Two Days Later, The Count Continues

In what has truly been an unprecedented election, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden seems to be pulling ahead in Nevada once again as President Donald Trump still holds a razor thin lead in Georgia. With 76% of polls reporting in Nevada, Biden’s lead grew ever so slightly, bringing the former Vice President a tad farther ahead of Trump by less than 12,000 votes. Meanwhile, the counting continues in four other states—Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Alaska—that are still leaning towards the incumbent. At the time of this writing, President Trump holds a very narrow lead in Georgia. Currently, he leads the state by almost 13,000 votes, which holds the vote percentages at 49.5 for the incumbent and 49.3 for his Democratic challenger. In Pennsylvania—where Trump’s largest lead in the polls resides—the incumbent leads by almost 109,000 votes. However, a very watchful nation is waiting to see how that count will change within the next day or two as election officials in the battleground state say they still have about 370,000 ballots left to count, meaning Biden isn’t out of the game in Pennsylvania just yet. The Fight For 270 Now, how close is Biden to a victory? It depends on where you look since some organizations put Biden at 264 electoral votes while others put him at 253. Those who put the Democratic candidate at 264, such as the Associated Press (AP), have already called the race in Arizona—where Biden secured over 50% of the vote—even though there are still precincts who have yet to report. But, Arizona aside, some are watching to see how Nevada is going to play out, as it could be the state that ends the race.  For the sake of analysis, let’s say Biden indeed has 264 votes. If President Trump manages to secure Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Alaska, he is still going to fall short of the 270 votes needed to secure the presidency, since those 54 electoral votes will land him at 268 (he currently sits at 214). That would leave all eyes on Nevada and its six electoral votes. If Trump wins Nevada, he’ll end up with 274. If Biden wins, he’ll land exactly at 270. However, Nevada won’t matter if President Trump can’t secure Pennsylvania, Georgia or North Carolina, since those votes are critical to bringing him closer to 270. If any of them flip in Biden’s favor, the race is over.