Election 2020 presidential results

By Meg Wagner, Melissa Mahtani, Melissa Macaya, Fernando Alfonso III, Veronica Rocha and Amanda Wills, CNN

Updated 5:20 AM ET, Fri November 6, 2020

32 Posts

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11:30 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

Georgia election official: Unclear how many provisional ballots still need to be counted

From CNN’s Jason Morris and Wes Bruer

Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling said state election officials are trying to determine how many outstanding provisional ballots still need to be counted. He added that he hopes there will be a resolution by the end of the day.

“We are working with the counties to try and get a full understanding of how many provisionals might be available,” Sterling said.

“There are absentee ballots from our overseas military voters that if they are postmarked by Tuesday have to be accepted by Friday. There are provisional ballots that need to be verified by Friday, and if you have an absentee ballot with an issue like missing a signature or something, you have until Friday to cure those.”

If the vote tally between the two candidates is very close towards the end of the counting, Sterling said there is anticipation military ballots, curable ballots, and provisional ballots may play a role in the outcome, so the final count “may take a minute.”

The election in Georgia “is going to be an extremely close margin, especially in the presidential election,” he added.

11:19 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

Trump campaign remains optimistic about holding Pennsylvania lead

From CNN's Betsy Klein and Maegan Vazquez

Workers prepare mail-in ballots for counting, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, at the convention center in Lancaster, Pa., following Tuesday's election. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Julio Cortez/AP

Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien continued to project confidence in the President's path to winning Pennsylvania and securing 270 electoral votes on a Thursday morning campaign strategy call with reporters -- even as Donald Trump's lead in the commonwealth continues to shrink.

Saying that he is basing his statements on “numbers and data not gut or spin,” Stepien criticized “the media and the insiders in this city” who have been “trying to count Donald Trump out for years,” from his primary to his impeachment.

“Donald Trump is alive and well,” Stepien said.

Stepien noted that Trump is “cutting into the Democrats’ lead” in Arizona and the race “is getting closer and closer.” He said that Trump is “still leading” in Georgia and North Carolina, and continued to suggest Trump will win Pennsylvania.

“We still have confidence in Pennsylvania. Our data tells us that we are winning by more than 200,000 votes,” Stepien said, suggesting that votes will come from both Philadelphia and “Trump counties.”

He added, “We will win Pennsylvania.”

At this point, Trump cannot lose Pennsylvania and still secure enough electoral votes to win the presidency. And despite the Trump campaign's confidence about winning Pennsylvania, his lead has been shrinking as mail-in votes in the commonwealth were being counted.

The Trump campaign is pursuing several legal disputes over the electoral process in Pennsylvania, including a lawsuit claiming that Democratic election officials are not being transparent about the ballot counting process and hiding the process from Republican poll observers.

Meanwhile, a senior Biden campaign adviser told CNN Thursday that the campaign expects to win Pennsylvania by a “sizable” margin.

11:16 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

USPS processed thousands of ballots yesterday in battleground states

From CNN's Paul Murphy

According to data submitted today in federal court filings, the USPS processed thousands of ballots Wednesday in critical battleground states. If properly postmarked, those could be counted in accordance with state laws.

This data does not tell us whether the ballots were postmarked by or on Election Day, or if they were delivered Wednesday.

Here's a look at the processed ballots:

In the Nevada Sierra district, which covers most of Nevada, 9,037 ballots were processed by USPS.
In the Greensboro and Mid-Carolinas districts, 5,915 ballots were processed. These districts split North Carolina, and small parts of Virginia and South Carolina.
In Pennsylvania, USPS processed 6,877 ballots across the state: 3,494 in the Central Pennsylvania district, 1,667 in the Philadelphia Metro district (this district does cover some parts of New Jersey and Delaware), and 1,716 in Western Pennsylvania.

Remember: CNN has not yet projected a winner in the presidential race. Six states remain too close to call, and both Trump and Joe Biden have pathways to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election.

10:56 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

Biden campaign will speak at 11 a.m. ET

From CNN’s Arlette Saenez and Sarah Mucha

Joe Biden's campaign announced it will be holding a livestreamed press conference at 11 a.m. ET.

Campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon and senior adviser Bob Bauer will provide an update on the state of the race, as votes continue to be counted.

11:14 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

Georgia official gives a county-by-county breakdown of the outstanding votes

From CNN's Aditi Sangal

About 60,000 votes are being counted today in Georgia, election official Gabriel Sterling said in a press conference Thursday. Here's the breakdown provided:

Bryan County: 3,027
Burke County: 494
Chatham County: 17,157
Clayton County: 7,408
Cobb County: 700 approximately
Floyd County: 682
Forsythe County: 4,713
Fulton County: 11,200
Gwinnett County: 7,300
Harris County: 3,641
Lawrence County: 1,797
Putnam County: 1,552
Taylor County: 456

The counting process will continue today and into the evening if necessary, he added.

Watch:

11:13 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

Georgia election official says accuracy is the "bedrock" of the vote count

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

A Georgia election official says the state’s main goal is accuracy as the vote count continues.

“Fast is great, and we appreciate fast. We more appreciate accuracy. Accuracy is going to be the bedrock upon which people will believe the outcomes of these elections, be it on the winning or losing side, so accuracy is vital and it's the key to all of our processes,” said Gabriel Sterling, an election official for Georgia.

He also noted this is the first time Georgia has used paper ballots in 20 years.

“We told people they could expect some results on election night, we got a lot out there,” Sterling said.

Watch:

10:42 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

Georgia officials are speaking as just tens of thousands votes remain uncounted

Georgia officials are holding a press conference to give an update on votes counted so far.

There is currently a razor-thin margin between the candidates in the state, and with 16 electoral college votes, a win in the state would be a huge prize for either candidate.

Based on CNN's projections so far, Joe Biden leads the race for the White House with 253 electoral votes. President Trump has 213 electoral votes.

Reminder: Each candidate needs 270 electoral college votes to win the presidency.

While both Biden and Trump still have paths to 270, a win in Georgia could decide the election for Joe Biden.

10:34 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

With 6 states still in play, here's a look at how CNN makes projections

From CNN's Zachary B. Wolf

Two days after Election Day, it's still too close for CNN to project a winner in six states: Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

The process that goes into CNN projections is careful and complicated. It involves both real-time results and information from exit polls.

CNN, NBC, ABC and CBS work with the polling firm Edison Research in what is known as the National Election Pool for results and exit polling data. Fox News and the Associated Press have a separate arrangement.

CNN’s polling director Jennifer Agiesta explains more about this process:

There isn't any magic involved in projecting races, sadly, it's really all math. There are a number of things we are looking for in each state to have confidence in a projection. Most important is what's been counted: Where are the votes coming from geographically within the state, what types of votes are included in the count, and how much of the total vote does the count represent right now?
If there's a clear lead for one candidate in the current count, but none of the votes from the strongest part of the state for the trailing candidate aren't in yet, that margin likely won't hold up. If instead there is good geographic representation in the vote, that's a point in favor of a projection.
If everything that's been counted is absentee and early votes, or all Election Day votes, there won't be a clear picture of how all the votes will look when both types of vote are included. Some of both are needed for projections in closer races.

Read here for more from Agiesta and Washington Bureau Chief Sam Feist.

10:40 a.m. ET, November 5, 2020

Democrats may need to win both Senate races in Georgia to flip the Senate

From CNN's Aditi Sangal

An election official counts absentee ballots in Atlanta on November 4. Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Democrats' only path to avoid a Republican majority in the Senate could require winning both seats in Georgia.

Here’s how:

The balance of power in the Senate currently sits at 47 Democrats and 47 Republicans, with six seats to be decided.

Democrats need four more seats to get to 51, which would flip the Senate in their control. If Joe Biden wins the presidency, Kamala Harris would be a tiebreaker in the Senate.

Currently, Republican incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis is maintaining his lead in North Carolina and incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins has a lead in Maine. In Alaska, GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan is leading Democrat Al Gross.

There is an opportunity for Democrats is in the Arizona race, where Democratic challenger Mark Kelly is maintaining his sizable lead over incumbent GOP Sen. Martha McSally.

This makes the two seats in Georgia indispensable for Democrats. The race for incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s seat will go into a runoff with Raphael Warnock. This election will be held on January 5.

In the second race, Republican incumbent David Perdue is currently ahead of his Democratic challenger, Jon Ossoff. Perdue has exactly 50% of the reported votes but he needs to maintain that, because if Ossoff keeps narrowing this margin as he has been so far, the race could also go into a runoff election.

“This is an interesting position potentially if Democrats are going to shoot the moon here. They would find themselves hanging everything on the southern state of Georgia. That's an uncomfortable place to be for Democrats,” CNN’s Brianna Keilar said Thursday.