It's Ashley. To longtime subscribers, thanks for letting me guide you through our first election together. Perhaps it won't be the last! If you're reading The Short List for the first time (shout-out to my election texting friends!) please subscribe to get this in your inbox. Welcome to the best newsletter in the game.
I said it before and I'll say it again: The showdown between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden sure isn't over.
It's been nearly two days since Election Day came to a close. Let's see where we are.
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Who is winning?
Biden appears poised to win but (*audience says together in unison*) it isn't over yet. Biden is still just six electoral votes away from reaching 270 in the presidential race after he was named the winner in Wisconsin and Michigan.
Just take your sweet time, remaining states. No one's waiting for you.
As voters nationwide continue to wait for the final results of the presidential election, all eyes are Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina. Here's where those states stand:
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In Nevada,76% of votes have been counted. Trump leads at 49.4%. Biden has 48.5% as of 12:39 p.m. ET.
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In Georgia, 99% of votes have been counted. Trump has 49.5% of the votes, with Biden at 49.3% as of 6:06 p.m. ET.
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In Pennsylvania, 89% of votes have been counted. Trump leads at 50%, while Biden has 48.8% as of 6:18 p.m. ET.
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In North Carolina, 94% of the vote has been counted. Trump has 50.1% while Biden has 48.7% percent as of 2:02 p.m. ET.
The presidential race is now down to the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina.
USA TODAY
Trump's not going down without a fight
Trump's reelection campaign has launched a multistate legal battle in its efforts to secure a second White House term over Biden. "All of the recent Biden claimed states will be legally challenged by us for Voter Fraud and State Election Fraud," Trump tweeted Thursday, claiming "plenty of proof." Here's a look at the brewing legal battles:
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In Michigan, a Trump campaign lawsuit alleges it's not received adequate access to ballot-counting areas.
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In Pennsylvania, Trump's attorneys claim an observer in Philadelphia wasn't allowed close enough to ballot processing.
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In Georgia, it's alleged that absentee ballots received after the deadline were not stored to prevent counting.
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And in Nevada, a lawsuit claims as many as 10,000 people cast a ballot despite residing elsewhere.
Nicholas Wu, USA TODAY Washington Correspondent, answers reader questions about the 2020 election.
USA TODAY
You asked, we answered
Our brilliant Washington Correspondent Nicholas Wu (somehow) found the time during a CRAZY INSANE WEEK to answer a few burning questions from our election text group. Nick, I truly don't deserve you. Here's what you all had to ask:
Question: If things get tied up in court, does Trump stay in office until the lawsuits are resolved? - Laura from Washington, N.J.
Nicholas Wu: Let's say the Electoral College ends up in the courts and is still unresolved by January, then the presidential line of succession would pass the presidency to the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. If no candidate gets a majority in the Electoral College, the House picks the president.
Q: Why is it that AP electoral votes are not shared with the TV networks...the only station that showing the same as AP is Fox. – Linda F. from Shreveport, Louisiana
Wu: Good question! Every TV network and news outlet has its own method for reporting on race calls. USA TODAY uses The Associated Press or will report that two reputable news outlets called a race.
Q: Who pays expenses related to Trump's lawsuits? – Susie Gray Biehle from Austin, Texas
Wu: Trump's campaign pays for its lawsuits and has been soliciting donations from supporters to fund the legal battles. Campaigns can also tap into resources from the national party to pay for recounts or other legal bills.
Q: Tell me something, bro, when are we going to get the final result? – Kenneth Simpson
Wu: If I were smart enough to know when we'd get a final result, I wouldn't be a reporter!
Q: What's happening with Arizona? I heard that they had lots of uncounted votes when Fox declared Biden the winner. Truth to this? – Linda from Arizona
Wu: That's true! Arizona had many votes outstanding when Fox and the AP called the race for Biden. But the AP, for example, called the race based on their analysis that Trump would not be able to catch up to Biden in the remaining ballots.
Q: Why don't we just base the election on the popular vote? – Christina Coplon from New Jersey
Wu: That's a question you'd have to ask the country's founders!
Hypothetically speaking ... What if the losing candidate doesn't concede?
When a candidate loses a U.S. presidential election, tradition holds the candidate promptly and publicly acknowledges defeat in a concession speech to help with the peaceful transition of power. It's typically a gracious celebration of American democracy. A concession speech isn't part of U.S. law or the Constitution – it's a time-honored voluntary gesture. No losing presidential candidate in modern history has ever refused to concede . Without a concession, usually hidden parts of the election process – such as the inner workings of the Electoral College – could be ripped open and used to decide the election in an unprecedented way. It could mean a race would be decided by the courts or obscure parts of the law.
Tensions rise as election drags on
Dozens of demonstrations were planned Thursday in cities across the U.S. as the election inched closer to declaring a winner. Hundreds of peaceful protesters turned out in Chicago, Philadelphia and New York City – with smaller groups in Baltimore and Pittsburgh – Wednesday to demand that election officials "count every vote." Trump supporters gathered outside a Las Vegas election center, chanting "stop the steal," while others in Phoenix gathered to demand election workers keep counting ballots.
Demonstrators call for all votes be counted as they demonstrate outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020, in Philadelphia, as vote counting in the general election continues.
Rebecca Blackwell, AP
In other election news
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Months of tense, sometimes violent, protests after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis led voters to take their concerns from the streets to the polls, where they strongly supported nearly two dozen police reform measures across the nation.
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Calling all angels: Megachurch pastor and televangelist Paula White-Cain, who is the spiritual adviser to Trump, delivered a prayer service in an effort to secure Trump's reelection. During the service Wednesday, White-Cain called on "angelic reinforcement" from the continents of Africa and South America.
The widow of a teacher killed in the 2018 Parkland massacre has won election Tuesday to that county's school board. Debra Hixon easily won election to the Broward County school board, joining Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa also died in the 2018 shooting.
Real quick: Here's what else happened in the news Thursday
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COVID-19 infections are roaring across the nation: The United States surpassed 100,000 new daily cases for the first time on Wednesday. That's an average of more than 70 Americans reporting positive every minute.
Denmark's prime ministersaid the government wants to slaughter all 15 million minks in Danish farms to minimize the risk of them retransmitting COVID-19 to humans.
That's all for The Short List! Be sure to subscribe to our election texting group if you'd like to keep up with race results through the weekend. – Ashley
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