After nearly two weeks of voting in New York City, the polls have finally closed in the 2020 presidential election.
The New York City Board of Elections reported at 7 p.m. on Nov. 3 that nearly 2.3 million voters had cast either early or Election Day ballots; there had been over 1.1 million voters during the early voting period. Another million absentee ballots were requested, and it may take weeks for the board to resolve many of the down-ballot races.
At the top of the ballot, of course, is the presidential race between the incumbent Republican ticket of Donald Trump and Mike Pence and the Democratic ticket of former Vice President Joe Biden and California Senator Kamala Harris.
All of New York’s Congressional seats were also on the ballot, along with all New York state Assembly and Senate seats. Queens voters also went to the polls to elect a new borough president in a special election.
The most hotly contested race, according to the polls, is the 11th Congressional District covering southwest Brooklyn and Staten Island, where incumbent Democratic Congressman Max Rose is facing a tough challenge from Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis.
8 p.m. ET
Just after 8 p.m., projections deemed that Biden would Delaware, DC, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Vermont while Trump will win Kentucky and Oklahoma after nabbing Indiana, which was the first state to declare a winner. Its 11 electoral votes were expected to go to Trump as the state has voted Democrat once since 1940 (1964).
8:30 p.m.
Trump takes Tennessee — which has voted Republican every election since 2000 — and its 11 electoral votes. He also adds West Virginia’s trio of votes.
9 p.m.
As of 9 p.m. ET, Biden held leads in North Carolina, Ohio, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Texas while Trump led in Florida, Michigan, Georgia, and Virginia. Shortly after, Biden was declared the winner in New York with its 29 electoral votes. Since the Great Depression, New York has voted Republican just once (1948). New Jersey’s 14 electoral votes was declared for Biden shortly after.
The former Vice President held a lead of 73-48.
9:15 p.m.
Trump takes South Dakota (3) while Connecticut (7) went with the Democrats for the eighth-straight election.
With just over 119,000 votes registered (roughly 27% scanned), Malliotakis jumped out to an early 15-point advantage, nabbing 57.56% compared to Rose’s 42.29%.
9:30 p.m.
Colorado (9) continued its recent trend of going Democrat, choosing Biden to confirm another blue victory in the state for the fourth-straight election after going Republican for all but one election from 1920-2004. Trump added three from North Dakota, which has gone Republican in all but one election since 1940.
Biden holds an 89-54 lead over Trump.
In the 11th Congressional District, Malliotakis’ lead grew to 17 points with 194,000 votes in (82% of scanners reported).
With 77% of the scanners reported in Queens, Democratic nominee for Borough President, Donovan J. Richards Jr. held a commanding lead over Joann Ariola by 43 points.
9:45 p.m.
Key battleground states including the former “Blue Wall” members that fell in 2016 (Ohio, Florida, Michigan) are too early to call. However, Biden held a slim lead in Ohio with 64% of the vote in.
Why is Ohio so important? No Republican has ever won the presidency when losing Ohio and since 1944, the state has sided only once with a losing candidate.
Meanwhile, both Malliotakis’ and Richards’ healthy leads remain with 84% and 79% of scanners reported, respectively.
9:50 p.m.
Trump takes both South Carolina (9) and Alabama (9). Trump took South Carolina by 14 points in 2016 so his success isn’t surprising, especially considering the state has voted Republican in all but one election since 1964. Alabama has gone Republican in 12 of the last 13 elections now.
Trump closes the gap on Biden to 89-72.
10 p.m.
Polls close in Iowa, Nevada, Utah, and Montana. All four are too early to call. As the race in Ohio heats up, Trump takes a slim lead while nabbing a 300,000-plus-vote lead in Florida with over 90% of the votes in.
Malliotakis and Richards continue to cruise.
10:15 p.m.
North Carolina, which has voted Republican all but twice since 1968, is in a virtual heat with 88% of the vote in with Trump leading by 25,000 votes. The President also extends his lead in Ohio to approximately 177,000 votes.
10:20 p.m.
With such a sizable lead, Malliotakis declares victory over Rose with 88.4% of scanners reported and with a 17-point lead.
10:30 p.m.
With 75% of the vote in, Biden holds an impressive lead in Arizona of 200,000 votes. If he were to hold on, it would be an impressive victory for the former Vice President considering the state has only voted Democrat twice — both for Bill Clinton — since 1972.
Biden tacks on the five electoral votes of New Mexico, which went Democrat for the seventh time in the last eight elections. His lead momentarily expands to 94-72 as projections favor Trump in a majority of the midwest and south.
10:40 p.m.
Biden takes New Hampshire (4) while Trump takes Louisiana (8), Kansas (6), Utah (6), and three out of five districts of Nebraska. It suddenly shrinks Biden’s lead to 98-95.
10:50 p.m.
Illinois (20) remained a Democratic stronghold, going with Biden to keep their blue streak alive and well since 1992. Trump counters with Missouri (10), a state that hasn’t voted Democrat since 1996 and one that the President won by 16 points in 2016.
Biden leads 118-105.
11 p.m.
Polls close out west and give Biden a considerable boost momentarily. He’s deemed the winner of California’s 55 electoral votes along with 12 from Washington and an additional seven from Oregon.
Trump tacks on three from Wyoming and trails Biden 192-108, but middle America is expected to even things up quickly.
11:20 p.m.
Biden holds leads in Minnesota and Iowa, but Trump continues to approach victory in Florida and Texas, which account for a combined 67 electoral votes.
While it already is a foregone conclusion that a winner will not be declared tonight, absentee and mail-in ballots will extend the counting process even further.
Pennsylvania has approximately 1 million votes uncounted while CNN’s Manu Raju shared this update from Fulton County in Georgia:
CNN: As of 10:30pET, Fulton County – home to Atlanta and the state’s largest population center– has tabulated all in-person votes and stopped counting mail-in ballots for the evening. Absentee ballots will be counted Wednesday morning
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 4, 2020
11:30 p.m.
Fox News calls Arizona (11) for Biden, making him just the second Democratic nominee to win the state since 1952. Trump adds Mississippi’s six votes to his ranks while continuing to close in on the 29 votes of Florida.
With 94% of the votes in for Queens Borough President, Richards maintained his huge advantage, leading Ariola by 37 points (67.20%-30.63%)
11:45 p.m.
Biden holds a lead in Maine, but Trump is up in its second congressional district. The Democratic nominee also leads Montana, which Trump won by over 20 points four years ago.
With 73% of the vote in Virginia, Biden has a 220,000-vote lead to continue the blue surge in the state. After going Democrat just once from 1952-2004, the state has picked the party in each of the last three elections.
11:50 p.m.
Virginia is called for Biden, extending his lead to 205-114 just short of midnight. It’s an advantage that will quickly evaporate if Florida and Texas go to Trump along with Ohio and Georgia — all states in which the President leads.
7:00 a.m.
As election morning dawns, Joe Biden and Donald Trump continue to fight almost neck and neck for the 2020 presidency. Biden currently has 224 electoral votes to President Trump’s 213. Faces now turn to the nine states that have not yet been called: Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Maine, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Although Trump leads in Georgia and North Carolina, states he carried in 2016, votes continue to be counted in the early hours. With the key battleground states of Iowa, Florida and Ohio falling to Trump in the early hours of Wednesday morning, millions of votes remain to be counted in Pennsylvania, and Michigan. While Trump has made hasty claims of victory and already suggested a Supreme Court challenge to halt vote counting, Biden remained “optimistic” regarding the uncounted mail-in and absentee votes in a statement made just after midnight.
Besides the battle for Pennsylvania, should Biden continue to hold Nevada, a possible path to the White House is available to the former vice president through seizing Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin as the count continues over the next hours and possibly days.
Further election updates form amNewYork Metro will come throughout Wednesday as states continue to tally the votes.
