Biden projected to win Wisconsin and Michigan, as Trump claims 2020 election is being stolen

*Pelosi says the people have spoken

A media outfit in United States has projected Joe Biden is the winner in Wisconsin and Michigan, capturing 26 electoral votes and inching closer to the 270 he needs to capture the White House and deny President Trump a second term.

Biden’s victory in two states that were key parts of Mr. Trump’s coalition in 2016 significantly limits the president’s pathways to reelection, with just four states still considered toss-ups in it’s estimates. Biden currently holds a lead of 20,510 votes in Wisconsin with nearly all votes counted, and a lead of roughly 61,000 votes in Michigan.

Even before news organizations began projecting Biden to win Wisconsin Wednesday afternoon, Bill Stepien, the president’s campaign manager, said the campaign would “immediately” seek a recount, which is permitted in Wisconsin when the margin of victory is less than 1 percentage point. Biden’s lead in the state stands at about 0.6 percentage points.

Stepien said the campaign also moved to file suit in Michigan court to stop officials from counting ballots there, saying campaign observers have been denied adequate access to vote-tallying locations. The campaign followed that announcement with three more legal actions in Pennsylvania, where Biden has cut into the president’s lead as votes were counted over the course of the day.

The president has falsely claimed victory in the election, portraying the orderly counting of millions of legally cast votes as an illegitimate effort to steal the election and vowing to challenge the continued counting all the way to the Supreme Court. Elections officials across the country said Wednesday that the vote-counting process has gone smoothly, with few if any irregularities.

North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Georgia considered toss-ups, while Biden is likely to win in Arizona and Nevada. Biden is currently projected to win states that control 253 electoral votes, just 17 votes shy of the 270 needed to win the White House. A projected win in Arizona and Nevada would give him precisely 270 votes. The president’s total stands at 213.

Trump’s lead narrows in Pennsylvania

President Trump’s lead has narrowed to 182,561 in Pennsylvania with 1,066,963 mail ballots still uncounted. About 88% of the vote is in, and Mr. Trump currently leads Biden 50.8% to 47.9%. It’s a significant drop from late Wednesday afternoon, when Mr. Trump held a much stronger lead of 379,639 votes over Biden.

The ballots that are outstanding seem likely to favor Biden. They were cast by mail, and of the 3.1 million mail ballots requests in Pennsylvania, 63% were from Democrats, 25% from Republicans and 12% other. It remains to be seen if there’s enough support for Biden among the million or so ballots left to surpass Mr. Trump.

Trump campaign sues over ballot counting in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia

Lawyers for the Trump campaign are taking legal action in an effort to prevent former Vice President Joe Biden from reaching the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election. The lawsuits, filed Wednesday, contest ballot counting in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.

This election is unprecedented in US election history as it is arguably the first time that American politicians seek redress in court over alleged election fraud. Although the election for George W. Bush’s term was also claimed to witness rigging particularly in Florida, there was no litigation reported.

The campaign is demanding access to vote-counting sites in Michigan and Pennsylvania so they can count each ballot, but there are already poll watchers representing both parties in place doing just that.

Specifically, CBS News projects that Biden has won Michigan, a state which supported Mr. Trump in 2016. Pennsylvania and Georgia, however, still remain too close to call.

Trump claims 2020 election is being stolen

With few exceptions, North Carolina results won’t be updated until next week.

In a nearly hour-long press conference this afternoon, North Carolina State Board of Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell told reporters that, with very few exceptions, North Carolina’s election result tallies will not change before November 12 or 13. These are the dates that most county boards of elections have selected to hold meetings, where absentee by mail ballots will be reviewed before being tabulated.

Additionally, there are approximately 117,000 absentee mail ballots that were requested by voters, from whom the state board has not received a ballot for just yet. Voters had until Tuesday at 5 p.m. to get their absentee mail ballots postmarked in order to still be counted. Bell said her team will be looking out for those 117,000 absentee ballot requests in the next 8 days and will need to check these ballots to make sure they’re appropriately postmarked. They will also be matching these ballots up with voter history information.

Information is still being collected on the number of provisional ballots cast and the state board has sent the county boards surveys for them to complete so that the NCSBE can get a better sense on where the provisional ballots are in the state. Bell said her office will have a report on the provisional ballots by noon Thursday at the latest. Counties will meet to consider provisional ballots on November 13.

Bell said that when the state uploaded its last set of unofficial election night results at 12:28am, nearly 5.5 million ballots had been cast — 977,000 absentee by mail ballots, 3.6 million ballots cast during one-stop early voting, and approximately 900,000 ballots cast on Election Day.

Trump campaign files lawsuit in attempt to halt vote in Georgia

The Trump campaign has filed a lawsuit in a third state, Georgia, in an attempt to halt vote counting. The president’s campaign has also filed lawsuits to halt ballot counting in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Projected Joe Biden won Michigan earlier Wednesday, taking the “blue wall” state back for Democrats after it voted for Mr. Trump in 2016. Pennsylvania and Georgia are left standing as toss-ups, according to CBS News presidential results, joined only by North Carolina.

Like its previous lawsuits, the Trump campaign has claimed that absentee ballots received after Election Day should not be counted. In August, however, a federal judge ruled that Georgia mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day can be accepted up to three days after polls close.

“President Trump and the Georgia Republican Party have filed suit to require all Georgia counties to separate any and all late-arriving ballots from all legally cast ballots to ensure a free, fair election in which only legal, valid ballots count,” said Justin Clark, Mr. Trump’s deputy campaign manager and senior counsel, in a statement.

Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger said that as of 4 p.m. ET Wednesday, there were roughly 200,000 votes left to be counted, and counting could take place into Thursday morning.

“We’re on pace to accomplish that responsibly, ensuring that the vote of every eligible voter is heard,” he said in a statement. “It’s important to act quickly, but it’s more important to get it right.”

Pelosi says the people have spoken

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a Dear Colleague letter Wednesday, said it’s clear the people have spoken and she declared Joe Biden as the next president. CBS News has not yet projected a winner in the race and neither Biden nor President Trump have reached 270 electoral college votes.

“The American people have made their choice clear and are sending Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House,” the letter said.

But House Democrats are sure to be doing some soul-searching, after losing seats in the House. It’s also seeming more likely that Republicans will hold the Senate, halting any Democratic legislative agenda.

“Our Democratic House Majority, working in partnership with the Democratic White House, will now have the opportunity to deliver extraordinary progress. Together, we will continue to deliver on our successful For The People agenda: lower health care costs, bigger paychecks by building green infrastructure and cleaner government,” Pelosi wrote.

Thousands of votes are still being counted and neither candidate has yet won the race.

Georgia secretary of state says 200,000 ballots still need to be counted

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that as of 4 p.m. ET Wednesday, there were roughly 200,000 votes left to be counted. CBS News has estimated Georgia is a toss-up.

Raffensperger said the state expected vote counting would take place into Wednesday night and even Thursday morning.

“We’re on pace to accomplish that responsibly, ensuring that the vote of every eligible voter is heard,” he said in a statement. “It’s important to act quickly, but it’s more important to get it right.”

In addition to Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania remain toss-ups, with elections officials continuing to count ballots in each of those states, too.