Three days after Election Day, Democratic nominee Joe Biden took narrow leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia, according to the Associated Press, putting him on the cusp of a victory in the Electoral College.
Early Friday, Biden took a 5,500-vote lead in the Keystone State, after trailing President Trump there for days. He also took a narrow lead in Georgia, giving the Democratic nominee the lead in a state that hasn’t voted for a Democrat for president since Bill Clinton was on the ticket in 1992.
Both states remained tight with votes left to count, but those remaining votes are mail-in ballots that have broadly broken in the former vice president’s favor. Biden also leads in the popular vote.
Georgia may remain tight and undecided, since voters there have until Friday to return overseas and active military ballots, as well as cure, or fix, mistakes on absentee ballots. Provisional ballots also remain to be counted, as well as mail votes from some GOP-leaning counties.
In Pennsylvania, thousands of mail ballots still need to be counted, many from Democrat-leaning counties.
Biden has multiple paths to the presidency. If he wins Pennsylvania, he doesn’t need any of the other states he’s leading in to reach 270 electoral votes. Trump, meanwhile, must win Pennsylvania in order to retain the presidency, so both campaigns are watching the state’s returns closely.
Pennsylvania’s legislature did not adjust election law to allow election officials the ability to process mail ballots before Election Day, resulting in a several days effort to finish counting.
Trump has maintained a steady lead in North Carolina, where there hasn’t been much movement, but a call has not come in part because election officials there are allowed to accept mail ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 as long as they arrive by Nov. 12.
Biden holds leads out west in Nevada, which remains too close to call, and Arizona, which the AP has already called for Biden though Trump continues to make up ground there. Biden’s lead has slimmed as officials update their tallies in Maricopa County, a traditionally Republican county that has turned bluer this year.
In Nevada, most mail ballots remain outstanding in Clark County, home to the Democratic stronghold of Las Vegas. Election officials in Clark County are expected to brief reporters at 9 a.m. PT and announce tallies from a batch of 51,000 ballots — mostly mail.
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— NPR (@NPR)