent. But massive Democrat strongholds like Philadelphia and Pittburgh only have about three-quarters of their vote counted so far.
Alaska: Alaska is still up-for-grabs, but this will likely go Trump's way. It's one of the last states to start counting votes so results are not quick to come through. It's currently 61.4 percent for Trump to 34.7 percent for Biden with 36 percent of the vote counted.
6:50am - Trump's campaign has requested a vote recount in Wisconsin as Biden leads the state with 49.6 percent to Trump's 48.9.
"Despite ridiculous public polling used as a voter suppression tactic, Wisconsin has been a razor thin race as we always knew it would be," read a statement from the president's campaign manager Bill Stepien.
"The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so."
6:30am - Another of Donald Trump's tweets has been flagged by Twitter for being misleading.
Earlier on Thursday the President tweeted "They are working hard to make up 500,000 vote advantage in Pennsylvania disappear — ASAP. Likewise, Michigan and others!"
This has now been hidden by the social media platform's fact-checking service.
6.10am - Washington DC police have rescinded on a claim that a stabbing overnight was related to conflict between members of the far-right Proud Boys movement and the Black Lives Matter protests.
Authorities now say they cannot confirm identities or ideologies of the three victims or suspects.
"The incident remains under investigation," police said in an update Wednesday, "and (the police department) cannot verify any specific affiliation of the suspects."
Initially police said the victims were Proud Boys. The victims allegedly told police they were attacked by members of the Black Lives Matter movement.
6:08am - Trump says "they" are "finding" votes for his opponent Biden "all over the place".
"In Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. So bad for our Country!"
6:03am - Trump has continued his false claims of election fraud, tweeting that "they are working hard to make up a 500,000 vote advantage in Pennsylvania disappear - ASAP.
Likewise, Michigan and others".
It is unclear who "they" are.
5:56am - Six states are still too close to call for Biden or Trump. Biden leads Wisconsin by approximately 20,000 votes and Nevada by a narrow margin.
Nevada officials have said no more results will be released until noon on Friday (NZ time).
In Michigan, Biden has a slim lead of 10,000 votes with final results expected to be released on Thursday.
Pennsylvania is led by Trump with an 11-point lead, But there are still 1.4 million absentee votes left to count, not including ballots which could arrive over the next day or so. State officials say the majority of the votes will be counted by Saturday.
Trump leads Georgia too, by two points - more than 90 percent of the votes have been counted.
In North Carolina, Trump is also ahead by a fairly wide margin. However Georgia accepts late mail ballots until November 12, and there were approximately half-a-million absentee ballots still outstanding on election day, reports the New York Times.
5:40am - Scattered protests took place from Washington DC to Washington state overnight in the US but as of Thursday morning there was little sign of widespread unrest or violence.
Demonstrations in Seattle, Washington and New York were largely peaceful.
"Some people would like to cause mayhem and trouble," Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said earlier on Wednesday. She told AP she had never seen so many businesses being boarded up: "That all saddens me."
