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Although the polls closed over two days ago, Americans still await results on who will be the next president.
Although Trump has attempted to claim victory both in a speech early Wednesday morning and multiple times on Twitter, election officials have made it very clear that neither candidate has been declared the winner.
The first declared results came from Indiana, a deep red state, and many other deep red or blue states followed including Illinois.
The last time Illinois’s electoral votes went to a Repbulican was in 1988.
Amidst the current COVID-19 pandemic, this election saw record numbers of mail-in ballots which accounts for the extended wait for results.
Overall voter turnout is on track to be the highest in over a century at a projected 66.4 percent.
The overall consensus before the election even began was that certain swing states would likely decide the winner.
These states include: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama and Texas.
All of these states were considered to be either candidates’ games.
Some states, such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, have stricter laws that did not allow for mail-in ballots to be opened and counted until after the polls closed on election night.
Texas and Florida were called for President Trump on election night while Wisconsin and Michigan were called for Joe Biden on Wednesday afternoon, both states that Trump won in 2016.
Fox News and the Associated Press declared Biden the projected victor in Arizona while other sources held off until more votes came in.
The New York Times has yet to call Arizona, but as of around 10 p.m. Thursday night Biden leads in the state by approximately 1.5 percent with 90 percent of the votes reported.
In Nevada, Biden is ahead by approximately 0.9 percent with 89 percent of the votes reported.
Arizona and Nevada have 11 and six electoral votes, respectively and while Nevada went blue in 2016, Trump won Arizona.
“The race for the 270 electoral votes needed to win currently stands at 253 for Biden and 214 for President Trump, meaning that a Biden victory in Arizona and Nevada will win him the election.”
In Pennsylvania, which he also won in 2016, President Trump is ahead by 0.4 percent with 95 percent of the votes reporting.
The president has attempted to take legal action in several states, including Pennsylvania, but nothing has come of it as of now.
In Georgia the race is extremely close with President Trump ahead by less than 0.1 percent with more than 98 percent reporting.
Georgia has not gone blue since the 1992 presidential election.
President Trump also leads in North Carolina by a margin of 1.4 percent with 95 percent of the votes reported.
In terms of the United States Senate, both parties currently have secured 48 seats, meaning that four senate elections also have yet to be declared.
Democrats flipped two seats, one in Colorado (Hickenlooper), and one in Arizona (Kelly), and Republicans flipped one seat in Alabama (Tuberville).
Senate races that still do not have declared winners are in Georgia, Alaska and North Carolina with another in Georgia through a special election.
Sources are saying the earliest we will have results is around 4 or 5 a.m. eastern time Friday morning. Trump has made it clear that he will seek further legal action and, even if Biden is declared the winner, will not concede the election.
The Argus will keep you updated on the latest election news as it comes in. All election results in this article come from the New York Times as of 10 p.m. Thursday 11/5.
Photo: The New York Times