Although many had anticipated a winner on Tuesday night (Nov. 3), no winner has been declared in the 2020 presidential election, leaving a nation in limbo as it contemplates the next four year. Donald Trump is in a dead heat against his rival for the White House, Democratic candidate Joe Biden, in a nervous race to the finish of the 2020 presidential election.

Several key states including Pennsylvania, Wiconsin, Michigan, North Carolina and Georgia hang in the balance. In those states, ballots still remain to be counted, including mail-in and absentee. Rules in some of those places only allowed those ballots to begin to be counted Wednesday morning. Over the course of the night, Trump managed to win the crucial electoral votes of Florida and Ohio. Arizona seems to be leaning toward Biden, who also won major states like California and New York but did not flip Texas into the Democratic column.
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As of 7 a.m., Biden led Trump 224 electoral votes to 213, according to CBS News. 270 are needed to win the election.

“Your patience is commendable, we knew this was going to long but who knew this was going to go into tomorrow morning or maybe longer,” he said, while standing on stage with his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, at the Chase Center. “I’m here to tell you tonight we believe we’re on track to win this election.
“It ain’t over until every vote is counted, every ballot is counted,” he continued. “But we’re feeling good about where we are.”

President Trump spoke in the middle of the night with a false claim of victory and complained about the electoral process, saying Democrats were trying to steal the election. Even threatening legal action.

“This is a fraud on the American public, this is an embarrassment on our country, we were getting ready to win this election, frankly we did win this election,” he said. “We will be going to the U.S. Supreme Court we want all voting to stop.” 

How Did We Get Here?

Because mail-in ballots were still being counted in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia election officials in individual counties were racing to deliver outcomes. That means cities like Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Atlanta -- all Democratic strongholds with large numbers of African American voters could make the difference in the election.
"Hundreds of thousands of ballots in our largest jurisdictions are still being counted, including Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Warren & Sterling Heights," Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in an early morning Twitter post.
America is divided politically, socially and geographically into red and blue states. And while the blue camp may cast more votes for the Democratic candidate, the electoral college system can enable unpopular red camp candidates to win.  

It’s historically unusual for an incumbent president with a job approval rating below 50 percent to be competitive. Trump’s job rating has held steady at 43 percent, as he also lags Biden in favorability polls. However, the U.S. Constitution lays out an electoral system in which the popular vote is actually secondary to the electors' vote in each state.

When voters cast a ballot for president, they technically vote for electors in their state who formally vote for president. There are 538 members of the Electoral College, representing the number of House and Senate members (plus three for the District of Columbia) and apportioned to states based on population. The winner must get 270, one more than half, of the electoral votes to be elected president.
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What Could Happen Next

The battle for president could drag on for days. In places like Ohio and Florida, Trump gained needed wins that would have otherwise sank his chances. In Texas, while it was close to flipping into the Democrats favor, the president also managed to hold on. So the key battleground states will have to continue their counts of mail-in ballots, which could be extended through the week. But that also leaves Trump room to start litigating.
Trump laid the groundwork for a disputed election months ago, indicating that he could claim voter fraud regarding absentee ballots. If the final vote tally is close, which is expected in key battleground states, expect lawsuits over ballot-counting procedures and other issues.

Both parties reportedly have plans in place for a disputed election. However, if legal challenges reach the U.S. Supreme Court, it appears that Trump has a big advantage with the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the high court.

In the rare case of an Electoral College tie, the newly seated 2021 House of Representatives would vote for president by state delegations – with each state getting one vote.