The outcome of the presidential election remained in doubt one day after polls closed throughout the United States.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden had a slight advantage over President Donald Trump in electoral college votes, but several key swing states had yet to be called.
A candidate needs 270 electoral college votes in order to claim the presidency. As of Wednesday afternoon, Biden had 248 Electoral College votes to Trump's 214.
Just as it did in 2016, the outcome of the race will likely hinge on the results of three states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. As of Wednesday afternoon, the race in Michigan and Pennsylvania is too close to call. The Associated Press projects Biden will win Wisconsin, and its 10 electoral votes.
Michigan (16 electoral votes) appears poised to offer close to a final count in the hours ahead. However, officials in Pennsylvania have cautioned that due to a high volume of mail-in votes, it may take several days to determine a winner of their 20 electoral votes.
In 2016, Trump won Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin by about 100,000 combined votes.
During a virtual press conference on Wednesday, the state's chief election official, Meagan Wolfe, said that nearly all jurisdictions have posted initial vote counts. That count will remain unofficial until the election is certified on Dec. 1.
Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a statement Wednesday that the President plans to request a recount in Wisconsin.
According to Wisconsin law, a candidate can request a recount if the margin of victory is within 1%. Those recounts are held at the county level.
The western swing state of Nevada (six electoral votes) also remained too close to call. Nevada won't resume counting ballots until Thursday morning, and still needs to tally mail ballots received on Election Day. The state expanded mail-in voting for the 2020 election and will also continue to count mail-in ballots for the next week.
Finally, though the majority of votes have been counted in Georgia (16 electoral college votes) and North Carolina (15 votes), the margins remain razor-thin. Trump currently holds narrow leads in both states.
The state of Alaska, whose polls closed at midnight ET, also remains too close to call, but polling has indicated that Trump is favored in the state.
In a virtual press conference on Wednesday morning, Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon said her campaign is "on track" to claim the presidency. She said the Biden campaign believes it will prevail in Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada, citing large numbers of outstanding mail-in ballots, which tend to skew Democratic.
Though Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin are yet to be called, should Biden claim those three states, he would reach the threshold of 270 electoral college votes needed to clinch the presidency.
The Biden campaign also decried Trump's decision to falsely declare victory in a White House speech early Wednesday morning. In a statement, Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon called Trump's comments "outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect."
