By Ava Dunwoody | Staff Writer, Video by Grace Smith | Broadcast Reporter
While President Trump claimed victory late Tuesday night, former Vice President Joe Biden said America should wait for all the results to come in before people jump to conclusions.
Biden led the electoral polls this morning with 238 votes compared to President Donald J. Trump’s 213 votes according to the Associated Press. At this point, only Arizona has flipped since the 2016 election and President Trump leads swings states like Michigan and Georgia.
At 11:42 p.m. on election night, Biden gave a statement at Biden Headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. He said he is confident about this election and believes he is on track to win.
“We feel good about where we are,” Biden said. “It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to decide who wins this election. It’s the decision of the American people.”
“We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election,” Trump said in a tweet. “We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed.”
Benjamin A. Kleinerman, Baylor RW Morrison chair of political science, said he knew this was a large possibility and many people had expected the call would be delayed. He said the confusion involving the extent of early balloting makes it more difficult to count the votes by election night.
“They can only really call it on election night if they can reliably forecast what the reminder of the balloting looks like,” Kleinerman said. “If it’s clear that it’s too close to be able to predict in the battleground states who is going to win, then it won’t be called.”
The Associated Press, often credited with calling the election, said on their website they do not make projections. “If our race callers cannot definitively say a candidate has won, we do not engage in speculation,” they said.
In undeclared states, causes for delay are most strongly tied to mail-in ballots. In both Michigan and Pennsylvania, officials have said full results could take until Friday, Nov. 6. As of 5 a.m., Trump was winning Mich. and Pa. with 51.4% and 55.7% of votes, respectively.
“If many mail ballots are outstanding at the end of the night, the reported totals could be relatively stronger for Republicans,” said the the New York Times on their election results website.
In Wisc., Gov. Tony Evers has said he expects to know the results on election night, or by the day after, The New York Times website said. It also said officials in Milwaukee think the results may take until 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Wednesday.
Other states that remain undecided are Ga., Nev., N.C. and Alaska.
