US election results LIVE: Results slow in Pennsylvania; Trump yet ahead

US election results 2020 LIVE updates: Among key states with most electoral votes, Trump is leading in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Texas and Florida. Joe Biden is ahead in Arizona, Nevada, California, NYC

8:03 PM

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer says Joe Biden focusing on unity: CNN

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer praised the way her state has handled the election, and said that Democratic nominee Joe Biden was focused on unity. "We were able to get these votes counted, 5.1 million votes, and with Joe Biden ending the day with about 13 times the margin that Donald Trump had just four years ago," she told CNN.

"It feels a lot more decisive than what we're seeing play out in other states potentially."

 

As the nation awaits the final result, and with the state of the race still in the balance, Whitmer emphasized the need to let democracy run its course. Whitmer said she spoke with Biden on Wednesday, and should he ultimately win the White House, his goal will be American unity.

 

"He called me. He is focused on how do we heal this nation? How do we bring people together? How do we build bridges and start the common ground that has been so severely lacking these last few years," she told Berman.  As for the election itself, Whitmer condemned any attempt to interfere with the political process.

 

"There's no question that efforts to undermine the integrity of and the confidence in this election will have ramifications long past when all the numbers are finally in," she said, adding "that is something that is anti-American."

7:55 PM

US election results LIVE: Biden vs Trump on Twitter as vote count continues

7:50 PM

US Election 2020 Results LIVE: 'STOP THE COUNT!', tweets Donald Trump

7:45 PM

US Election 2020 Results LIVE: Bucks County has 28,000 mail-in ballots left to count

Bucks County, which is north of Philadelphia, has about 28,000 ballots left to count as of Thursday morning, according to a county official, who says they should wrap up today, CNN reported.

 

Public Information Officer Larry King issued a press release saying overall, the county has counted more than 356,000 votes, with Joe Biden’s vote total at 177,019 and President Donald Trump at 173,467. 

 

The totals include all votes cast in person at the county’s 304 voting precincts, plus more than 129,000 mail-in and absentee ballots so far, according to King. 

 

7:39 PM

Donald Trump campaign to make announcement in Las Vegas

The US President Donald Trump's campaign planned to make an announcement in Las Vegas on Thursday at 11:30 ET (which is around 10:00 pm IST). 

 

The news conference will feature former intelligence official Richard Grenell, former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, Chairman of the American Conservative Union Matt Schlapp and Nevada GOP Chair Michael McDonald, the statement said.

 

7:34 PM

US Election 2020 Results LIVE: There are about 50,000 votes left to count in Georgia, reports CNN

There are close to 50,000 votes left to be counted in Georgia, according to Walter Jones, spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s office. There were no further immediate details, according to CNN.

 

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is scheduled to give an update at 10:30 a.m. ET. Georgia is one of six states CNN has not yet projected a winner in. Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania are also still too close to call.

 

 

7:28 PM

US Election 2020 Results LIVE: 'Every vote must be counted', tweets Joe Biden

7:27 PM

Pennsylvania senator says Philadelphia ballots could make Joe Biden to win the state: CNN

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, CNN reported.

 

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".

7:18 PM

Joe Biden managed to break former President Barack Obama's record for most votes in US election history

7:17 PM

US Election 2020 Results LIVE: Donald Trump campaign to announce lawsuit in Nevada, alleging voter fraud

Ric Grenell, the former acting Director of National Intelligence, is slated to hold a Thursday morning press conference in Las Vegas to announce the Trump campaign is filing a lawsuit that seeks to count every "legal" vote, Fox News reported.

 

The Trump campaign is alleging that at least 10,000 people voted in the state, despite no longer living there

7:09 PM

OSCE accuses Donald Trump of 'gross abuse of office': AFP

The head of an international observer mission to the US elections, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), accused Donald Trump of a "gross abuse of office" after the president alleged he was being cheated and demanded that vote counting be halted, AFP reported.

 

"The most disturbing thing was that with presidential fanfare of the White House, that is, with all the insignia of power, the American commander-in-chief called for an end to the count because of his purported victory," Michael Link told the German daily Stuttgarter Zeitung.

 

"That was a gross abuse of office," he said, adding that Trump's "claims of manipulation are baseless".

7:06 PM

140,000 outstanding mail-in ballots left to be counted in Philadelphia County: CNN

Around 140,000 outstanding mail-in ballots are yet to be counted in Pennsylvania's Philadelphia County, CNN reported quoting a source involved with the canvassing in Philadelphia. 

7:00 PM

Global stock markets surge, even as the US waits for an election outcome

While the world waits for a definitive outcome in the U.S. presidential election, global stock markets surged after more states announced voting results on Wednesday night. Wall Street futures indicated that the S&P 500 could open nearly 2 percent higher on Thursday, and European and Asian stocks also rose, NYT reported.

 

The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 1 percent on Thursday, pulled higher by technology stocks. The DAX index in Germany rose 1.7 percent, and the CAC index in France gained 1.2 percent. Asian markets closed higher with the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong up 3.3 percent, the biggest one-day increase in four months. The Nikkei 225 in Japan climbed 1.7 percent.

 

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 index had its best day since June, gaining 2.2 percent, as investors quickly realigned their positions on the prospect of a divided government.

6:49 PM

To reach 270, Donald Trump needs to claim all four remaining battlegrounds: Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia and Nevada

6:38 PM

International observers say Trump's election claims 'harm public trust': CNN

According to CNN, 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.