Effo rts ok . Joe bidens team has called efforts to stop the count at rangers. He has urged his supporters to be patient. We are going to have to be patient. We are going to have to be patient until the hard work of tallying votes is finished. And it aint over till every vote is counted, every ballot is counted. Votes in the pivotal states of wisconsin, michigan and pensylvannia are still being counted. It could take days to find out who will be in the white house. And i am alive from the Battle Ground state of wisconsin, where the democrats say they have won the state. At the touch screen, keeping track of the votes as they stack up, is reeta chakrabarti. There is the slimmest of margins separating the two candidates as you can see, and i will plot the ten the potential paths to victory for each contender. The race for the white house is on a knife edge. This is bbc us election 2020. Imjane obrien in washington where the nation is on edge. There is no clear winner and campaign lawyers are getting ready to challenge the results. And im Lucy Hockings in london, with the bbcs ongoing us election coverage. Hello. Its 9am here in washington, where americans are waking up to uncertainy. Both donald trump and joe biden say they are on course of election victory. Everything now depends on a handful of fiercely contested battleground states. President trump has performed better than most polls suggested, holding florida, texas and ohio. He has spoken at the white house and controversially claimed victory and vowed to launch a Supreme Court challenge, claiming electoral fraud, but without presenting evidence of any. Joe bidens Campaign Team described mr trumps comments about stopping the voting as outrageous and unprecedented, and said it had lawyers standing by. Of course, its ultimately the voters who say who becomes president , but we could be many hours and days away from the final verdict. The former Vice President still has a path to the white house, with georgia, arizona, michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania all still in play. Well bring you the results as they come in and help you make sense of whats happened so far. Lets look at the latest figures for the Electoral College decided state by state. Biden currenly has. 224. Donald trump, 213. With 270 votes needed to take the white house. Jane, we will be together for a while today, you live and breathe the story, what were your thoughts when he woke up if indeed he went to sleep last night . I didnt get much sleep, i can tell you, lucy. The world is still turning, it has been a shock for a lot of people, the results, we are way suspected, might be close, but this close . That, i think, is a shock. The polls do seem to have been off again. We are reliving a lot of the moments we experienced in 2016, some big surprises. Florida. Donald trump not only took florida, but he took it by more votes than he did in 2016, so thatis more votes than he did in 2016, so that is going to be a big shot across the bow is for the democrats. Soa across the bow is for the democrats. So a lot of People Like Us waking up this morning, trying to make sense of the whole thing. People all around the world, so lets get a sense of where we are at in terms of the map, reeta has the latest. I want to show you some of the key moments overnight during the selection. I will take you back in time. Take you back to just a minute after midnight eastern time. What you can see here is a sea of red, safe red states, blue states by and large, but the one to look at is ohio, it stayed republicanjust large, but the one to look at is ohio, it stayed republican just a minute after midnight. That was a big dealfor donald trump. Ohio had been trending republican, but the democrats thought they were in with a chance. Donald trump staked his claim and he got itjust after midnight. Half an hour later, an even bigger prize. As jane wasjust saying, he kept florida. All 29 Electoral College votes. Very, very important for him and psychologically important because the democrats had really taken the fight to the republicans in florida, they really thought they were in with a chance. It is a properly genuinely swing state, but it was not to be for the democrats. And those two states, those two first big holds for donald trump, ohio and florida, they are bellwether state and they have for decades, by and large, voted for the person who ends up large, voted for the person who ends up in the white house, so very important indeed. Lets move the clock on to quarter past one eastern time. Texas stays red. And that is a huge prize, 38 Electoral College votes. Second only to california, with 55. Texas always pretty republican but, again, the democrats thought they might have a long shot there, it was not to be. But a little bit later on, minnesota. Now, that stayed blue and that is a state Hillary Clinton had hung on to last time round. And joe biden no doubt be the site of relief, minnesota, of those rust belt states, staying blue. At that point, joe biden was on 220 and donald trump, 213. Thanks so on 220 and donald trump, 213. Thanks so much, well see you shortly. Lets go to yalda hakim, whos in milwaukee, wisconsin, where one of the tightest races is unfolding. When are we are going to know the result . Well, jane, 99. 9 of the votes have been counted, but were still waiting for an official result, which gives you a sense of how tight and close this and how concerned Wisconsin Election Commission is about making sure they release right results. That has not stopped the democrats declaring victory. I am going to redo a message from the chair of the Democratic Party in wisconsin. He tweeted, green bay votes in, biden 110w tweeted, green bay votes in, biden now in by 20,600 votes. Folks, Joe Bidenjust won now in by 20,600 votes. Folks, joe biden just won wisconsin. And you are looking at the tweet, which is a correction he made, he says biden has won more votes than any president ial candidate in wisconsin history, he says in his correction that actually, it is the second time, the first time was when obama w011 time, the first time was when obama won the state. Really, it gives you a sense of just won the state. Really, it gives you a sense ofjust how much of a Battle Ground wisconsin is. In 2008, they went for obama and in 2012, they went for obama and in 2012, they went for obama and in 2012, they went for obama, trump flipped the state in 2016 and now potentially based on the results that we are seeing come the official results being announced, it could go back to the democrats. And joe biden may have captured that. The Election Commission is incredibly concerned about any possible attempt to recount the votes so they have issued a statement in the last few minutes saying that officials and the clerks are ready and poised and standing by to triple check the count. That is how close it is and thatis count. That is how close it is and that is how concerned they are. Because there is no actual automatic recount in the state of wisconsin. But the loser, if the margin is 1 01 but the loser, if the margin is 1 or less, can actually request a recount. So the commission is clearly concerned and they want to make sure they triple check everything. The state was narrowly w011 everything. The state was narrowly won by donald trump in 2016, with less tha n won by donald trump in 2016, with less than 23,000 votes. It is even more narrow this time. I dont know if you have my guest with you, patrick marley, the politics reporterfor patrick marley, the politics reporter for the milwaukee journal. Is he there . I am here. Hi, patrick, how are you . This has been a nailbiter all night. And to think that again, it could come down to a state like wisconsin. Yes, i mean we are seeing the mirror image of what we saw in 2016 with the caveat that we saw in 2016 with the caveat that we dont have the official final tally, but it looks like joe biden has won wisconsin by the narrowest margin just has won wisconsin by the narrowest marginjust as donald trump has won wisconsin by the narrowest margin just as donald trump won has won wisconsin by the narrowest marginjust as donald trump won by the narrowest margin in 2016. A recount is certainly possible. But it isa recount is certainly possible. But it is a crucial state for any map thatjoe biden it is a crucial state for any map that joe biden would it is a crucial state for any map thatjoe biden would need to put together, given how narrow the race appears to be across the country from an Electoral College standpoint. Patrick can help us understand this recount, what is the actual process . So, the losing candidate, if he or she lost by one percentage point or less, can demand a recount and it must be held. If they lost by a quarter point or less, the state pays for it. Between a quarter point and one point, the candidate has to pay for it and they have to prepay for it. And we just go through this process again. We actually did have a recount in 2016. That year, as i said, trump very narrowly won the state, but it was not Hillary Clinton who called that recount, it was jill stein, not Hillary Clinton who called that recount, it wasjill stein, the green party candidate, who had won just a tiny number of votes. Under the recall, recount rules of the time, she was able to demand that recount. One was held and those initial tallies are essentially held, there were very small changes to the vote total and it was found trump had won the state of wisconsin. In response to that recount, there were a lot of election clerks and republicans who are very annoyed that a candidate who had won less than 1 of the vote was able to demand a recount for the entire state and so they changed the rules, that is why now only the loser can call it and only if the margin is one percentage point or less. Incredibly tight, patrick, thanks very much for that. As you can see, while the numbers showjoe biden may have won this state and we are still waiting for the official results, the story here in wisconsin wont end here, it could potentially go to some kind of recount and we will obviously follow that very closely. Another nailbiter, thanks for joining closely. Another nailbiter, thanks forjoining us from wisconsin. In a moment, well get more analysis, looking at this election compared with others. First, lets hear what both president ial candidates had to say when they addressed their Party Faithful in the early hours of the morning. Im here to tell you tonight, we believe were on track to win this election. Cheering we knew because of the unprecedented early vote the mail in vote, that it was going to take a while. Were going to have to be patient, until the hard work of tallying the votes is finished. And it aint over till every vote is counted, every ballot is counted. Cheering but were feeling good. Were feeling good about where we are. This is a fraud on the american public. There is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. Cheering so our goal now is to ensure the integrity, for the good of this nation. This is a very big moment. This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So well be going to the us Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We dont want them to find any ballots at 4am and add them to the list, 0k . Quite incredible press conference in a statement from President Trump in the middle of the night. Not only alleging fraud, where there is no evidence for that, alleging fraud, where there is no evidence forthat, claiming alleging fraud, where there is no evidence for that, claiming victory as well. We will talk a lot about that, but we need to bring you some results coming in, an update on what is happening in the key Battle Ground state of michigan. The reason this is important, look atjoe biden, he hasjust crept this is important, look atjoe biden, he has just crept ahead, this is important, look atjoe biden, he hasjust crept ahead, 49 point percent compared to trumps 49. 1, so close, 90 of the vote counted, so keeping a close eye on mitch duggan, a very important state to watch right now. So close and yet, the polls were so far apart. Mitch again. Lets check in with our north america correspondent. Will grant, whos at the white house. A lot of scratching of heads right now, why are these races so close when the bowls the polls had joe biden in a pretty commanding lead at just 24 hours ago. It was supposed to be the case the pollsters had ironed out the errors they appear to have made four years ago, that they had figured that out during the congressional race in 2018. And yet, it does seem yet again, that there are these huge spaces and confusions and outlined predictions that did not come to pass. If we just take one of the key states, lets look at florida. One of the key things that appears to have happened is there wasjust too appears to have happened is there was just too many assumptions made about the latino vote per se. Certainly, Donald Trumps campaign put huge energy into florida and he essentially lives there. He likes that state. And if we look at the new arrivals from cuba, and i mean the last five to ten years of cuban americans, they are increasingly conservative, which surprises us in many ways because you think coming from cuba that people would not be attracted to populist style presidency. They would not necessarily mean in that direction, particularly considering the democrats have been the ones who have laid down the path to citizenship over the years, over the decades, for cubans arriving in the United States. And yet, they were just so attracted to donald trump for another four years. Just so attracted to donald trump foranotherfouryears. In particular, i think of this message that somehow, the biden harris ticket represent socialism arriving in the United States was very resonant come up in the United States was very resonant come up with cuban americans and a lot of Latin Americans based in florida of all different parts of the region. Venice whaler and so on. Venezuela. President trump has said that he won the election but we must be clear that it the election but we must be clear thatitis the election but we must be clear that it is the states who decide. Thats the case, and also the full claim of it being fraud if any votes we re claim of it being fraud if any votes were counted after 4am, as he put it. The democratic process has to play out and its quite legal and correct that the votes are being counted and theres a lot of them to count. If we think about pennsylvania, which all eyes are turned onto at the moment. The gop launched a legal challenge there to stop the votes being counted until three days after the polls closed. That failed. What in essence donald trump is saying is that there should be no more counting, we are ahead, but that isnt borne out by the evidence. There are too many states ona evidence. There are too many states on a knife edge to make that claim in any kind of credible way. Thanks. We can hear now from former white house official under barack obama willjawando, who joins us from montgomery county, in massachusetts. We dont know whos won but if theres was a referendum on donald trump, whats the verdict . Well i think the jury is still out, you know. Look, what we do know is that at the moment in the states that have finished counting their votes, joe biden is ahead. And hes leading and has many more paths to victory than donald trump. Obviously this is going to be an improvement on the 2016 result from Hillary Clinton. Inasmuch as it is a referendum on donald trump, even the early signs that were seeing, states like arizona, whats happened in nebraska, in maine and north and georgia, youre seeing pick ups for the democrats. Its too early to make a final determination but if you woke up this morning rather be Vice President biden than donald trump. Youd have more paths to victory. But how do you account for the fact that he actually increased his pace . He increased his turnout. These were people who were supposed to be deserting him in droves but hes done phenomenally well in florida. Is your messaging just wrong . No, florida is a different state. You have cuban immigrants. If you look at the latino vote, often people in this country and overseas try and put it together. The latino population in the south west and texasis population in the south west and texas is very different to that in florida. It isnt a monolith. People vote in their interests. You have Different Things in play in the Different Things in play in the different states. Youve seen many suburban voters moving away from the president and those margins have been different from last time. This isa been different from last time. This is a divided nation. We have 40 plus percent of the country who have heard lies from the president for a long time and believe them. Im not saying there arent challenges but to say that this is a failure is not an accurate reflection of what weve seen so an accurate reflection of what weve seen so farand an accurate reflection of what weve seen so far and what were going to seen so far and what were going to see in the next few hours and days. Wasnt it a strategic error not to focus on the rust belt moor . Hillary clinton made that mistake and seeing it again. Well see. Hes leading in many of those states. Ohio has gone but the likes of michigan, they are states where biden has a great chance of winning and Hillary Clinton didnt win. But there isnt a blue wave, is there . No, theres not going to be a blue wave but i think that was made up from the media. I dont think Vice President biden ever said that. If you look how he won the primary, it was slow and steady and methodical and thats continuing what hes done here. What did you make of President Trumps comments overnight alleging fraud and saying hed won the election. Unprecedented comments where seeing from him. Are they damaging to democracy in the us . Its damaging to democracy and the world. People look to us, you know, rightly or wrongly, as a beacon for democracy and freedom. Those comments, tha n kfu lly and freedom. Those comments, thankfully have been condemned from republicans and democrats alike. Votes that were cast months ago in some cases. The idea that we wouldnt count those votes is anti democratic and anti american, against the rule of law and any court where the challenge comes in should be rebuked 100 . Its damaging and it doesnt help with his followers who, no matter what happens now, youre going to have a large portion of the country believing its not fair and rigged, which doesnt help us in this country either. Can i talk about the senate . Again, this electoral map for the democrats looked really good. They could have taken the majority in the senate. Its now very dubious that that is going to happen. Again, how disappointed are you by that . Well, look, the senate, again, this is something that was a bit overblown in the media. There was a good chance and republicans we re was a good chance and republicans were defending more seats, they were in areas where democrats havent won for a long time, the likes of georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina and texas. So i dont think we ever thought it was owing to be a foregone conclusion that the democrats would win. Theres still a small path. There have been two turnovers, in arizona and colorado, and well see what happens in maine and well see what happens in maine and in the run offs in georgia and North Carolina. You have a close race. Its still out there but it was never going to be easy. The states that were up four republicans we re states that were up four republicans were traditionally republican states stop that was going to be a difficult path but well see what happens. We hear from everyone we speak to about how divided america is butjoe biden said he was battling for the soul of the nation. That was his slogan. Why didnt that cut through . Why hasnt his vision ca ptu red cut through . Why hasnt his vision captured people . I think its too early to say that it didnt. Looking at suburban voters and the popular vote. The Electoral College we have i think is something we need to seriously look at. Hillary clinton won by 3 million votes and joe biden is going to win by much more than that. When you talk about the soul of the nation most americans are going to agree with joe of the nation most americans are going to agree Withjoe Bidens vision by a long shot. The way the syste m vision by a long shot. The way the system is set and because the president wants to sow doubt and not count votes, that leads to division. The age we are in is part of the problem, you dont get facts from the president and 40 of the people believe the lies. We have work to do on that. I thinkjoe bidens message has resonated because if it didnt he wouldnt be in the position hes in now with the strongest case and the most paths to victory. Thanks for joining the most paths to victory. Thanks forjoining us. Thank you. Lets get more on the potential legal fallout as weve been hearing donald trump is threatening to go to the Supreme Court to challenge the counting of the votes. Aides to joe biden say they also have legal teams on standby. David willis reports on the possibility of a dramatic legal battle ahead. Donald trump has long maintained postal votes are prone to fraud, even though theres no evidence to support that claim. We want to make sure the election is honest, and im not sure that it can be. I dont know that it can be with this whole situation. Unsolicited ballots. Theyre unsolicited, millions being sent to everybody. By casting doubt on the legitimacy of postal ballots, the president is hoping that the courts will rule that the counting has to stop. That would mean millions of votes like this will be deemed illegitimate and thus would go uncounted. His focus is on pennsylvania, a swing state which could determine the outcome of this election. Last weekend, the Supreme Court decided counting there could go on until the end of the week, a decision mr trump lambasted, claiming it could lead to violence on the streets. Its a very dangerous thing for our country and i hope the Supreme Court has the wisdom to change it, because they cant let it stand. Donald trumps repeated claims of voter fraud echo claims made during the 2000 president ial election. Gore versus bush was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court, which ruled the recount in florida had to stop. The president s intervention in this election is different. The difference here is that we have several states that the president thinks that he might have taken away from him. In florida, of course, it wasjust one. The difference there, from a due process argument, was that some counties were counting, others werent and they were using different standards. So i think the similarities between florida and what might happen in this year are entirely and vastly different. In a statement, the president of the Biden Campaign, jen omalley dillon, said Donald Trumps attempt to shut down the counting ofjulie cast ballots was outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect. She went on, if the president makes good on his threat to go to court to try to prevent the proper tabulation of votes, we have legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist that effort. But mr trump may have a secret weapon, in the form of his latest addition to the Supreme Court, amy coney barrett. Her appointment just a week before the election gave the highest court in the land a conservative majority and one the president will be hoping would find in his favour. With the outcome of this election on a knife edge, the prospect of legal challenges in the days and weeks ahead will do little to assuage the growing sense of tension in this bitterly divided nation. David willis, bbc news, los angeles. The stock markets have been in toil for the last several weeks. A very volatile situation. Dreading the uncertainty of a dubious outcome. We seem to be in that territory right now. We dont have a clear winner. Samira hussain is on wall street, in new york. How are the markets reacting . We have a couple of minutes to go before trading officially opens here on wall street but look, this is exactly the scenario that investors we re exactly the scenario that investors were preparing for but also exactly the scenario that they didnt want. Always what they are looking for is clarity. They want to know, they wa nt clarity. They want to know, they want certainty and right now because we dont know the outcome of the election, its injected quite a lot of uncertainty. So for weeks, a lot of uncertainty. So for weeks, a lot of financial markets, investors, have been preparing for this kind of volatility. As we wait to see the votes from the swing states to be counted and ultimately decide the fate of the election. There is uncertainty over this result, but then also the ongoing damage being done to the economy by the pandemic. Absolutely and whats really interesting is that when looking at some of the issues that really brought people to the polls, one of the most salient issues is the economy. The american electorate was trying to make a decision about which candidate they believed could ta ke which candidate they believed could take the economy and bring it back toa take the economy and bring it back to a more healthy position. Whoever becomes president is inheriting a lot, a huge number of people that are unemployed. Theyre inheriting a country thats grappling with a pandemic. And there are a host of Economic Issues that this person will have to contend with. So there isa will have to contend with. So there is a lot of questions about what happens next and thats why its so important to get a result, from the investor point of view, as soon as, to try and inject at least some stability here in the economic markets. There are two competing visions here, arent there . Theres the thought that you have to get the pandemic under control in order to get the economy up and roaring again. And then theres the other side which says keeping the pandemic under control isnt worth the cost of the economy. Which version do the markets seem to favour . Well, look, both candidates offer two very different views on what to do with the american economy. There is a lot of concern that if Vice President biden becomes president then were going to see another lockdown. But the calculation from the biden campus always been that yes, theres going to be more, in terms of, you know, more of a lockdown but ultimately getting the virus under control will ultimately help the economy go forward. Looking at what president he said if he got re elected we would see another bid for infrastructure spending. This has beena infrastructure spending. This has been a bill he has wanted to get past for the last four years and hasnt been able to. Now he is putting that back on the table, saying that will be his focus. Big spending . That is something a lot of people in the economy really like to see. Well, some era, im just looking at the markets now. They seem to be going up on their opening bell. How long that lasts for im not entirely certain. We will be watching the markets as much as we will be watching the counts. Thank you for joining us. One of the states we knew would be important at this stage was pennsylvania. 20 electoral couege stage was pennsylvania. 20 Electoral College votes to play for. Just to bring you right up to date with what is happening, donald trump is widening his lead. Lets take you to philadelphia and join Jericka Duncan from cbs news. Where are we at . Thats right. We are here at the Pennsylvania Convention centre in philadelphia. This has been an important, key Battle Ground. Pennsylvania as you mentioned, 20 electoral votes. What is happening inside of his building right now is theyre counting those mail in ballots that have come in in the city of philadelphia. What is interesting about this year that we didnt see in 2016, is that people we re didnt see in 2016, is that people were actually allowed to mail in their vote. They passed a law in pennsylvania Bipartisan Legislation in 2019 that allowed for people to mail in their ballots without having any excuse. That made a difference. We are still waiting for the total numberof we are still waiting for the total number of votes. We know that people who postmarked their vote, their ballot, their mail in by november three, will still have their vote validated as late as november the 6th. You have the state secretary here telling people days ago that they did not expect to know definitively who the winner was of pennsylvania right now. Youve got about 75 of the vote that has been calculated, so we continue to watch this city. We continue to watch this state to see what will happen and who will win pennsylvania. Jane, i was just who will win pennsylvania. Jane, i wasjust going to who will win pennsylvania. Jane, i was just going to ask a question about those mail in ballots. Where are we still waiting for the count . Is it rural areas, is in urban areas, and how can that be significant . So, we were told about one oclock this morning that they we re one oclock this morning that they were having some issues with calculating not just were having some issues with calculating notjust the mail in ballots, but putting an into the system, rather. They can count them but there is something going on they talked about with being able to actually put the mail in ballots and into their system, but wanting to put all the in person ballots into the system and adding in more of those mail in ballots. We dont really know how many more ballots they have to go specifically in philadelphia. We are hoping to learn more information about that within the next hour. But as a whole, pennsylvania reporting about 75 of the vote is in, with President Trump leading right now by a little over 600,000 votes. But i believe there are about a million more votes that are about a million more votes that are needing to be counted here in the state of pennsylvania. So again, philadelphia is a progressive city. It leans democratic, but we know that a lot of pennsylvania leans more republican. It is a wait and see who showed up at the polls yesterday, versus who mailed in those ballots . What we dont know is what the ratio will be when you look at the big picture, which is how many people actually showed up yesterday. That is the point, isnt it . I remember, iwas in philadelphia, where you are right now, in 2016, and the shock was palpable because of the turnout. We watched those lines in the republic ill leaning counties republican. But nobody showed up where you are now and where i was in 2016, to vote for Hillary Clinton. How confident are the democrats this time round that they have put the turnout out there . What makes this different too as there was a lot of focus towards the end, after we saw the president when in florida, michigan, wisconsin. So now you have people predicting, could we do this, or could biden win without pennsylvania . That is could biden win without pennsylvania . That is the question being asked. Democrats, as you are asking, maintain sort of energised and positive, as both sides well. Nobody wants to concede early or say, it looks like we may not win. I think there is still a lot of excitement. And at the end of the day its not over till its over. And right now you still have a numberof and right now you still have a number of ballots out there that have yet to be counted. Jericka duncan, thank you forjoining us. I think it will be a long couple of days for you. So much more to come. Now the latest news with jane hill. Thank you. Asummary of a summary of our main stories today. Americans have woken up to turmoil and uncertainty about wholl be their president. Donald trump has claimed victory but without clear justification. With millions of ballots still left to be counted the final result could take hours, even days. To win the presidency, 270 Electoral College votes are needed. Here are the latest figures. Democratic contenderjoe biden currently has 224 confirmed votes and donald trump 213. Mr trump has performed better than the polls predicted, he is projected to hold the state of florida as well as texas and ohio. But mr biden still has a route to the white house, and has over taken trump in the key swing state of michigan. Our correspondent in washington, ben wright has this report. In the early hours of the morning donald trump tried to discredit the selection. Millions of votes have yet to be counted. Neither candidate has won. But speaking in the white house the president prematurely claimed victory and then said this. This is a fraud on the american public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. Four months donald trump has claimed, without any evidence, that postal voting needs to fraud. This pandemic election saw tens of millions of americans vote by mail. In several key states those ballots are still being processed. Mr trump has threatened to go to the Supreme Court before the counting is complete. This is uncharted territory for the United States. We wa nt territory for the United States. We want the law to be used in a proper manner, so we will be going to the us Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We dont want them to find any ballots at four oclock in the morning and add them to the list. 0k . Morning and add them to the list. Ok . Joe bidens team called that statement outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect. When the democratic candidate spoke to supporters, he told them to hold their nerve. Your patient is commendable. We knew this was going to go long, but who knew it was going to go into maybe tomorrow morning, maybe even longer . But look, we feel good about where we are. We really do. Im here to tell you tonight, we believe we are on track to win this election. At first, americans watched Election Night on fold without drama. The two candidates clocking up states they we re candidates clocking up states they were expected to win. But early results also pointed to a much tighter election than the polls had suggested. Democrats are dreamt of blocking Donald Trumps path to the white house by winning florida. But the president s vote stayed strong. President trump has won florida. Joe biden visited ohio yesterday but it too stayed red. It became clear this would be another nail biting race that would be decided by half a dozen states. In North Carolina the democratic governor called for patience. I know there are a lot of important races clue to call. We must let the process work, to be sure that all the legal votes are counted. In front of the white house ona counted. In front of the white house on a street now known as black lives matter plaza, protesters met police. Faces an anxious moment for a divided country. In the absence of a landslide win by one candidate, it was always possible this election could be dragged into the courts. Both sides have been preparing for a legal battle over postal votes that could tip the either way. Turnout in this election was huge. But a lengthy and contested wait for a result will keep this polarised nation on edge. Ben wright, bbc news, washington. In the race for control of the us congress, the democrats say theyve maintained their majority in the house of representatives, while both parties are battling to win the senate. With votes counted so far, it is looking like the republicans will retain control of the senate. Going into the election, republicans held 53 of the 100 seats in the upper house the democrats had 47. So far, the democrats have picked up one seat from the republicans in colorado, but have lost a seat in alabama. In kentucky, the republican leader, Mitch Mcconnell, has been re elected for a seventh term in office. In his victory speech, he said voters had decided that challenging times needed proven leadership. Away from the us election, british mps vote later today on a new four week coronavirus lockdown in england. The measures will come into effect at midnight, with the Prime Minister borisjohnson saying that they are the only way to stop hospitals being overwhelmed. The government is expected to win the vote despite some conservative mps threatening to vote against their party. The Ethiopian Government says military operations have begun in the northern tigray region, where the Prime Minister has declared a state of emergency. Abiy ahmed accused the local government of attacking federal troops. He said many people had lost their lives, and that a red line had been crossed. The United States and the uk have called for an immediate de escalation of the situation. That is our latest summary. I will have more for you in an hour. Bye bye. Imjane im jane obrien in washington. Im Lucy Hockings in london. Lets talk more about these legal battles we could see over postal ballots and also some of those remarkable comments made by the president in the middle of the night. We can take it to massachusetts and talk to lawrence douglas, a law professor. Good to see you. President trump alleging fraud, saying he won the election in the middle of the night. Is there any legal basis for President Trump to take a case to the Supreme Court, because that is what he seems to be suggesting . think the technical legal term to describe what the president has, the attention he has expressed, i think the technical legal term is crazy. There isnt any legal basis whatsoever for the Supreme Court to intervene in, to stop the count of ballots, which have been legally submitted. So this idea that the president could actually try to ask the court to reallyjust stop this nationwide account of mail in ballots, it doesnt make any sense. But it is very confusing, isnt it . You have so many different rules in the various states. Pennsylvania, you can count them three days after the close of polls yesterday. In North Carolina you can do the same thing. In wisconsin you cant. How is anybody supposed to know in the absence of a national law about this, what is going on . Right, it certainly is the case we dont have a nationalised legal system and everything does vary from state to state. In describing the president s Global Attack on mail in ballots as a kind of making no sense, that is not to say that him and his lawyers couldnt launch a more targeted litigation against the mail in ballots in a state where there is an argument that mail in wasnt submitted before the statutory date. That is a legal argument. That is entirely different from the claim he made last night, which was to ask for the Supreme Court to engage in a stop of ballots that have been submitted in a perfectly legal fashion. He has been building up to this in the past week. He ran a parallel campaign. One very traditional but another where he has made efforts all along to challenge the legitimacy of this election. You call it crazy, but is it also a stress test for democracy . Oh, it is absolutely a stress test. To have the president prematurely and recklessly declare president ial victory before the vote had been counted, this is really, i hate to say it, it is the kind of statement one expects to hear from an autocrat, and not from somebody who is the president of the United States. There is obviously real politics behind this thing. Shocking as his statements have been, they are not surprising, because they simply reprise the strategy has been messaging out from the white house since early in the summer, namely saying that we have to go with the november the 3rd result, and insisting that the mail in ballots would be irretrievably contaminated by fraud to the point that they should be counted at all. Shouldnt. We have seen the phenomenal number of people taking advantage of early ballots and mail in voting. A lot of states have introduced these measures for the first time because of the pandemic. Is this the way elections in america are going to be conducted . Well, there are certainly a number of states that now automatically mail all registered voters ballots. Again, there is nothing problematic about that system. In fact, we should bear in mind that trumps own fbi director says there is no evidence whatsoever that any kind of concerted conspiracy to try to taint mail in ballots. It is not a new form of voting. The antecedents of mail in ballots stretches all the way back to the american civil war. The only thing that is unusual in this electoral season is the fact that large number, an unprecedented numberof that large number, an unprecedented number of americans, have mail in ballots because of the health risk and the fact we have a president who has unrelentingly and baseless as they attacked their integrity. Lawrence douglas, thank you very much indeed forjoining us. That is really interesting, finding out a bit more about the history of how we have got to so many people able to mail in their ballots. I wanted to go to maryland, where we have historian alea alan lichtman. Thank you forjoining us. A lot has been talked about the shifting demographics of the United States. How the states themselves are changing. It seems that more democrats are moving into traditional republican states like texas, like florida. So why are these states still so close . Well, theyre still red, or at least tinged red because the democratic constituency, particularly in texas, has not yet mobilised. Texas is a majority, minority state. But rising hispanic population, which tends democrat, has yet to mobilise. Look, i think weve got two huge lessons out of this election. One, we must get rid of the Electoral College. It is an obsolete 18th century institution. Biden is going to win the popular vote by as many as four to5 the popular vote by as many as four to 5 million votes. Here we are biting our nails, counting a few thousand votes in a few states, to decide the election. We are supposed to bea decide the election. We are supposed to be a country governed by the consent of the governed, that is no longer true in america. The gap between the largest and the smallest state of population was five to one when the Electoral College was set up. Today it is nearly 70 to one. My god, you know, this is really a stain on our democracy. Secondly, we have to shutdown stain on our democracy. Secondly, we have to shut down the horse race polling industry. This is the second election in a row where the horse race pollsters and the compilers of opinion polls have totally misled us, led us down the primrose path to error. We dont need those opinion polls and they should be the last election in which we are in the thrall of the horse race pollsters. Allen, looking at the situation from overseas, we can see the worst Public Health crisis in a century, millions of people lost theirjobs, lots of kids who have not been able to go back to school. You had a whole summer of racial unrest and protest as well. This was all in President Trumps watch. So many people asking, how do you think he managed to increase his share of the vote, as seems . Its astonishing. I have been predicting a biden when precisely based on all the awful things that are going on in trumps watch. I think what trump has succeeded in doing, and im not going to use. He has smashed the most basic institutions of democracy, become a serial liar. Facts, analysis, truth have no bearing. Viciously smearing and attacking his opponents. This stuff sticks, as opposed to all the scandals which seems to roll off his back. And of course these dogs racial, ethnic divisions, which have always been a huge part, i have to say, of american politics. He stokes racial, ethnic divisions. And i think he has succeeded in so polarising this nation, and so dividing us, that nothing else seems to matter for 47 of the American People. What do you think this does for the mandate of either of these men, depending on who wins . Will there be people now will always question the validity of this result . I think if biden wins, and i expect he will, donald trump will go to his grave saying he was cheated out of the veld. It doesnt matter. We dont need his concession. Whoever wins the Electoral College becomes president. I think there will be less recriminations on the bidens side just because he is a very different kind of person than donald trump is. But i dont think we are going to evolve into another civil war. But i think because this comes down tojust civil war. But i think because this comes down to just a few thousand votes, because it contravenes the popular vote, sadly, votes, because it contravenes the popularvote, sadly, elections should be times that need the nation together. This isjust another in a series of events and episodes that are driving americans apart. I am 73. I got all the way back to the eisenhower administration. And i have never seen anything like this in america. And it makes me truly sad. A lot of passion there, clearly. Alan lichtman, thanks for joining us. Jane, just listening to that, looking at pictures of shops are boarded up around the country, i wonder what your thoughts are and whether people will accept this result . Whether there will be violence on the streets as some people have been predicting . Well, i really dont want to anticipate a violence. I can tell you though there were a lot of protests here in washington. They started last night. The streets were quiet when i came in this morning. Lucy, i think violence, its such a difficult one to call, because it does depend on who wins. It does depend on how they win. It depends on the level of anger, depends on so many Different Things. But so far there have been protests and they have been largely peaceful. And i would also point out, lucy, that millions of americans voted. Millions of americans voted. Millions of americans are going to be disappointed no matter what the outcome. What you are seeing on the streets right there in those pictures are hundreds of people. So ido pictures are hundreds of people. So i do think we need to get this into a bit of perspective. You are not going to have millions and millions of americans out on the streets setting them on fire. I think thats very doubtful. That is such a good point. Anyway the success of the night is so many people were celebrating democracy. We are looking potentially at the highest turnout we have ever seen in the us election. We heard from those people who work at polling stations, the volu nteers who work at polling stations, the volunteers as well, there are some positives to come out of tonight . There certainly are. The fact that donald trump, who has always been accused of being the enemy of democracy, has arguably prompted the biggest turnout in history, particularly for democrats as well as his own base, i think that is an irony we will be looking back on for some time. Thanks, jane. Lets look at these states still in play. Reeta chakrabarti at these states still in play. Reeta chakra barti is with at these states still in play. Reeta chakrabarti is with us. What is going on in these key Battle Ground states . Going on in these key Battle Ground states . I am going to start off by showing you a screen that i havent shown very often, the National Popular vote. This does anyway speak to what you and jane were talking about just now about to what you and jane were talking aboutjust now about democratic engagement. It shows you the level of support that each man has. Joe biden about two Percentage Points ahead of donald trump. Look at those figures of people voting. Over 68 million forjill biden. Nearer 69 million, actually. And just over 66 million, actually. And just over 66 million for donald trump. Theres about a million for donald trump. Theres abouta 2. 5 million for donald trump. Theres about a 2. 5 million vote difference between them. That is just with 87 of the votes counted and those royal figures already exceed the turnout we saw four years ago. That is really striking. These are important figures but they do not decide the president ial election. That is done through the Electoral College and as we know now it is coming down to a handful of swing states. I wanted to show you the situation in three of those in swing states, all of the rust belt states in the north east. Michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania. This grader shows you a comparison of the swings in all three states. And as you can see, there has been a modest swing towards the democrats. They are modest swings. But i have to remind you that when donald trump flipped these states for the republicans four years ago, it was by a very tiny margin. So on swings like this the Democratic Party can stay hopeful of perhaps gaining these states. Lets take a look in closer detail at what is going on in michigan, my goodness, nothing going on between the two contenders. That is with 91 of the votes counted. A lot of them are in wayne county, which the which includes detroit, a large city, where there are about half a million votes to be counted. Lets ta ke half a million votes to be counted. Lets take a closer look at wisconsin. Slightly bigger lead but still a tiny one forjoe biden. The state democrats have called this state democrats have called this state for the Democratic Party. They say they have won here. Were not saying that yet. But they are optimistic about wisconsin. And theyve still got about 30,000 or so ballots are still to count. And last up ballots are still to count. And last up here is pennsylvania, on all might hinge. You can see the figures who look quite different, dont they . It looks as if donald trump is not a healthy lead overjoe biden. At this figure is very important. We have still got just at this figure is very important. We have still gotjust under a quarter of the votes still to be counted. Pennsylvania, we know, is one of those states only counting their early ballots from election day. They only started counting them yesterday. They hope to get them done by friday, they say. Theyve still got about 1. 7 million votes to count. They also include the big cities of philadelphia and pittsburgh. Thought to be democratic wins. One might expect this big margin between the candidates to tighten up a great deal. When will we now . As i said, it may well take some time. Maybe ours, it may thank you. Thank you very much indeed. We can now go to republican strategist michael do hayne, who worked for George W Bush and chris christie, among others. He isjoining me from washington. Michael, thank you. We are hearing from the campaign that this is moving to a conclusion and moving to a conclusion in our favour. How confident are you at this point that donald trump may actually still win . Well, i do think, i agree with what some of the democrats have been saying about where the numbers lie right now. If you look in michigan, there are still many votes to be counted. In detroit, in wayne county, the president is losing their right now by 12,000 votes. There is more to come. You have a 20,000 margin in wisconsin. These were out of millions of votes being cast. Right now i do think michigan favours biden. Pennsylvania looks like a healthy lead right now for donald trump. Many of the votes yet to be counted are in the suburban counties around philadelphia, which have become increasingly democratic over the years, very much so now. Sojoe biden has to win about 80 of the uncounted ballots so far. But he could, given the nature of pennsylvania, it could be as close as 20,000 votes by the time everything is counted. That is how close it is. I do think given what is happening in michigan, and it was cancelled, i think those two states favour biden. Why did President Trump come out in the middle of the night and say he won this election when he hadnt . And why did he say there was electoral fraud when there is no evidence . I dont know. Im not adviser to the president and if i gave him advice he probably wouldnt take it. But i do think that often times when it is a close election, campaigns do want to come out and declare victory. The last time we had a very closely contested election was 2000. Some of the networks called for George W Bush. Then when they rescinded it, there was still a narrative that went for the next month that George W Bush was really the winner and we were just waiting to find out. That was something that all campaigns learn from. That narrative is very important. Joe biden came out last night and said he was very confident of winning certain states. His style obviously very different to the president. In terms of the voter fraud and such, the president has been saying that for the last four years. I didnt magically expect him to stop singing. Over the last few years so i didnt expect him to stop. We have seen massive turnout for the republicans, do you think they were motivated by donald trump or Something Else . Donald trump has brought many new people into the electoral process in the us, both sides, he has excited many republicans and turned politics from a spectator sport bought into participation sport. His rallies, people reach for him, they feel part of him. His strength has been he has been able to eke out votes in the smaller counties than any republican has before and he has flipped many Blue Collar Workers who voted for president obama and have stuck with donald trump through the selection. At the same time, many of the same tactics he used to grow that vote in rural and working class parts of the United States have alienated some higher educated voters and suburban and urban voters and their turnout is accelerating as well now so this could be the highest turnout we have seenin could be the highest turnout we have seen in100 could be the highest turnout we have seen in 100 years in the United States in terms of the electorate. That is probably a good thing, even if many of the motivations behind it are driven more out of anger than love. Michael, many people saying the selection was going to be a referendum on the handling of the pandemic, but when you have a gallup saying 50 of americans feel better off at the moment and the economy is the most important issue, is it those two things that have given President Trump so much more support than many expected . President trump so much more support than many expected . Absolutely, i said earlier this week that the only way the president would win would be if people were looking forward rather than looking back. If they we re rather than looking back. If they were looking back to solly his response in the pandemic, he would lose. If they were looking forward to the what the economy could do and could it get back to where it was at its strength before the pandemic, he would win. Frankly, joe biden might win the election, but he lost the campaign. Joe biden had everything going for him in this campaign. He still might win, but the campaign, trump won the campaign, he was down and out a month ago and through sheer force of will, they were able to going out and turn the discussion much more about the economy, rally troops much more, Joe Bidenjust trying to run down the clock. It may ultimately be successful but republicans will hold the us senate, pick up seats in the us house of representatives and people did not think that was going to happen and, quite frankly, it has surprised many it is so close in the president ial but the republicans had a pretty goodnight. Thank you forjoining us. Americans are being confronted with uncertainty this morning, with no clear indication of who will be the next president of the United States. Both donald trump and joe biden are predicting victory, but there are still crucial battleground states yet to declare their results. With millions of ballots left to count, donald trump has already claimed without evidence that hes won, telling his supporters dont let them steal the election. Well be going to the us Supreme Court, we want all voting to stop, we dont want them to find any ballots at 4 oclock in the morning and add them to the list, 0k . Joe bidens team has called efforts to stop the count outrageous. Hes urged his supporters to be patient. Were going to have to be patient. Until the hard work of tallying the votes is finished. And it aint over until every vote is counted, every ballot is counted. This is the scene a short time ago in detroit, as votes are being counted in the pivotal states of michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania. It could take days to find out who will be in the white house. And i am yalda hakim live from the Battle Ground state of wisconsin, where the democrats say they have won the state. At the touchscreen keeping track of the votes as they stack up is reeta chakrabarti. As the president ial race focuses on a handful of swing states, i will be analysing the tightest battles for the key to the white house. Im jane obrien in washington, where the nation is on edge. There is no clear winner and campaign lawyers are getting ready to challenge the results. And im Lucy Hockings in london, with our ongoing coverage. This is bbc us election 2020. Hello. Its 10am here in washington, where Americans Still dont know who their next president will be. Both donald trump and joe biden say they are on course to election victory. Everything now depends on a handful of fiercely contested battleground states. President trump has performed better than most polls suggested, holding florida, texas and ohio. He has spoken at the white house and controversially claimed victory and vowed to launch a Supreme Court challenge, claiming electoral fraud, but without presenting evidence of any. Joe bidens Campaign Team described mr trumps comments about the vote as outrageous and unprecedented, and said it had lawyers standing by. Of course, its ultimately the voters who say who becomes president , but we could be many hours and days away from the final verdict. The former Vice President still has a path to the white house with georgia, arizona, michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania all still in play. We are watching those states very closely. Well bring you the results as they come in and help you make sense of whats happened so far. Lets look at the latest figures for the Electoral College decided state by state. Joe biden currenly has 224 votes and donald trump 213 votes, with 270 needed to take the white house. Lets bring you a tweet we have just had from President Trump who is obviously awake inside the white house and has started tweeting already. So this is not an unexpected treat, jane, from the president , but we should remind everyone, no evidence at the moment of any fraud across america. No, but i think he does have a point when he said the polls got it wrong. That is pretty clear. Credit where credit is due. Yes, there is no evidence of voter fraud and what we are actually witnessing our legitimate votes that were cast within the period allowed to vote, and there has been a lot of early voting and a lot of mail in ballots, record numbers, and thisjust voting and a lot of mail in ballots, record numbers, and this just takes time. The process is playing out. Those votes are legitimate, they are being counted and the president , like all of us, has to be patient and that the process take its course. Yes, he doesnt get to decide who wins this election, it is the states that do. Lets take you to one of those crucial states proving to be very tight, wisconsin. Yalda hakim is in milwaukee for us. What is happening with the account . Were still waiting, 99. 9 of the votes have counted and of roughly 300 precincts, we are waiting for the results from two. We have heard from the Electoral Commission wisconsin who have said the officials and clerks are on standby, to triple check the votes that have come in. They have been counting the mail in and early vote through the night. They started at 7am last night. They started at 7am last night and despite what President Trump said about votes coming in, they were counting at four oclock in the morning and five oclock in the morning 7pm last night. And in some parts of the state, they continue to count. We were looking at green bay in the north west of the country, and you remember that is where Donald Trumps story really began. It is the blue collar worker, the noncollege educated working class voter that became Donald Trumps base. And when you look at that area, a lot of labourers, a lot of workers and a lot of farmers who voted for donald trump and propelled him to the white house in 2016. The question is, will they do it again for him in 2020 . According to the results we are seeing and Nothing Official has come out, up in green bay, it has gone joe biden 5 way by about 4,000 votes, but we still dont have any clarity from the commission as yet because they are waiting to hold off. With me now is kris walton, from the Democratic Party in wisconsin. Thank you for joining us. A really nail biting moment. But the chair of the Democratic Party in wisconsin has already declared victory. Yalda, thank you for that update. It does appear, doesnt it, but the democratic and the Biden Campaign is becoming more and more confident. We have just heard from them, havent we . Yes, we saw that tweet from the president and before then, we got this from the Biden Campaign. They have put out a statement. Saying they believed their man will ultimately win, this is moving to a conclusion and moving to a conclusion in ourfavor, a senior Biden Campaign official said. So the Biden Campaign thinks they will secure the votes they need, 270 electoral votes, to get them to the white house. In a moment, well be looking more indepth at how the other outstanding critical states are looking, but first, lets hear what both candidates had to say in the early hours of the morning. Frankly, we did win this election. Cheering so our goal now is to ensure the integrity. For the good of this nation, this is a very big moment. This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. 50 we we want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we will be going to the us Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We dont want them to find any ballots at four oclock in the morning and add them to the list, 0k . Im here to tell you tonight, we believe were on track to win this election. Cheering we knew because of the unprecedented early vote and the mail in vote that it was going to take a while. Were going to have to be patient, until the hard work of tallying the votes is finished. And it aint over till every vote is counted, every ballot is counted. Cheering but were feeling good. Were feeling good about where we are. Feeling good, says feeling good, sastoe biden, and his campaign releasing a statement saying that this is moving to a conclusion and moving to a conclusion and moving to a conclusion in our favour. Our correspondent will grant is in washington. Soa so a real sign of optimism from the biden camp. Yes, they certainly think they are turning the corner, dont they . And that patients and waiting for these ballots to be counted and not jumping waiting for these ballots to be counted and notjumping ahead of the vote count is going to benefit them. And holding their nerve, as it were. There is an analysis of all of this of course where we could say essentially, putting to one side President Trumps Early Morning press statement, where he basically said he had won, basis three, and basically said there was fraud involved, that in a sense, this is actually following the script we might have been able to predict on some level based loosely. It is a strange and alien gated night and going into the long morning, but it was always going to take a while to get a clear picture, we were going to have to wait a long time certainly for pittsburgh and we are waiting now for that absolute knife edge that is going on in wisconsin. These are the places that hold the key to the white house. And it was, to many others and i am sure to both of you and to many viewers as well clear that donald trump was going to make accusations about the veracity of the vote. He has signposted that all the way along. So there are elements of this we could have predicted. Nevertheless, the polls, it has been suggested, were certainly wide of the mark in a numberof certainly wide of the mark in a number of places. Well, trump tweeted a few minutes ago saying that last night, he was leading solidly in key states, but then the lead to just solidly in key states, but then the lead tojust magically solidly in key states, but then the lead to just magically disappeared. What do you make of that tweet . Is he preparing himself for defeat or is that more defiance . he preparing himself for defeat or is that more defiance . I think it is sort of twofold. One, he is preparing the ground at least not for defeat, because i think he certainly believes he is still in with a strong fight at this, but certainly, he is putting that narrative down very, very early. He is saying that ifjoe biden takes this, it is not fair, it is not true, it is not real, we didnt want votes counted after this point, after polls closed in pennsylvania for example. And then the other thing of course is that this is the message that his voters want to hear, isnt it . This is what they believe. Some of the voices we have heard still come out for donald trump and that shows he was not an anomaly in 2016. He has already garnered 3 million more votes than he did four years ago said this has been voters, based on the past four years, not on the prospect of what an donald Trump Presidency would be, but the past four years, saying, i sign up forfour but the past four years, saying, i sign up for four more years. We seem to have lost will grant. I was just we seem to have lost will grant. I wasjust admiring we seem to have lost will grant. I was just admiring the gorgeous autumn morning. Which other states are autumn morning. Which other states a re really autumn morning. Which other states are really crucial right now . Well, its michigan, pennsylvania and a couple of those other states. Arizona in particular. It caused a bit of confusion last night because some networks actually did declare it in favour ofjoe biden but we are still actually waiting for the result encase there any confusion there. Just in case. We need to ta ke there. Just in case. We need to take a closer look at that. The person with the numbers, with the board is reeta at the touch screen. Thank you. I want to show you three states that are still very much in contention, really important results. I beg your pardon, ive gone to the wrong screen. Let me try again. Thats what i should have brought up. Georgia, nevada and arizona. All really close races that are still going on. Lets go to georgia and have a look at the detail. 16 Electoral College votes, a sizeable states, georgia. 93 of the votes have been counted meaning there are about 350,000 votes till left to be counted. We know from the figures that donald trump, who is slightly ahead, he has a lead of roughly 100,000 votes. The number of votes to be counted exceed that threefold, so thats a very interesting race going on in georgia. Let me take you much further west now to nevada. Six Electoral College votes here. This isa Electoral College votes here. This is a tight race in nevada. The democrats have had hopes of nevada. This state was won by Hillary Clinton last time. People will have to find out will have to wait to find out what happens here because early in the day they suspended counting here until tomorrow, until 5pm uk time, 9am west coast pacific time. So were going to have to wait and find out what happens here in nevada. They have 85 of the votes counted, so a fair amount to count, about 200,000 to go. Finally, i want to show you arizona, which jane was mentioning there. Joe biden has a three percentage point lead in arizona. Still only 87 of the votes counted. The democrats would be delighted to flip arizona, for the very obvious reasons. They felt that there was a democratic trend going on in arizona with population change, different sorts of votes, perhaps increasing their chances but there are 400,000 left to count. Well have to watch that very closely. Three very important races that we are watching for you. Reeta, thank you. All eyes are still on arizona. Who knew wed be in this situation this morning . Quite remarkable. Were going to arizona shortly but lets remind our viewers of the tweet weve had from donald trump first thing. Jane, as is often the case, since that tweet, theres been another one. So the president is continuing on the theme of fraud and questioning the theme of fraud and questioning the male mail in ballots that are so important. Lets go to arizona and go tojeff important. Lets go to arizona and go to jeff flake, important. Lets go to arizona and go tojeff flake, a former republican who has sided Withjoe Biden in this election. What do you make of these tweets from President Trump this morning and his state m e nts trump this morning and his statements over night where he falsely claimed hed won the election and alleged fraud . He telegraphed a few weeks ago what hed do. He said any real election, any genuine election he would win. Its not unexpected, what hes saying, but no one is going along with it. We are waiting for the votes to be counted. Congress, the courts, if hes expecting them to side with him if he hasnt won, is mistaken. You dont like him, we know that, the democrats dont like him, but millions of republicans love President Trump and that is absolutely clear by the turnout last night. And the fact that hes increased his base. How do you account for that . That was a surprise. The polling was off again. I think democrats will have a real reckoning as well. Hang on, you cant blame the polls for whats actually happened, can you . Why have so many people in your party still supported President Trump to the extent that we are seeing in 2020 . First, america is a centre right country. If you put a conservative up country. If you put a conservative up againsta country. If you put a conservative up against a liberal, a progressive, most times a conservative is going to win. President trump has other things wrapped up in that conservatism, some things that arent very conservative in terms of support for institutions that conservatives typically support. America is a centre right country andl america is a centre right country and i think that came out last night. It should worry the democrats because if they believe they can run someone counter and say hes bad because hes done these things, americans support lower taxes, less regulation, they want a stronger economy and believe republicans are better able to deliver that. Just not necessarily President Trump in this case. Youve argued before that President Trump is running the Republican Party into the ground and have said there is no future for trumpism although that clearly isnt the case. Youd argue differently . Yes, in arizona we are still a centre right yes, in arizona we are still a ce ntre right state, yes, in arizona we are still a centre right state, theres a big Voter Registration for republicans but we are going to be represented by two democrats in the us senate for the first time in 70 years, the us house of representatives delegation in arizona, weve lost another seat it looks like last night. The statehouse may flip democrat. So weve seen a real decimation of the republican ranks. We didnt see it as much last night but we did in the midterms. One question that id like to come back to, this election was framed by many people, not just the to, this election was framed by many people, notjust the pollsters and media and pundits, as a referendum on trump. If it was a referendum on trump, what is your verdict right now . Well, i do think that when all the votes are counted, joe biden will be the victor. Its tough to escape that verdict, that the president will have lost. But the message that the president pushed, against socialism and that the democrats are too far to the left, thats effective and it certainly played around most of the country, especially states like florida. I think the democrats need to be aware of that. Were heading into what is going to be a divided government. Thats usually best government. Well see how both parties behave in that atmosphere. Thats wonderful. Former arizona senator, jeff flake, thank you forjoining us. Thank you. Lets bring in a flavour of what other countries are making of these elections. Werejoined by our correspondents Steve Rosenberg in moscow, tom bateman in jerusalem, and Steve Mcdonell in beijing. First to you, steve. Relations between russia and the us have been in the deep freeze for a while. Would it be fair to say that president putin would rather president putin would rather President Trump stayed in office . Well, its interesting. Expectations here are very low from this us election, whoever wins. Partly because donald trump is viewed here as someone who basically failed to deliver on the promises he made four years ago of improving relations with moscow. And partly because joe biden is seen here as someone who is more hardline than donald trump, someone who could impose more sanctions on russia and thats why one popular russian news website today said that the rush of the us election is about choosing between bad and very bad. Tom, can i ask you about Donald TrumpsForeign Policy success . About Donald TrumpsForeign Policy success . He moved the embassy to jerusalem. He has secured normalisation of relations between the gulf countries and israel. How is this election being seen as israel . Are they worried thatjoe biden may be the president . Do they wa nt biden may be the president . Do they want donald trump to win . Well if israelis were voting they would overwhelmingly return donald trump to the white house. Some polling this week suggested up to 70 of israelis thought that President Trump was best, at least in terms of relation to policies regarding israel. Thats no surprise because of the things you talked about. President trump recognise jerusalem as the israeli capital, moving the embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem, delivering really gift for the prior minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the israeli right wing. Those policies we re israeli right wing. Those policies were deeply and bitterly opposed the palestinians. In that sense hes added to the divisive and polarised nature of the conflict here because the result is that the palestinians have cut off all contact with the us administration. We had President Trumps plan, the so called deal of the century, for finding peace between israelis and palestinians. Thats fallen off the agenda in terms of not finding progress because of the palestinian boycott but we had the normalisation agreements between three gulf countries and israel, widely celebrated and welcomed in israel. Again, opposed by palestinians. You have a deeply divergent future offered by mr biden, if he takes the white house, because he would really walk back a lot of those changes. Not the normalisation but the way President Trump has approached the Israeli Palestinian conflict and returning to a more traditional approach looking for concessions from the israelis and looking for the two state solution as it was. Steve in beijing, china is arguably the biggest Foreign Policy issue for the biggest Foreign Policy issue for the us. How is all of this being covered in china today . In terms of people on the street, they dont really have a horse in the race but if you speak to communist Party Officials, especially more hardline communist Party Officials, they actually want, believe it or not, donald trump to win. Thats because they see the chaos and dysfunctional nature of the Trump Administration as not only undermining the entire western project but making china look good. They think that a Trump America makes china under xi jinping looks like a sea of stability. They wa nt looks like a sea of stability. They want a donald Trump Victory. Moving into the more liberal wing of the party like the department of Foreign Affairs, they might prefer someone else because they want to try and rebuild bridges between washington and beijing. I guess it depends who youre speaking to in terms of who theyd like to win. Certainly when donald trump comes out and says china dont want him to win, thats not the case at all. Its funny, speaking to people on the street, if they are loyal communist party members, theyve had it drummed into them that a Trump Victory is good for china. Steve in moscow, it seems amazing that we onlyjust mentioning theissue amazing that we onlyjust mentioning the issue now given what a hot topic its been in the past but the fbi said that there were active efforts in russia to influence this election. What do we know about those efforts . Russia denies that and it denies interfering into the election four years ago. What i find particular interesting is that four years ago i remember there was such excitement here that donald trump had been elected president. This pro moscow, pro putin wild card, elected to the white house and there we re elected to the white house and there were such hopes here that this man was going to, you know, ride in like a knight in shining armour and transform us russian relations, scrap sanctions. It didnt happen. Recognise crimea that moscow annexed as part of the ukraine, didnt happen. Russia hoped donald trump would give Vladimir Putin a big set piece summit where the two of them could solve the worlds problems. Didnt happen. Actually donald trump tried to scupper a Russian Energy project. Four years on, a lot of disappointment here and thats why many russian officials and analysts are saying it doesnt really matter who gets in. There is concern that a biden demonstration may be more hardline, that they could be more sanctions. A biden administration. Here are saying that a biden presidency would be more predictable, more consistent and make it more possible for washington and moscow to sit down and solve key issues like arms control. Some International Reaction there. In a moment, well be going live to pennsylvania, a key state thats looking extremely tight of course, both candidates visited in the past couple of days and throughout the campaign. But first, the latest news with jane hill. Thank you. Yes, the latest news here this hour. Americans have woken up to turmoil and uncertainty about wholl be their president. Donald trump has claimed victory, but without clear justification. With millions of ballots still left to be counted, the final result could take hours, even days. To win the presidency, 270 Electoral College votes are needed. Here are the latest figures. The democratic contenderjoe biden currently has 224 confirmed votes and donald trump has 213. Mr trump has performed better than the polls predicted. He is projected to hold the state of florida, as well as texas and ohio. But mr biden still has a route to the white house, and has overtaken donald trump in the counts at the key swing states of michigan and wisconsin. Our correspondent in washington, ben wright, has this report. In the early hours of the morning, donald trump tried to discredit this election. Millions of votes have yet to be counted, neither candidate has won but, speaking in the white house, the president prematurely claimed victory and then said this. This is a fraud on the american public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. For months, donald trump has claimed, without any evidence, that postal voting leads to fraud. This pandemic election saw tens of millions of americans vote by mail and in several key states, those legitimate ballots are still being processed. Mr trump has now threatened to go to the Supreme Court before the count is complete. This is uncharted territory for the United States. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So, well be going to the us Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We dont want them to find any ballots at four oclock in the morning and add them to the list, ok . Joe bidens team called the president s statement outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect. And when the democratic candidate spoke to supporters, he told them to hold their nerve. Your patience is commendable. We knew this was going to go long, but who knew we were going to go into maybe tomorrow morning, maybe even longer . But look, we feel good about where we are. We really do. Im here to tell you tonight, we believe were on track to win this election. At first, americans watched Election Night unfold without drama, the two candidates clocking up states they were expected to win. But early results also pointed to a much tighter election than the polls had suggested. Democrats had dreamed of blocking Donald Trumps path to the white house by winning florida, but the president s vote stayed strong. President trump has won florida. Joe biden visited ohio yesterday, but it too stayed red. It soon became clear that this would be another nail biting race that would be decided by half a dozen states. In North Carolina, the democratic governor called for patience. I know that there are a lot of important races that are still too close to call, and we must let the process work, to be sure that all the legal votes are counted. In front of the white house, on a street now known as black lives matter plaza, protesters met police. This is an anxious moment for a divided country. In the absence of a landslide win by one candidate, it was always possible this election could be dragged into the courts. Both sides have been preparing for a legal battle over postal votes that could tip the balance either way. Turnout in this election was huge, but a lengthy and contested wait for a result will keep this polarised nation on edge. Ben wright, bbc news, washington. In the race for control of the us congress, the democrats say theyve maintained their majority in the house of representatives, while both parties are battling to win the senate. Going into the election, republicans held 53 of the 100 seats in the upper house, the democrats had 47. So far, the democrats have picked up one seat from the republicans in colorado, but have lost a seat in alabama. In kentucky, the republican leader, Mitch Mcconnell, has been re elected for a seventh term in office. In his victory speech, he said voters had decided that challenging times needed proven leadership. Away from the us election, british mps vote later today on a new four week coronavirus lockdown in england. The measures will come into effect at midnight, with the Prime MinisterBoris Johnson saying that they are the only way to stop hospitals being overwhelmed. The government is expected to win the vote, despite some conservative mps threatening to vote against their party. The Ethiopian Government says military operations have begun in the northern tigray region, where the Prime Minister has declared a state of emergency. Abee ahmed accused the local government of attacking federal troops, he said many people had lost their lives, and that a red line had been crossed. The United States and the uk have called for an immediate de escalation. Austrias interior minister has said Video Evidence shows the gunman who killed four people in vienna on monday acted alone. Karl nehammer said that the convicted Islamic State sympathiser who was shot dead by police had tried to buy ammunition in slovakia. That information was passed on to austria, but got lost, in an apparent communication breakdown. An independent panel will look into what went wrong. That is the latest bbc news. Ill be back with more in an hour. Iam lucy i am Lucy Hockings in london and we are taking you to delaware where the Biden Campaign is holding a press conference. I will do everything within my power to ensure that the results are fair and that every vote is counted. Pennsylvania will have a Fair Election and that election will be free of outside influences. I will vigorously, and well will vigorously defend against any attempt to attack that vote in pennsylvania. And every pennsylvanian can have confidence in the outcome of this election due to the outcome of this election due to the diligence, the county Election Officials and hard work of the secretary and her folks at the Pennsylvania Department of state. So thank you again to all pennsylvanians who voted, rest assured your vote will be counted if it has not already been counted, your vote will make a difference in the this is the way we elect our officials, this is the way we hired the people who are our public servants. I promise that it is a promise we give to all pennsylvanians, all americans, that their vote counts and i intend to keep that promise in pennsylvania. Now i am proud to turn this over to the secretary of state. Good morning. That was not the biden camp, that was the governor of pennsylvania, tom wolfe, reassuring people in the Battle Ground state where the votes are still being counted, they can have confidence their vote will count, their vote will matter. Jane, he isjust reassuring people in a state where it could be a crucial state at the end of the day. To remind everyone, we have had a statement from the Biden Campaign saying their man they believe, will ultimately win. They say this is moving to a conclusion, and moving to a conclusion in our favour. Yes, indeed. Lets hear from scott lamar, executive producer and radio talk show host at smart talk multimedia radio, and hes in elizabethtown, pennsylvania. Thank you so much forjoining us. All eyes yet again, pennsylvania. What are voters telling you . Well, vote rs what are voters telling you . Well, voters are very anxious. I have to say that none of this is really unexpected. For weeks now, we have heard that pennsylvania could be the tipping point, could be the state that decides the election. But i think a lot of voters, biden voters in particular, were confident that there would be other states that would flip injoe biden s favour. And that possibly, pennsylvania would not come down to pennsylvania. But here we are, coming down to pennsylvania, wisconsin and michigan, but pennsylvania and particularly because we have 20 Electoral College votes. A lot of people on edge today because they remember 2016 people on edge today because they remember2016 and people on edge today because they remember 2016 and hearing people question the polls. Again, had joe biden winning pennsylvania or leading in pennsylvania. So that anxiety, i anticipate, leading in pennsylvania. So that anxiety, ianticipate, will last until we get those final mail in ballots counted. Scott, we have taught many times over the past few weeks, is it fair to say voters just wa nted weeks, is it fair to say voters just wanted a decisive vote and after all these weeks, every time they turned on their tvr radio, they had Campaign Adverts they just on their tvr radio, they had Campaign Adverts theyjust wanted to know today, they wanted a conclusive result . I would say that is absolutely correct. Many people thought, they let out a sigh of relief, overcommit its overcommit we will know very soon Eitherjoe Biden or present trump won and the biden supporters felt they had a good chance of winning pennsylvania. They still do. Right now, President Trump has a 500,000 vote lead in pennsylvania. There are more than a million mail in ballots to be counted. Contrary to what the president said last night, about going to the Supreme Court, a lot of people are questioning on what basis can he go to the Supreme Court . You have to have a law that is broken. 0r have to have a law that is broken. Or not adhered to. This is not unusual that votes are still counted after election day. What is unusual this year is the sheer number of mail in ballots and ballots that havent been counted. Right now, the majority of those mail in ballots that havent been counted from the city of philadelphia and the counties surrounding philadelphia. That would tend to favourjoe biden. Whether he can make up 500,000 votes, thats the question. Scott, we can, we keep talking about the way america is divided, these Battle Ground states are split down the middle, communities are divided, how does that Division Show itself in pennsylvania . Does that Division Show itself in pennsylvania . And does that Division Show itself in pennsylvania . And how are people going to come together after all this . That is a good question because one of the very striking parts of this whole thing is how divided pennsylvania is. And i think the rest of the country as well. But pennsylvania in particular, between rural areas in pennsylvania and the urban areas. I think i have mentioned this to you before that when you travel in the rural areas are pennsylvania, so much enthusiasm for President Trump, yard sides everywhere, flags everywhere. Ya rd everywhere, flags everywhere. Yard signs. And the votes counted so far show that, the president dominated in those rural areas. Far show that, the president dominated in those ruralareas. He ran up vote totals that were much higher in many Rural Counties than what he did in 2016. So that polarisation, it is like a different world view. What is important to the people in rural pennsylvania is not the same as what is important to the people in the cities and in the suburbs. Scott, the president didnt really deliver for some of those voters in rural areas over the past four years. He made big promises to them in terms of their economic prospects, what is it that people love about it . Is it that sense of optimism that he has partly . Love about it . Is it that sense of tly . love about it . Is it that sense of optimism that he has partly . I dont know whether it is a sense of optimism or that, what i hear from many people in rural pennsylvania is first of all, we like the way the president says what is on his mind. That he is willing to criticise liberals and democrats and portray them as socialists. That is another thing i hear, many people in rural pennsylvania believe the president when he said joe biden had a socialist agenda. And that the Democratic Party had gone too far to the left. They liked the president s personality. One of the things you always hear from them is, we dont always hear from them is, we dont always agree with his tweets, we dont often agree with the way he says things, but we like it that he tells it like it is. And you are right. Over the last four years, things economic we have not really improved that much in rural pennsylvania improved that much in rural pennsylvania economically. Aside from the pandemic, which has made things much worse. I was iwas in i was in pennsylvania in 2016. Im not quite sure id want to be there again right now or whether im happier being in the studio with you i think im going to opt for the studio thats good to hear. When donald trump held florida it was a big moment for his campaign. Heres reeta to give us some analysis. It was one of the very first big announcements of the night. This is announcements of the night. This is a state that we have porede over four months and the candidates have been electioneering, including republicans and donald trump. Florida is Donald Trumps adopted home state and at around 1am eastern time he found out he had retained florida. Florida was projected for donald trump. And by a larger margin than the exit polls suggested. They suggested a 2 lead overjoe biden. In fact in the end the margin of success was more like three point 5 which will be a big source of satisfaction for republicans. What did it . Was it the presence of large numbers of cuban and venezuelan americans . Are they the bloc who swung it for donald trump . 0r americans . Are they the bloc who swung it for donald trump . Or is it the senior vote . One swung it for donald trump . Or is it the seniorvote . One in swung it for donald trump . Or is it the senior vote . One in five people in florida is over 65. Did that swing it for him . Whatever, hell be very content. Another thing about florida, it wasnt a great night for the Democratic Party because the republicans flipped two of the congressional seats there as well. Things didnt go as the democrats might have wanted them to go. Another thing about florida, which i said earlier but always worth repeating, florida is a bellwether state and has voted for the winning candidate in the president ial election in every election since 1996. That is a fact thats bound not to be on donald trump. Thanks. Jane, what are your thoughts on florida . The jane, what are your thoughts on florida . The republicans jane, what are your thoughts on florida . The republicans upset the democrats. Billions of dollars was spent. Was it down to the latino community, many of them voting for trump . Many seniors went forjoe biden because of the president s handling of the pandemic. Its a huge factor and its very interesting the way the democrats have targeted the latino vote, treating it, isuspect, as have targeted the latino vote, treating it, i suspect, as a monolithic bloc which is always a danger here. We saw latinos in arizona for instance breaking towards joe arizona for instance breaking towardsjoe biden. Arizona for instance breaking towards joe biden. Clearly arizona for instance breaking towardsjoe biden. Clearly when we look at these states and who is in them and how the demographics breakdown, its really more important to look at the individual locations, the individual conditions on the ground. In florida more than half of the latino vote were cuban americans, in miami, which of course was the area of florida that joe biden really thought he was going to do well in. They went for donald trump and that has everything to do with the politics very specifically within miami. Well, lets get reaction from china. Mr trump hasnt enjoyed the best of relations with beijing as both countries battle out a bitter trade war. The uncertainty and volitality have hurt businesses and weighed on the global economy. As for what happens next and who will occupy the white house, comejanuary, joining us from shanghai is professor zhang weiwei, director of the China Institute at fudan university. How would you sum up chinese us relations right now, and do you expect them to improve in the next four years . Well its true that theyre not very ideal, a lot of problems, trade wars. We hope there will be a better situation when the dust has died down from the election. So when you talk about a trade war, who do you think has suffered the most from that . Has it been the us or china . From my point of view i think, and most specialists agree, that the us suffered more. When you look at the statistics, the trade surplus, the trade deficit continued to grow for the United States. Not manyjobs created. The United States citizens paid more for their many products. Sol paid more for their many products. So i think even people like the head of the well the former head of the world bank. Both sides, biden and trump, realise this. Does the chinese leadership have an opinion here on who they would like to win the election . Is it President Trump . They are very cautious not to say anything about this. We are prepared for the worst. It will be ok. Lets wait for the final result. The situation is very chaotic and polarised and contested. The United States needs more political reform or the country will go way down. Thank you forjoining us. Thank you. Joining me from alexandria in virginia, is ron bonjean, who was an adviser on Donald Trumps transition team. This is a campaign that you know extremely well, you know the president. What do you think the mood is in the white house . Hes gone from saying that weve won, shut it down, too we had a commanding lead and it magically disappeared. Yeah i will say that they are very focused. They still think that they have a possibility of winning here. Obviously the votes as theyre ripping through in the rust belt states of wisconsin and michigan, theyre going to be counting ballots in pennsylvania. Some of these things are going bidens way. I would say that this is such a close election, its something that the polls never captured, once again, just like they didnt in 2016. If i were the president in the white house i would not be conceding this election. Id be challenging, demanding a recount, if these folks are really close. We are coming into what looks like a photo finish and you really want to have the camera looking to see which horse has a little bit more ahead. Right now it feels like its going bidens way but you never know in these circumstances. We saw it in florida in 2000 with bush against al gore, both sides really digging in and it took the Supreme Court to decide. That may happen again but we just dont know. Thats adding to the uncertainty of americans living ina pandemic the uncertainty of americans living in a pandemic due to covid 19. This uncertainty is absolutely mind crushing, if you will. So if you we re crushing, if you will. So if you were advising the president right now, bearing in mind everything youre saying about uncertainty, what should he be saying . Welli think they should continue to say that every vote must be counted. That we want to make sure that there is transparency in the counting process and that everything is done ina fairand process and that everything is done in a fair and above board manner. Thats where were getting too right now. Thats what id be doing if i we re now. Thats what id be doing if i were them. And the fact that the we re wrong were them. And the fact that the were wrong and that many of the pundits who claimed biden was going to win out right were wrong too the fact that the polls were wrong. Making sure that every count is done correctly. Would you urge President Trump to stop going on twitter, as he has done, putting things on twitter like, how come every time they count the mail in dumps they are devastating, a tweet that has been called disputed and misleading by twitter . Would you be telling him to backing off those kind of claims that are incorrect . Even if to backing off those kind of claims that are incorrect . Even if i told him to back off i dont think he listen to me hed probably continue to tweet whatever he feels like tweeting. Look, ithink to tweet whatever he feels like tweeting. Look, i think there to tweet whatever he feels like tweeting. Look, ithink there is real concern among republicans in some of these states that the votes may go by thes way, sure. But if it does it has to be done fairly. Theres concerns in pennsylvania, we know that a couple of days ago the attorney general of pennsylvania said that this is going to be a biden win. Those comments are concerning to republicans, it makes them feel like that somewhere behind the scenes theres going to behind the scenes theres going to be some weight thrown bidens way. Thats what trump is trying to do, to make sure that this is done fairly. Looking at the turnout that President Trump has generated in this election and the fact that his pace, despite the warnings from his own party and from critics, does not seem to have contracted that his base has contracted. What does that tell you about trumpism as an ideological part of the party . Is President Trump ever going to go away . I think thats really spoton. This group of people, youre talking about almost an Even Division of the country. Those feelings arent going to go away. Its notjust country. Those feelings arent going to go away. Its not just about President Trump. Its about who can capture that electorate who really feel left out and they feel that they need help on the economy, they need help, you know, they need people to hear what they have to say and someone has to tap into that going into 2024, for sure. If biden we re going into 2024, for sure. If biden were to win id be trying to figure out ways to get people interested in me from that side of the field. Also it shows you that they arent watching, these people arent watching, these people arent watching Major News Networks or reading major media, they are reading major media, they are reading niche media, reading facebook, looking at the internet, looking at their local news and how they die just information. Most of they die just information. Most of the Mainstream Media were saying this was going to be a biden blow out and they didnt believe it. Thank you very much forjoining us. Lucy, i have to say thats a really important point that hes made about where people are getting their information from. Because when i talk to Trump Supporters and republicans in new hampshire, where i actually live, and across the country, the thing they say is that they arent on twitter, they dont ca re they arent on twitter, they dont care about twitter, they dont care what the news says, calling them media conspiracies. Thats not what im hearing. Thats one reason why so many republicans and Trump Supporters can just wash aside the state m e nts supporters can just wash aside the statements that sound democrats through the roof. Yeah. With me from virginia is rebecca green, co director of the Election Law Program at william and mary university. Weve been talking about some of these tweets from President Trump which twitter have taken down and are calling misleading. He came out and said that fraud was taking place and said that fraud was taking place and that he had won this election. How damaging are those comments, those false comments, from the president , for democracy . So, the way that American Democratic system works is that any premature declaration of victory or allegation of fraud, you know, doesnt hold much salt in terms of having actual impact on the counting process. The counting process will play out and if in fact there is evidence of fraud, there are many ways and processes for that to unfold in the states. When we talk about the criteria for recounts, surely theres an argument to be made that these races have been quite confusing in the sense that so many states have different laws governing what pilots can be counted and when. And when these races are so close, isnt it sometimes in the Public Interest to make absolutely certain that these are the results we are getting . Yes, every state has a syste m getting . Yes, every state has a system designed to do exactly that. Every state does it differently which makes it seem confusing. But its very clear within the states what the laws are and how they apply and how people can challenge the outcome, when a recount is triggered. This will unfold if the totals require it. If in fact there are substantiated, you know, evidence of fraud, which of course we havent seen at this point. Thank you very much indeed forjoining us. Thank you. Americans are being confronted with an uncertain reality today, with no clear indication of who will be the next president of the United States. Both donald trump and joe biden are predicting victory, but there are still crucial battleground states yet to declare their results. One of those is the pivotal state of michigan, but theres also wisconsin and pennsylvania, as we inch nearer knowing who will be in the white house injanuary. With millions of ballots left to sift through, donald trump has already claimed without evidence that hes won, telling his supporters dont let them steal the election. Well be going to the us Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We dont want them to find any ballots at four oclock in the morning and add them to the list, ok . Joe bidens team has called efforts to stop the count outrageous. Hes urged his supporters to be patient. Were going to have to be patient. Until the hard work of tallying the votes is finished. And it aint over until every vote is counted, every ballot is counted. At the touchscreen keeping track of the votes as they stack up is reeta chakrabarti. It isa it is a very tight race being fought injusta it is a very tight race being fought injust a few it is a very tight race being fought in just a few Battle Ground states. Ill bring you all the latest results and analysis. Imjane obrien in washington where the nation is on edge. There is no clear winner and campaign lawyers are getting ready to challenge the results. And im Lucy Hockings in london, with our ongoing coverage. This is bbc us election 2020. Hello. Its11am here in washington. Joe bidens campaign has said the former us Vice President is on track to win the president ial election. They say hell make a statement later on wednesday. Votes are still being counted in whats a desperately close race. Mr trump whos performed much better than the polls suggested certainly isnt conceding. Hes alleged without evidence that surprise ballot dumps are being found. Earlier he vowed to launch a Supreme Court challenge, claiming electoralfraud. As the results continue to come in well help you make sense of whats happening. Lets look at the latest figures for the Electoral College decided state by state. Biden currenly has 224 votes and trump 213 votes, with 270 needed to take the white house. We need to make it clear that despite the comments of the president in the night, he doesnt get to claim victory, the individual states decide. Thats exactly right. And its the individual states, as we have been talking about, who have the ability to say rules about early voting and mail in voting and how long they are prepared to accept those votes after the polls are closed. It is down to the states and it really doesnt matter who makes speeches, whether its donald trump, joe biden, it is the voters who will decide america 2020. I think we can go to reeta chakrabarti, to break down some of the numbers we have watched come overnight. down some of the numbers we have watched come overnight. I can give ita go watched come overnight. I can give it a go we know there is great in patients among people for a result and there is impatience in thejoe biden camp as well because they know that the longer this goes on, the more likely it is to be contested by donald trump and the republicans. So what are the possible pathways to victory forjoe brydon . They are still counting all these states you can see in grey. We know wisconsin, they are very close to a final count. In arizona as well. Michigan and pennsylvania are still counting, but it will take a while. Lets do a little bit of working out of quite howjoe biden might get those keys to the white house. I will use my blue pen, they remain hopeful of arizona, which will take joe blue pen, they remain hopeful of arizona, which will takejoe biden short by 35 Electoral College votes. They remain hopeful of nevada, although we will not find out about nevada until tomorrow because they have suspended counting until 9am tomorrow morning pacific time. Lets see what happens ifjoe biden wins wisconsin. That makes him short by 19. Its possible that maine and maine one will go tojoe biden, partly because Hillary Clinton won them last time. And then it leaves these estates where he is competitive, like michigan, and that will takejoe competitive, like michigan, and that will take joe biden to competitive, like michigan, and that will takejoe biden to the magical 270 that he needs to get into the white house. Lets have a closer look at a couple of the rust belt states that are too early to project still but quite a lot of the bulk of the votes are counted. Michigan, you can see a cigarette paper between joe biden and donald trump. It is very close indeed. A big state, 16 Electoral College votes for the winner, a big prize. A Democratic State until 2016 when donald trump managed to flip it by a sliver. Joe biden doesnt need a big swing to flip michigan, so they will be very hopeful he might still do that. The other ones on my list, wisconsin, a slightly bigger lead in terms of the share of the vote so far, and that is with 99 of the votes counted. We have about 30,000 votes still to be counted here, and still a certain number to come in from kenosha, and there is a thought kenosha might be trending more towards the democrats. We will have to wait and see. That is certainly the hope in thejoe biden camp. This is the state of some of the states where the counting is still going on. thought that was very clear indeed, i understand every single word thank you so much, and we will come back to us the goes on. We will also be live in wisconsin shortly. Now lets see how both candidates responded. No, we will go straight to Mitch Mcconnell and listen. The other thing that has been a republican challenge for a number of yea rs, particularly republican challenge for a number of years, particularly in recent years is the gender gap. We havent totally broken it down but at one point at least i was ahead among women in kentucky, and i think that must have been the case given the size of the margin, so its a very gratifying victory for our side in kentucky, and we have the opportunity to continue to serve our people and take the agenda to the national stage. I know whats on your minds. I dont know whether to be defensive coordinator or offensive coordinator as we speak but i can tell you the latest we know, which is not definitive. We are ina know, which is not definitive. We are in a pretty good position in North Carolina. But not able yet to declare a victory. In maine, a new situation in which if either candidate fails to get to 50, they go back and apply something called rank order voting, in other words you put down your second choice, and they start to add those second choices. As at the moment, senator collins is. Inaudible if that is sustained until they have finished. Rank order voting. Inaudible studio a few problems with the sound, that was Mitch Mcconnell, the Senate Majority leader and senator for kentucky. This is a good moment to point out we are watching some senate races closely as well. Thats right, he was mentioning maine, one of the most fiercely contested races in the country. Senator Susan Collins, the republican, fighting for her political life. Whats interesting about that race, she has a lwa ys interesting about that race, she has always been considered a moderate republican. The big question has been, in the era of donald trump, is there any room for moderates because voters on both sides have been pushed to the fringes, they have become louder, more entrenched, and it had seemed senator collins would bea it had seemed senator collins would be a victim of that, but she is still very much in the race, and so is republican control of the senate. And the senate, as we know, is very important because it does actually give whoever wins the white house the clout to enact legislation and actually change the course of the country. We are still waiting for seven of those seven senate seats to declare, and try saying that quickly i think it will be very interesting, even just quickly i think it will be very interesting, evenjust for quickly i think it will be very interesting, even just for the senate. It is important to keep those senate races in mind for the bigger picture. We can now go to milwaukee in a very tight state of wisconsin. We have been waiting for about 36 hours to go live on bbc coverage. More than anything i want to find out the results. 99. 9 of the results have been reported. Still no official declaration of what the final outcome is. If you believe the democrats, they have already come out and said, they have tweeted, they have said its a victory forjoe biden and he has won it by around 21,000 votes, which is even it by around 21,000 votes, which is eve n narrower it by around 21,000 votes, which is even narrower than how trump won the state in 2016, beating Hillary Clinton by just state in 2016, beating Hillary Clinton byjust under 23,020 16. It gives you an indication of how tight things can be in wisconsin. We will have to wait and see us we hear from the Electoral Commission in wisconsin. They have already warned they have officials and clicks on standby to triple check those votes because they are concerned about any calls for a recount. A state like wisconsin doesnt do automatic recounts. The loser has to apply if the margin is at 1 or less. In this case it looks like that could be the case, so the Electoral Commission could put out that statement because they are concerned there will be calls for a recount if it goesjoe bidens way and donald trump loses. We can now speak to chris walton from the Democratic Party here in wisconsin. It has been a nail biting evening and in the final hours we can see it is just so close here in wisconsin. Yes, this is true. In wisconsin, honestly, this is a wisconsin, honestly, this is a wisconsin landslide at this point. Wisconsin landslide at this point. Wisconsin is a very divided state politically. I think when everything is counted, as things are showing right now, joe biden has won the state of wisconsin but we are waiting for the official call on that. You call it a landslide. Looking at the polling in the last week, there was one Washington Post abc poll that put joe week, there was one Washington Post abc poll that putjoe biden ahead by 17 Percentage Points. Thats not what we are seeing right now. No, absolutely not. Ithink everybody looked at that poll when it came out and took it with a grain of salt, because even obama didnt win wisconsin by 17 points in 2008. Wisconsin is one of those 50 yard line states, to use an american foot ball line states, to use an american football term. As goes wisconsin, so goes the nation. The fact Vice President joe goes the nation. The fact Vice President joe biden, has goes the nation. The fact Vice President joe biden, has won the state of wisconsin, i think that shows us what the presidency will look like in january. We dont quite have the official results yet but we are seeing the difference between the candidates is just under 21,000 votes, so incredibly tight. What has been interesting, looking at the green bay area, chris, in the north west of the country, where a lot of the working class voters, who we re lot of the working class voters, who were predominantly what made up Donald Trumps base, it looks like they have now gone towardsjoe biden by about 4000 votes. Right, a lot in North Western wisconsin, the margin is up there, we definitely came in very strongly enclosed those margins. Four years ago we got pretty much wiped out in a lot of those places. Even though we didnt win those counties and make them blue, we definitely brought a lot of them a lot closer than they were. The fact we are looking at brown cou nty the fact we are looking at brown county being only 5346. The fact we are looking at Winnebago County being only 51 47. Another county, 5445, being only 51 47. Another county, 54 45, these are margins that allow us to win the state, which it looks like we did last night. Especially looking at numbers from dane and milwaukee as well. We expected joe biden to win in milwaukee and dane because they have always been democratic strongholds. We are interested in kenosha, where we are still waiting for an official result. Thats where donald trump presented himself as the law and order candidate. How do you think kenosha will go in the end . In the end, seeing what the final results will be, this was a hard fought results will be, this was a ha rd fought county. Looking results will be, this was a hard fought county. Looking back at 2016, this was one of the counties that only came down to a hundred or so votes with donald trump. I think well be looking at that similar margin although im not sure which way it will go although i believe it will go forjoe biden. If not it will go forjoe biden. If not it will give us the margin we need to lock the state of wisconsin down. Well have to leave it there. Thank you. Lucy, jane, it just well have to leave it there. Thank you. Lucy, jane, itjust goes to show how confident at this stage the democrats are in wisconsin that theyve got this. Thanks forjoining us. Well return there when any news comes. As weve mentioned, magic and is also one of the Battle Ground states that we are watching closely. Our north america correspondent, lebo diseko is in detroit. Hows it going there . Well, theyre still counting. Im standing in front of the building where the count is still going on. Wayne county, the county that detroit is m, county, the county that detroit is in, is still one of the counties being counted at the moment. Earlier on in the evening, around one oclock, there were ten points between the candidates. It has narrowed, since weve been here its been much tighter, a tiny margin between them. Donald trump saying he doesnt understand how that can be. The secretary of state for michigan says its because they are still counting and they want to make sure that everybodys vote counts, and it isnt an attempt to steal the election or swing it for any side. Pleading for politicians and journalists to be patient. Is this a state that President Trump won last time . Yeah and he won it by a tiny, tiny margin, 0. 3 . Once interesting is that in 2016 we saw a massive drop in African American turnout, 1296 drop in African American turnout, 12 drop, huge. This county, wayne county, has about 13 African American and detroit has about half. If they turn out in large numbers, we looked like we are on track for a record turnout. They have turnout in large numbers, too. That could be quite significant. could have sworn i saw you in washington a few hours ago. Youre moving pretty quickly around the country im so nervous, i woke up biting my nails about this and then quite quickly we were on a plane on the way here. The reason is, its such an important state, along with wisconsin, and pennsylvania is also somewhere that both candidates are watching. Whoever wins, they are going to need what was called the rust belt, the formerly industrialised states. Used to be strongly democrat, donald trump swung them in 2016, as we saw. Given how hard the African American community has been hit by covid 19, do you think thats been one of the main issues, as well as the economy, where you are . Well, look, that is one of the reasons behind the numbers of postal ballots. As i said, the postal ballots that have come in seem to have narrowed the 95p~ come in seem to have narrowed the gap. Yes, areas like detroit, there are Economic Issues, also issues around racial and social justice. Id imagine that they will play large in terms of peoples decision in terms of how they chose to vote, the method as well. Thank you. I going to start you using you as a weather vane . Ive done a couple of local papers, the nation hangs in the balance. Ithink local papers, the nation hangs in the balance. I think its the whole country really which is on edge and doesnt know which way this is going to go. Thats what were hearing from every state, isnt it, jane . Its good to see you, lebo. Keep clocking up the miles lets take you away from the us election for a moment in the uk, members of parliament hav voted on the new rules that are due to come into force at midnight gmt enforcing the new coronavirus lockdown in england. Mps have approved regulations for a second lockdown in england from november 5 until december 2 by 516 votes to 38, a majority of 478. The Prime Minister says that the lockdown is needed to contain the surge in coronavirus cases. The Prime Minister winning that vote in the last three moments. Lets bring you back here to the United States. We can hear now from tom bevan, a polling expert and president of the news website real clear politics. Were you dreading this morning . Because this is a verdict on your polling abilities as much as it is a president ial election. Yeah, we are a polling aggregator, so we take all of the poles that are out in the field at a contemporaneous period of time and take an average. Because we have seen a wide variance. There are different opinions, one of had them had it very close with donald trump winning some states but others had joe biden winning trump winning some states but others hadjoe biden winning in trump winning some states but others had joe biden winning in a more landslide passion and thats clearly not what happened. The race was and remains very tight and the margins are going to be tight in the rust belt. We are digestive in the dater but it looks like the pollsters, on balance, once again, underestimated Donald Trumps. Overestimated joe bidens strength in a lot of these Battle Ground states. Why . Are they counting a lot of the wrong people orare counting a lot of the wrong people or are the voters lying to the pollsters . Or are the voters lying to the pollsters . I think its a bit of both. There is a side trumpet effect which we saw in 2016 a shy trump effect. Some of the pollsters, they get the respondents, right, and then we have to model and make an educated guess about what the electorate is going to look like on election day, who is going to turnout and how they are to vote. That was doubled this year because of how we conducted the election. We had mostly republicans turning out on the day and democrats voting in advance, in mail in ballots. More fundamentally, the pollsters didnt account for trumps continued strength and he over performed with hispanic voters in particular in a place like florida. And some of these other states. The pollsters havent done a good enoughjob in terms of getting it right about whos going to turn out on election day and how theyre going to vote. We interviewed an historian earlier who said two things have to change, one is that you have to get rid of the Electoral College, as it shouldnt come down to a few thousand votes in a few states but he also said its time to get read of the pollsters. Youve got it wrong, losing the trust of everyone, theres too much focus on polling. What you say . The first part id say, you cant do without the Electoral College without constitutional amendment which is unlikely to happen. For better or worse, unlikely to happen. For better or worse , we unlikely to happen. For better or worse, we are stuck with the Electoral College. As for pollsters, there were some who actually did pretty well in this election and saw the race for what it was, a very close race. The problem is there we re close race. The problem is there were another set of pollsters who saw a completely different race. Those pollsters were amplified by the media and certainly by democrats who thought, we kept hearing over and over how this was not like 2016, that the polls for the various reasons again. Joe bidens favourability ratings, all those things, but they missed the woods for the trees and that message was amplified to the point where once again you had statisticians declaring with levels of certainty thatjoe biden declaring with levels of certainty that joe biden had declaring with levels of certainty thatjoe biden had a 96. 25 chance of winning the election. That isnt how these things work. We should have learned that last time. Apparently there were many people in polling and the media who didnt learn those lessons. What about the element of trust . Were hearing so much about how the institutions that underpin democracy in america are being undermined. When the polls are telling us one thing and the reality tells us Something Else, what does this do in terms of undermining confidence in the electoral system itself . Thats a great question. Certainly it is true. We have suffered a decline in trust in Public Institutions across the board. Everything now is seen through a partisan political lens. The media has suffered. Institutions, even the Supreme Court, and the presidency itself is seen that way. I think its a problem dog pollsters have trust issues with the public as well but its also the way the media plays into that and focuses on the polls and the horse race. Because its the easy thing to do as opposed to going out and actually talking to voters and sitting with voters in rural places around america to get a better understanding of what voters might be doing and thinking, real vote rs might be doing and thinking, real voters instead of numbers on a page. You get 500 respondents and you extrapolate that number to a state where 5 Million People are going to cast ballots. Weve seen how thats become very fraught in the last few cycles. I think the media become very fraught in the last few cycles. Ithink the media is become very fraught in the last few cycles. I think the media is partly responsible for taking the easy way out. Its a day of reckoning for a lot of people, i think. Thanks for joining us. We can hear now from anthony scaramucci, President Trumps former former White House Communications director. Good to see you. Im not sure if you heard our conversation with the pollster but they got it wrong. President trump has done so much better than many of them predicted. What do you put it down to . Well i think there is a systemic problem in the system. I heard tom and hes one of our smartest people. Theresjust a problem. I grew up in a middle class blue collar family. It was an aspirational family. These families are now in desperation in america. Real wages are down 25 since my dads wages in the 705 and theyre upset and angry at mr trump has captured their imagination and hes an avatar for their anger. He wrecked the economy, hes lying about the science, politicising mask usage, thousands of people dying of covid 19 and hes going to have the second largest popular vote total in us history. The only person having a bigger vote total ban him isjoe biden. He beat the barack obama vote total from 2008. These leaders reflect what is going on in the United States and there is pain and angerand we United States and there is pain and anger and we must fix it. I hope people are paying attention to that. Mrtrump has paid people are paying attention to that. Mr trump has paid attention to that andl mr trump has paid attention to that and i give him credit for that. I got it wrong, too. Im not embarrassed to admit that. Joe biden will likely be the winner, if you look at how the votes are being tabulated. Hell have 7 million more votes than President Trump when its over and hell likely have close to 290, to 300 Electoral College votes. You know the white house extremely well. You also know donald trump pretty well. How do you think hes thinking right now . Whats the mood inside the white house and what are the conversations theyre having . Well, for sure, they told him last night not to make that speech, not to declare himself the winner, the football, the 20 yard line, kicking the ball into the stands and declaring a goal. They told him not to do that and he did it anyway. Hes trying to capture those people again. He wants people to think it was rigged. If you arent doing well in life you are subject to and perhaps you can be tantalised by conspiracy theory. You dont want to blame yourself for the shortcomings and therefore there has to be a larger conspiracy causing this grievance. Mrtrump larger conspiracy causing this grievance. Mr trump plays right into that. He was doing that last night and it was an affront to the american democracy. Even governor chris christie, a former attorney general and close friend of mine and a close friend of President Trump, helping him on debate prep and getting covid 19 during that, said this was reprehensible and he shouldnt have said that last night. So well have to see what happens. Its a sad day in many ways for the American People because we have a split system. A lot of division inside the system but its also a happy day because i predict the american democracy is going to outlast President Trump and thank god for that. On those words, thank you very much were looking at an historic turnout in this election. Plenty to come. Now the latest news with jane hill. A summary of the bbc news. Joe biden, the democratic challenger in the us president ial election, has a narrow lead in the race for the white house, but several key states have yet to declare. With millions of ballots still left to be counted, the final result could take hours, even days. To win the presidency, 270 Electoral College votes are needed. Here are the latest figures. Democratic contenderjoe biden currently has 224 confirmed votes and donald trump 213. Mr trump has performed better than the polls predicted, he is projected to hold the state of florida as well as texas and ohio. But mr biden still has a route to the white house, and has overtaken trump in the counts at the key swing states of michigan and wisconsin. Our correspondent in washington, ben wright has this report. In the early hours of the morning, donald trump tried to discredit this election. Millions of votes have yet to be counted, neither candidate has won but, speaking in the white house, the president prematurely claimed victory and then said this. This is a fraud on the american public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. For months, donald trump has claimed, without any evidence, that postal voting leads to fraud. This pandemic election saw tens of millions of americans vote by mail and in several key states, those legitimate ballots are still being processed. Mr trump has now threatened to go to the Supreme Court before the count is complete. This is uncharted territory for the United States. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So, well be going to the us Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We dont want them to find any ballots at four oclock in the morning and add them to the list, ok . Joe bidens team called the president s statement outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect. And when the democratic candidate spoke to supporters, he told them to hold their nerve. Your patience is commendable. We knew this was going to go long, but who knew we were going to go into maybe tomorrow morning, maybe even longer . But look, we feel good about where we are. We really do. Im here to tell you tonight, we believe were on track to win this election. At first, americans watched Election Night unfold without drama, the two candidates clocking up states they were expected to win. But early results also pointed to a much tighter election than the polls had suggested. Democrats had dreamed of blocking Donald Trumps path to the white house by winning florida, but the president s vote stayed strong. President trump has won florida. Joe biden visited ohio yesterday, but it too stayed red. It soon became clear that this would be another nail biting race that would be decided by half a dozen states. In North Carolina, the democratic governor called for patience. I know that there are a lot of important races that are still too close to call, and we must let the process work, to be sure that all the legal votes are counted. In front of the white house, on a street now known as black lives matter plaza, protesters met police. This is an anxious moment for a divided country. In the absence of a landslide win by one candidate, it was always possible this election could be dragged into the courts. Both sides have been preparing for a legal battle over postal votes that could tip the balance either way. Turnout in this election was huge, but a lengthy and contested wait for a result will keep this polarised nation on edge. Ben wright, bbc news, washington. Away from the us election, and british mps have voted in favour of a new four week coronavirus lockdown in england. The measures will come into effect at midnight with the Prime MinisterBoris Johnson saying that they are the only way to stop hospitals being overwhelmed. The government was expected to win the vote despite opposition against the measures from some conservative mps. Well, that vote comes as the British Government said a further 492 people died in a 24 hour period, within 28 days of testing positive for covid 19. Thats the highest daily figure since may 19th, when 500 deaths were reported. The Ethiopian Government says military operations have begun in the northern tigray region, where the Prime Minister has declared a state of emergency. Abee ahmed accused the local government of attacking federal troops, he said many people had lost their lives, and that a red line had been crossed. The United States and the uk have called for an immediate de escalation. Austrias interior minister has said Video Evidence shows the gunman who killed four people in vienna on monday acted alone. Karl nehammer said that the convicted Islamic State sympathiser who was shot dead by police had tried to buy ammunition in slovakia. That information was passed on to austria, but got lost in an apparent communication breakdown. An independent panel will look into what went wrong. That is the latest bbc news back to you. Welcome back to our live and continuous coverage of the us election as the world awaits the results from key battleground states. Im Lucy Hockings in london with jane obrien in washington. Lets get reaction from the Business World now as tech shares rise after the election. Beth ann bovino is chief us economist with the Ratings Agency s p global and joins us from new york. Thank you very much. What can we read into the Market Reaction . Are they pleased with the way this election seems to be going . they pleased with the way this election seems to be going . I think there was a lot of tension in terms of, would there be violence in the United States, and that seems to be unfounded at this point in time. There is no final decision now in terms of who will be president , nor will the senate, for example, be leaning republican or democrat. Perhaps maybe the gridlock might be coveted because there is no blue wave nor a majority and for the republicans as well. The president cut corporate tax, great for companies and the stock market, so would it be fair to say they would like to see President Trump re elected . Like to see President Trump reelected . In terms of what the markets look for, i think one thing markets look for, i think one thing markets and economists are looking at right now is the health of the us economy and the health of us households. We have the virus now, surging to new highs. We have an Unemployment Rate at 7. 9 , which is higher or at eight of the last 11 recession peaks going back to 1948. The economy is far from healthy, and economists will be more focused on the fact that if a new president is in turn, that stimulus will be coming their way. They are probably also think and, while they wouldnt like a tax hike, keep in mind it will be a back seat. Right now the health of us households and the economy will be first on a new president s list. Are very dire picture that you paint there. Whoever wins this election, what is the first thing they need to do to try to get this economy back on track . They need to work with congress, whoever that will be. This has to happen now, this cantjust wait for a new president. Elections are over and we have congress in place until january and are over and we have congress in place untiljanuary and right now they need to focus on working on some kind of compromise to get stimulus out for those who need it, and im not just stimulus out for those who need it, and im notjust talking about the unemployed, which is in the millions, but also state and local governments, and if they do not get stimulus from the us, from uncle sam, they will have to have more cuts and more lay offs going down the line. I think right now the us policy makers need to focus on getting stimulus into the economy right now. We have about 500 billion in the forecast right now. Which parts of the economy needs stimulus the most, do you think . parts of the economy needs stimulus the most, do you think . I think where we are looking at is of course, you have people who are unemployed, they have lost much of their extended benefits, that has gone away. The other issue is, those benefits from the state are starting to run out and that could run out by the end of december and there will bea the end of december and there will be a knock down effect for those people losing that coverage. It means they cant pay their rent, their mortgages, they cant spend at their mortgages, they cant spend at the malls and it will hit business revenues. The state and local governments are also squeezed and that needs to be addressed. And those Small Businesses that are still struggling, that may have survived the first and second round, they probably need assistance as well. Big challenges ahead, thank you forjoining us. Well, for a look at which key states were still waiting for. Heres reeta at the touchscreen. The state of play at the moment, this is how it has looked for a little while with big swathes of red for the solid, safe republican states and lots of blue, by and large the safe Democratic States. There are notable holes for donald trump, notably florida and ohio, demonstrating how he had a much better night than many thought he would have. Texas as well stayed republican. But both men say they feel they will claim the keys to the white house. Both of them are saying they will be victorious. Lets see what sort of pathway to success both of them might carve out. I will use a blue pen here to colour in states that might well go democratic. We are not saying they will, but they might well do, and this would be a pathway to success forjoe biden. Nevada, in 2016 it was democratic so might well stay that way, although we will not find out until tomorrow at the earliest because they have suspended counting in nevada until tomorrow morning pacific time. Last time around, maine and the maine Congressional District one, they count Congressional District one, they cou nt votes slightly Congressional District one, they count votes slightly differently, they were both blue, taking joe biden to 233 Electoral College votes. Arizona is very competitive. The democrats are optimistic in arizona. He is now short by 26 votes because you have to get to 270 to win. In wisconsin, local democrats there are saying they have won wisconsin. We are not yet saying that, we are not projecting wisconsin for the democrats but they say they have got it and local Party Officials are saying all the votes there have been counted. What we dont know is whether its within the margin of error whereby donald trump could request a recount. So we are waiting to find out about wisconsin. But at the moment in this hypothetical scenario we give it to the democrats, joe biden would be short by 16. If he was to flip back in michigan, that would get him to the magic 270 and he would be in the white house. Let me take you back to the present state of play and do the same process for donald trump. Using the red pen, let say conversely, arizona, which we know is competitive, if he hangs onto arizona and he holds georgia, where they are still counting, and North Carolina, you can see donald trump is still short by 15 electoral couege is still short by 15 Electoral College votes, so if we then say pennsylvania is retained by donald trump then that would take him over the line to 275, but it is a very close run thing and it does mean looking at the electoral map there that its hard to see how donald trump can stay in the white house without winning pennsylvania. Its very ha rd to without winning pennsylvania. Its very hard to imagine we will get through the next day or so without a recount somewhere. We are definitely keeping a nigh on those states. Thank you and we will be back with you. Quick update on the count in michigan. The michgian secretary of state says he expcects an unoffical count by the end of the day. Michigan is too early to project right now but we havejoe biden on 49. 5 of the vote and President Trump on 48. 8. We are hearing we should have a result there by the end of the day. Meanwhile, lets put this election into some global context with us now is our World Affairs editor, john simpson. Lovely to see you. How is the us, a bastion of democracy, being viewed right now around the world . Not only a bastion of democracy, but if you think back all my long life, for instance, also a bastion of competence. A country that does things sensibly and better and is therefore entitled to tell the rest of the world what it should do, and i think thats the big problem internationally for the United States, that it is looking bumbling and incompetent, and indeed potentially quite nasty. Those are things we havent naturally associated with the United States over the decades. And its going to have an effect, i think, on the way just about the whole world sees america. There are countries like china, for instance, who are using this already to say, look, dont worry your head is about all this democracy nonsense. Look what effect it has on a country. Just stick with our system where the party tells you what to do and it organises things very well. Look at covid for instance, and compare china with america or western europe. So altogether i think its having quite altogether i think its having quite a corrosive effect internationally. But are we also seeing in america thats re evaluating its place in the world and its role in the world . And that this is more of a long term philosophical trend, and that this is more of a long term philosophicaltrend, ratherthan something thats going to be decided by an election . That is entirely true but you mustnt forget that youve got to president in office whose still campaigning on the slogan, make America Great again. Keep America Great again, sometimes. And youve got a Democratic Party which feels that americas taken a seriously wrong turn in the world, in World Affairs, and in Domestic Affairs and that its got to change. These are completely impossible aspects to link up in anyway. One has to win. It would have been of course so much better from the Democratic Party was my point of view if it could have won more decisively. The Democratic Partys point of view. The blame lies more with the Democratic Party than anyone else, including the pollsters. The us became the first nation in the world today to formally withdraw from the paris climate agreement. How much has four yea rs of climate agreement. How much has four years of President Trump undermined other global institutions like the wto, nato, even, the un . Well, its undermined all of those. I would say that Climate Change, well, americas departure from the Climate Change accords hasnt really registered much here but what has registered very seriously is the effect of the consta nt very seriously is the effect of the constant attacks that President Trump has made to nato and to the membership of nato. Some of those that seem thoroughly justified membership of nato. Some of those that seem thoroughlyjustified if you step back five paces. It is pretty weird that a country as wealthy as germany for instance doesnt pay nearly as much as it ought to do to defend itself, for instance. There are many things that President Trump has said that have a logic to them. Its the way he says it and the intensity with which he says it which has done really very serious damage in nato. Im not going to say irreparable damage because i think it can be repaired and if President Biden wins this election, eventually, he will for himself i think, in Foreign Affairs terms, into repairing nato and it wont take very long to do that. But if President Trump wins, nato has got serious trouble. Im not sure how easy it will be for it to survive four more years like that. Really good to get your thoughts. Thanks forjoining us. We have some breaking news. Michigan is a key Battle Ground state which will help to determine who wins the president ial election. It is still counting tens of thousands of ballots a nd counting tens of thousands of ballots and expects to have an unofficial tally by the end of the day. Thats coming from the state secretary of the state, Jocelyn Benson, who is given a press conference in detroit. Secretary benson, thank you. Or not its a lwa ys benson, thank you. Or not its always the way, you go to the press conference just as it finishes. That very important comment coming from the governor as well, i think, weve been hearing, in michigan. There are questions coming. Lets go back, jane, because the press are asking questions. We fully expect that there will be a number of people watching the process or perhaps even, as weve heard, putting out allegations about the process or anything in between. The bottom line for us is that we are focused on getting this right in a way that can withstand any court challenges. I also mentioned, weve seen this not just image again but other states, often caught challenges or allegations are thrown around for political agendas rather than legal claims. We are mindful of that which is why we are focused on counting every vote. We invite people to observe the process through yesterday and today since the polls opened and counting began and well continue to do that as we stay focused on providing everyone with the confidence that we are going to count every vote in michigan and well work to protect the legality of that process in every way that we are called upon to do so. Jocelyn benson, the secretary of state in michigan. We are starting to see these press conferences in many of these press conferences in many of the Battle Ground states, officials reassuring people that their vote will count and that it matters. They need to do this because of the rhetoric that we are seeing from President Trump. The rhetoric and, you know, the confusion generally on how these votes are counted, which state employs which rules. What we we re state employs which rules. What we were seeing there, as you mentioned, was a real emphasis from the michigan secretary of state their saying that we need to get it right. It isnt about speed, getting it right. The remaining balance theyre waiting for are the absentee balance. Absentee ballots. These are people who didnt take part in early voting. They mailed in their votes. Generally we know that they skew democrat across michigan. People who send in their ballots tend to be favoured by democrats. And we know that currentlyjoe biden is in the lead by about 34,000 votes. So, the Biden Campaign is going to be very pleased with whats coming out of michigan right now. But we still havent crossed the final line. Just to be clear, this isnt unexpected. We did know that in some of these states it may take many hours, possibly days, before we got a final result. Patience is the watchword, lucy im not very patient, i dont know that whether dont know whether you are but we have to be patient. It isnt a blockbuster, its a netflix box set joe bidens team say they have legal teams on standby. Donald trump has long maintained postal votes are prone to fraud, even though theres no evidence to support that claim. We want to make sure the election is honest, and im not sure that it can be. I dont know that it can be with this whole situation. Unsolicited ballots. Theyre unsolicited, millions being sent to everybody. By casting doubt on the legitimacy of postal ballots, the president is hoping that the courts will rule that the counting has to stop. That would mean millions of votes like this will be deemed illegitimate and thus would go uncounted. His focus is on pennsylvania, a swing state which could determine the outcome of this election. Last weekend, the Supreme Court decided counting there could go on until the end of the week, a decision mr trump lambasted, claiming it could lead to violence on the streets. Its a very dangerous thing for our country and i hope the Supreme Court has the wisdom to change it, because they cant let it stand. Donald trumps repeated claims of voter fraud echo claims made during the 2000 president ial election. Gore versus bush was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court, which ruled the recount in florida had to stop. The president s intervention in this election is different. The difference here is that we have several states that the president thinks that he might have taken away from him. In florida, of course, it wasjust one. The difference there, from a due process argument, was that some counties were counting, others werent and they were using different standards. So i think the similarities between florida and what might happen in this year are entirely and vastly different. In a statement, the president of the Biden Campaign, jen omalley dillon, said Donald Trumps attempt to shut down the counting ofjulie cast ballots was outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect. She went on, if the president makes good on his threat to go to court to try to prevent the proper tabulation of votes, we have legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist that effort. But mr trump may have a secret weapon, in the form of his latest addition to the Supreme Court, amy coney barrett. Her appointment just a week before the election gave the highest court in the land a conservative majority and one the president will be hoping would find in his favour. With the outcome of this election on a knife edge, the prospect of legal challenges in the days and weeks ahead will do little to assuage the growing sense of tension in this bitterly divided nation. David willis, bbc news, los angeles. Do stay with us here on the bbc were watching those battleground states in the us, waiting for votes to be counted waiting for a result waiting to see how will be the president elect. We are indeed, we are waiting for the Battle Ground states to come in. Well keep you up to date with the chance and guests and all the commentary. Do stay with us, we are looking forward to a very exciting finish. Hello there. Last month was not only exceptionally wet in the uk, it was also cloudier than normal, so we didnt have as much sunshine as we often see, so i think todays weather makes something of a welcome change. Across england and wales, a lot of dry weather with sunny skies. Further north west, though, we are seeing clouds gather over the snow tipped mountains in scotland, and you can see that cloud continuing to extend not just in scotland, but across Northern Ireland, with a few showery clouds running down through the irish sea. So you could pick up an odd shower for north wales and north west england to take us through the rest of the day. Further north, though, we are going to see some rain pushing into the far north of scotland, but that will arrive towards the end of the afternoon or the early evening time, and as far as the temperatures go, were not doing too badly after that cold and frosty start, temperatures 10 to 13 degrees. Now, overnight, our weather front bringing rain in scotland pushes southwards whilst weakening, so just a bit of drizzle left on that system by the time it reaches the hills of northern england, but there will be some hill fog patches across these northern areas. Further south, a cold night. Well see some frost developing in the countryside. Lowest temperatures perhaps down to around 3, 4 celsius, and therell be some fog patches around as well. In the next few days, our weather is going to be dominated by this area of High Pressure so the weather, for the time being, is going to stay pretty quiet with a lot of dry weather and some sunshine. Now, in the Early Morning, mist and is fog patches of clear away from wales, the midlands, southern and east anglia, with some sunshine coming out later on. Perhaps quite a bit of low cloud and some drizzle for a time across the hills of northern england, and it may well be quite cloudy still across the north and west of scotland and perhaps Northern Ireland too. Temperatures similar, 10 to 13 degrees, but perhaps a bit more sunshine in aberdeenshire, allowing temperatures to rise a little bit higher here. On into friday, well, again, we could see some mist and fog patches to start the day, so it could be quite murky for some of us, but, again, a reasonably dry day coming up for most of us, with some sunny spells baking sunny spells breaking through during the afternoon. 10 to 13 degrees top temperatures for many of us. Heading into the weekend, we are eventually going to start to see some milder air move its way northwards from the near continent, but it will take a time before that reaches scotland, so saturday will be another fairly cool day in scotland. Cloud will then build, well see rain at times, but eventually this weekend will see temperatures pushing up to about 16 in london. Americans will be coming to terms with an uncertain reality today with no clear indication of who will be the next president of the United States. Crucial battleground states are yet to declare their results with donald trump and joe biden both predicting victory. One of those pivotal states is michigan, but theres also wisconsin and pennsylvania, as we inch nearer to knowing who will be in the white house injanuary. Im lebo diseko in detroit where the results for michigan are too close to call. 93 of ballots have been counted with biden ever so slightly ahead. With millions of ballots left to sift through, donald trump has already claimed without evidence that hes won, telling his supporters dont let them steal the election. Well be going to the us Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We dont want them to find any ballots at four oclock in the morning and add them to the list, ok . Joe bidens team has called efforts to stop the count outrageous. Hes urged his supporters to be patient. Were going to have to be patient. Until the hard work of tallying the votes is finished. And it aint over until every vote is counted, every ballot is counted. At the touchscreen keeping track of the votes as they stack up is reeta chakrabarti. As the two candidates battle it out ina as the two candidates battle it out in a handful of swing states i will bring your analysis and results as they happen. Imjane obrien in washington where the nation is on edge. Joe biden has a narrow lead but there is still no clear winner yet. And im Lucy Hockings in london, with our ongoing coverage this is bbc us election 2020. Im jane obrien in washington. And im Lucy Hockings in london. Hello. Its midday here in washington. And joe bidens campaign has said the former us Vice President is on tack to win the president ial election. They say hell make a statement later on wednesday were actually expecting it within the hour and well take his address live when it starts. Votes are still being counted in whats a desperately close race. Mr trump whos performed much better than the polls suggested certainly isnt conceding. Hes alleged without evidence that surprise ballot dumps are being found. Earlier he vowed to launch a Supreme Court challenge, claiming electoralfraud. As the results continue to come in, well help you make sense of whats happening. Lets look at the latest figures for the Electoral College decided state by state. Biden currenly has 224 votes and trump 213 votes, with 270 needed to take the white house. Well, for a look at which key states were still waiting for, heres reeta at the touchscreen. This is what the electoral map looks like at the moment with big swathes of red that have been there quite a few hours, most of them solidly republican states. Swathes of blue as well, solidly Democratic States. There are one or two back eye catching holds for donald trump like ohio and florida, holding onto them in the early hours. The ones we are focused on now are the greys states, the swing states, Battle Grounds where the election will be won and lost. In terms of what we are likely to know and when, we know nevada have suspended counting now and will start recounting tomorrow at 9am pacific time, so that will be a while. Pennsylvania might be a little while as well. A couple of states look closer to a result. Lets go into them. Both of them are rust belt states. We can look at michigan, still too early to project, but a wafer thin margin between the two candidates. It says there are 93 of the votes counted but we heard earlier, jane hill said that the Michigan State secretary of state say they do expect to have an unofficial tally by the end of the day, so we have a statement by Jocelyn Benson in the last half an hour. We know they are still counting tens of thousands of votes and we did a quick calculation and we think there are less than 400,000 to vote. It sounds like a lot but with a population of 5. 5 million they are down to the last few votes. To ta ke they are down to the last few votes. To take you back to the main map and look at the other state we wanted to look at the other state we wanted to look at the other state we wanted to look at in a bit more detail, wisconsin, another rust belt states, againa tiny wisconsin, another rust belt states, again a tiny margin betweenjoe biden and donald trump. In wisconsin, the state Democratic Party has called this forjoe biden. They say they are confident they have won. We are not yet projecting wisconsin for the democrats. At the same time the state Electoral Commission says all votes there have been counted, but if it is within a certain margin, donald trump is within his rights to call for a recount. And given how ferociously all these remaining states are being fought over, i think we can imagine whats on the cards. Thank you, we will be back to Rita Chakrabati when we have more to bring you from those Battle Ground states. Both President Trump and joe biden spoke in the early hours of the morning lets have a listen to what they had to say. Frankly, we did win this election. Cheering so our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation. This is a very big moment. This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we will be going to the us Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We dont want them to find any ballots at four oclock in the morning and add them to the list, 0k . Im here to tell you tonight, we believe were on track to win this election. Cheering we knew because of the unprecedented early vote and the mail in vote that it was going to take a while. Were going to have to be patient, until the hard work of tallying the votes is finished. And it aint over till every vote is counted, every ballot is counted. Cheering but were feeling good. Were feeling good about where we are. We are hearing from Joe Biden CrossCampaign Team that we can expect a statement from him very shortly that we will bring to you. We have a projection to bring to you, with maine projected forjoe biden, just two Electoral College votes, joe biden with 54 of the vote, donald trump with 43, and we did expect that to go tojoe biden. As weve mentioned, michigan is one of the battleground states. Our north america correspondent, lebo diseko is in detroit. Glad to see you are still there. Whats happened, anything significant changing . Yes, we have just been hearing from the secretary of state for michigan, Jocelyn Benson, and she said there are just over 100,000 votes still to be counted. She says she knows the eyes of the country are upon this state. What they are concerned with is accuracy, so repeating her plea for patience and understanding, that it does take time to count votes. She also said most of the votes that we re also said most of the votes that were still to be counted, in the main, were postal votes, absentee ballots, and i guess thats why we have seen this tightening between the two candidates over the last few hours, as they have counted those absentee ballots. As you know, michigan doesnt start to process, looking at those ballots, until election day. Do we know where those ballots are coming from, rural or urban areas, because that makes a difference and we know a lot of urban areas are expected to swing towards joe urban areas are expected to swing towardsjoe biden. Urban areas are expected to swing towards joe biden. A couple of the areas i noted down were the detroit area, they still have votes coming in. And also flint has votes coming in as well. Hopefully, according to Jocelyn Benson, we will have a clearer idea of that later this afternoon, certainly for the detroit area, she was hoping she could bring us that. There was a tweet from President Trump just now saying that they are working hard to make up 500,000 vote advantage in wisconsin disappear asap, as well as michigan. At this point, you cant make votes appear or disappear, can you . Donald trump has been tweeting quite a lot of things this morning. As the secretary of state for this state has said, what they are concerned about is counting all of the ballots that there are still left to tally up. Ithink that there are still left to tally up. I think donald trump was quite upset to see his lead disappear. He said he didnt understand how that could have happened. As more votes are tallied, the percentage may change. We do know donald trump has also said, particularly with pennsylvania, he is looking at legal challenges. Earlier today he said he wa nted challenges. Earlier today he said he wanted to take it to the Supreme Court. We know they have filed some Legal Paperwork in certain states across the country but certainly in terms of the Supreme Court, thats a process , terms of the Supreme Court, thats a process, you cant just terms of the Supreme Court, thats a process, you cantjust do that as your first port of call. That tweet from donald trump saying they are finding joe biden votes all over the place in pennsylvania, wisconsin and michigan. So bad for our country. But as is being pointed out, these votes are legitimately cast and legitimately being counted right now. What is the atmosphere where you are, is there a sense of anxiety . How are people feeling . Again, one of the thingsJocelyn Benson was keen to underscore was we have not been finding ballots all over the place, and trying to address this issue of misinformation. If youre talking about the mood among trumps supporters, there is one circling around this centre where votes are being tallied, one of the things that has been shouted from the megaphone is that counting should stop on election day. If there are still votes to come in, that doesnt seem possible. You do need to count them all. I was talking to some people in the hotel and i guess there is a sense of anxiety about what might happen, and certainly the newspapers we have seen reflecting the National Mood which is that the nation is on edge, we are all waiting to see how this might turn out. Good to see you as always, from detroit. Lets remind you of whats at stake in terms of the electoral votes with these Battle Ground states we are still waiting for. There are 20 Electoral College votes in pennsylvania. Both camps have hit the state had with President Trump and joe biden visiting many times. As votes are still being counted, cbs news corresponded Jericka Duncan explained why it is such a sought after state. We are at the Pennsylvania Convention centre in philadelphia and this has been an important key Battle Ground. Pennsylvania, 20 electoral votes. Whats happening inside this building is counting those male in ballots that are coming from the city of philadelphia. Whats interesting about this election that we didnt see in 2016 is that people we re we didnt see in 2016 is that people were allowed to mail in their vote. They passed a law in pennsylvania, by participant legislation, allowing people to post in their ballots without an excuse so that has made a difference. We are still waiting to get a total number of votes and we know people who postmarked their vote, their ballot, by november three, will still have their vote validated as late as november six. So you have the state secretary here telling people days ago that they did not expect to know definitively who the winner was of pennsylvania right now. You have about 75 of the vote that has been calculated, so we continue to watch this city, continue to watch this city, continue to watch this city, continue to watch this state to see what will happen and who will win pennsylvania. A crucial state we are keeping a close eye on. Good to have you with us here on the bbc for our special election coverage. As we know more than 66 Million People have voted for donald trump. Aaron is one of those coaches and i see a nurse thats worked on the coronavirus intensive care ward looking after some of the most seriously ill patients in this Pandemic Commission lives in michigan in jackson. Thank Pandemic Commission lives in michigan injackson. Thank you so much for the work you do. It must be phenomenally stressful a nd stressful and i imagine sometimes quite distressing. But this is a president who has undermined a lot of the responses to the coronavirus pandemic. Why did you vote for him ain . Pandemic. Why did you vote for him again . As a nurse i felt that being in the pandemic, i worked on the ground zero in new york city. And i felt the support from trump. I felt that he was there for the front line workers, he provided us with everything that we needed that we did not have, so as far as ppe come as faras did not have, so as far as ppe come as far as Additional Support he allowed us nurses like myself as a Nurse Practitioner to come from michigan into ute new york and use our licence to work there and help those people. He opens things up in order to provide for these patients and really, ifelt order to provide for these patients and really, i felt that he did everything that he could with the knowledge that he was given by the experts. So i really felt supported by donald trump on the front lines of. You are a nurse. You know better than anyone how to prevent this virus spreading, how to deal with the consequences of it. Could he have done more by urging people to, for instance, where masks . have done more by urging people to, for instance, where masks . I think that he did exactly what he was instructed to do. But the experts he relies on. He was told that masks at the beginning of the pandemic were not useful. So that is what he can out on the streets and what not, thats what he relayed to us in the United States. So he relied on the experts to provide them with the information. When they said yes that masks were important and when the next step, he initiated that and he provided those and had Additional Companies in order to make those. So we have those available. And are able to use them in order to open up our country. Were you not worried though by his constant lies about the coronavirus, the fact that he keeps telling people we have turned a corner, they dont need to worry about it, that its going to go away just like a miracle, that its going to go awayjust like a miracle, thats affecting virtually nobody when we know that thousands and thousands of americans are being affected by the coronavirus and many are dying . Is there are many that die. When he received the information i felt that he relayed the information that he had. I felt that, you know, at the beginning of the pandemic we did not know that it was as severe as it is now. So youve got people that are saying even now that the news is all fear mongering, they are relaying all of that information that isjust mongering, they are relaying all of that information that is just fear, and then you also have people saying welcome he didnt give this information and did not tell us this. Hes in a lose lose situation. I feel that he did everything that he should do and relayed the correct information to citizens of the United States. Really good to have you with us, thank you for extending to us why you have confidence in president trumka moy voted for him this time around in the very crucial Battle Ground state of michigan. Weve been projecting of course maine forjoe biden, that was to be expected but can you bring us up to date with what is happening there in the senate race which was such a hotly contested one . This was a really interesting rest because he had Susan Collins who is a veteran senator of maine always positioned herself as a moderate republican. She found herself in the fight of her political life because what we have been seeing over the last few yea rs have been seeing over the last few years is that there doesnt seem to be much room for moderate politicians of any stripe at the moment. We see the partisan divide pushing voters further and further to the fringes and theres been little room for people like senator Susan Collins to actually act in more local interests. She was tied very much with President Trump, she was part of the very controversial decision to confirm the nomination of Supreme Courtjustice brett cavanaugh, she was the deciding vote in that. A lot of democrats had formally voted for her did not forgive herfor formally voted for her did not forgive her for that and they moved away from her. However, we have been hearing from her campaign that things are looking pretty good for her. We are still waiting for that result. But its a very, very interesting race in that i think it shows just how polarised the United States has become and the influence, the impact that donald trump has had not just the impact that donald trump has had notjust on the impact that donald trump has had not just on the the impact that donald trump has had notjust on the president ial race but on these down ballot races. Welcome a donald trump and threatened to go to the Supreme Court as we know weve been bringing you those sound bites from the middle of the night. Aides tojoe biden said they also have legal teams on standby and our north america correspondent david willis reports the prospect of a legal challenge ahead. Donald trump as long maintain postal votes are prone to fraud even those no evidence to support that claim. What to make sure the election is honest i dont know that it can be. In dont know that it can be with this whole situation, unsolicited ballots, unsolicited, millions being sent to everybody. By casting doubt on the legitimacy of postal ballots the president is hoping to the courts will rule that the counting has to stop. That will mean millions of votes like this will be deemed illegitimate and thus would go uncounted. His focus is on pennsylvania come a swing state which could determine the outcome of this election. Last weekend the Supreme Court decided counting their could go on until the end of the week. A decision mr trump lambasted claiming it could lead to violence on the streets. A very dangerous thing for our country. And i hope the Supreme Court has the wisdom to change it. Because they cant let it stand. Donald trump also repeated claims of voter fraud echo claims during the 2000 president ial election. Gore versus bush was also really decided by the Supreme Court which ruled that recount in florida had to stop. The president s intervention in this election is different. The difference here is that we have several states the president thinks he might have taken away from him. In florida it was just one. The difference there for a due process argument was that some counties were counting and others we re counties were counting and others were not in the reusing different standards. I think the similarities between florida and what might happen in this year are entirely and vastly different. In a statement of president of the Biden Campaign said. But mrtrump but mr trump may have a secret weapon in the form of his latest addition to the Supreme Court. Her appointmentjust a addition to the Supreme Court. Her appointment just a week addition to the Supreme Court. Her appointmentjust a week before the election give the highest court in the land a conservative majority. The president will be hoping well find in his favour. With the outcome of this election on a knife edge the prospect of legal challenges in the days and weeks ahead will do little to assuage the growing sense of tension in this bitterly divided nation. We were just talking about maine there, we do have some breaking news on maine, we can now project that joe biden has 13 Electoral Colleges in maine. This slightly confusing because there are four to have in maine. That fourth could go to donald trump. You dont know yet the polls have donald trump as the favourite in the reason that the, that there are commit that these votes are being split is because its only one of two states that actually splits its electoral couege actually splits its Electoral College votes. One of two states where the winner does not claim all. As what we are seeing at the moment three votes projected forjill biden joe three votes projected forjill biden joe biden. They voted for trump last election and the polls have that again in 2020. Well, as can and i think we can also bring you up to date with the electoral couege up to date with the Electoral College as well. At this point, biden is in the lead with 227 Electoral College votes and donald trump has 213. But we are still waiting for a number of those Battle Ground states to return. And georgia is now expecting those final votes to be announced today. That has just been announced by the georgia secretary of state. The votes are coming in. We havejust got to be patient. Georgia is really one to watch. Got quite a few to count in atla nta watch. Got quite a few to count in atlanta which people are predicting will go more with the democrats so we will keep across georgia for you. As we have been hearing their could be legal challenges from both campaigns. At the insight on this from law professor Richard Paynter who is the chief white house ethics lawyer for who is the chief white house ethics lawyerfor president who is the chief white house ethics lawyer for president george w. Bush. From 2005 and 2007. We will ask you about the legal challenges in a moment but firstly how ethical is it in the middle of the night to address the nation saying you have won the election and saying there has been fraud when theres no evidence of that . Issues Benedict Donald trump. He does not know how to tell the truth and he believes the more often he sets something he wants to make it true. And thats what he did. Its very dangerous for our country. In a Representative Democracy you not only votes but you count every vote. We have had a pandemic, and we have tens of millions of votes that have been cast through the mail. And those vote rs have cast through the mail. And those voters have a right to have their votes counted, and thats whats happening in pennsylvania and michigan other states. The present trumpjust michigan other states. The present trump just wants to stop the count because the people went to the polls yesterday and those are not in his favour. And of course thats not going to do that for him. We are going to do that for him. We are going to do that for him. We are going to have to count every vote which is what every other country does if they have a real Representative Democracy. Looking back at history, do legal challenges actually change the outcome . When we look at this more broadly even if there are recounts, dont theyjust confirm what is in the ballot box . They dont actually alter the course of the election itself. Most recounts dont alter the course of the election. It is possible, occasionally it has happened, he goes back to the house and senate races with the recount changes things ina races with the recount changes things in a very tight race. But that the question of recounts. What is happening right now is donald trump is trying to stop the counting of the ballots. He doesnt even want to count them. After the first time to count them. After the first time to get a recount and we could discuss how many recounts we have and thats the bush versus gore issue. That we had 20 years ago. But we are nowhere near that yet. If there are indeed legal challenges which many people are expecting how long could it take . It depends on how these votes break out and why. Close states include pennsylvania and michigan, nevada and in pennsylvania you could have the republican controlled state legislature tried to refuse to certify the results and that could create some problems that would have to be resolved by the pennsylvania Supreme Court hopefully not by the us Supreme Court. It will depend with the margin of victory is and which lawyers are hearing which arguments. And its too early to do with the deciding legal issues will be. Do you expect people to accept the results of this election when all is said and done . Out of the every american would accept the results of the election. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Sometimes you lose for the wrong reasons, and people believe strongly that Vladimir Putin did a lot to help donald trump win in 2016 but donald trump did win the electoral couegein donald trump did win the Electoral College in 2016. Despite losing the popular vote. And he was the valid president of the United States. And now the question is whos going to be elected president of the United States . Pursuant to our constitution and the Electoral College and after everything will vote is counted. What it means to be an american is you accept our constitution and the results of our elections after every vote is counted. Thats very interesting indeed. Thank you very much forjoining us. A quick reminder of some the latest news coming to us, we are expecting joe biden the democratic challenger who has a narrow lead in the ways for the white house, to be giving a press co nfe re nce the white house, to be giving a press conference or a statement sometime soon, and we will bring that to you. But to remind you we are still waiting for several key states to declare. Millions of us still uncounted, President Trump has, without evidence, spoken of surprise ballot dumps that have seen him fall behind. To win the presidency, 270 Electoral College votes are needed. Having just won three more votes in may, joe biden is edging closer with 227 votes. Donald trump has 213. For more on the story so far, lets go over to the bbcs ben wright, who has this report from washington. In the early hours of the morning, donald trump tried to discredit the election. Millions of votes have yet to be counted. Neither candidate has won, but speaking in the white house the president prematurely claimed victory and then said this. This isa victory and then said this. This is a fraud on the american public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election, frankly, we did win this election, frankly, we did win this election, frankly, we did win this election. For months, donald trump has claimed without any evidence that postal voting leads to fraud. This election saw tens of millions of americans vote by mail and in several key states those legitimate ballots are still being processed. Mr trump has now threatened to go to the Supreme Court before the count is complete. This is uncharted territory for the United States. We want the lord to be used in a proper manner, so we will be going to the us Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We dont want them to find any ballots at 4am in the morning and add them to the list, ok . Joe bidens team called the president s statement, outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect, and when the democratic candidate spoke to supporters he told them to hold their nerve. Your patience is commendable knew this was going to go on, but who knew we were going to go on, but who knew we were going to go into maybe tomorrow morning, maybe even longer . But look, we feel good about where we are. We really do i good about where we are. We really do lam good about where we are. We really do i am here to tell you tonight we believe we are on track to win this election. At first, americans watched Election Night unfold without drama. The two candidates clocking up states they were expected to win. But early results also pointed to a much tighter election, then the polls had suggested. Democrats had dreams of blocking Donald Trumps path to the white house by winning florida, but the president s boats stayed strong. President trump has won florida. Joe biden visited ohio yesterday, but it is well stayed red. It soon became clear that this would be another nail biting race that would be decided by half a dozen states. In North Carolina, the democratic governor called for patients. in North Carolina, the democratic governor called for patients. I know that there are a lot of important races that are still too close to call. And we must let the process work to be sure that all of the legal votes are counted. In front of the white house on a street now known as black lives matter plaza, protesters met police. This is an anxious moment for a divided country. In the absence of a landslide win by either candidate, it was was possible this election could be dragged into the courts. Both sides have been preparing for a legal battle over postal votes that could tip the balance either way. Turn out in this election was huge, but a lengthy and contested wait for a result will keep this polarised nation on edge. Ben wright, bbc news, washington. Well, we still dont have a result from georgia. Lets show you what is happening there at the moment. It is too early to project, but donald trump has 50. 3 of the vote, joe biden has 48. 5 . So lots of eyes on georgia and what is going to happen there. That is in the deep south. Donald trump repeatedly casted out on the reliability of mail in voting and it has been important there that he has made allegations of Voter Suppression, so what has this election be like for ordinary voters . Election be like for ordinary voters . We can go to georgia now, to allow adva nta and voters . We can go to georgia now, to allow advanta and talk to doctor carol anderson, author of one person, no vote, who is a professor. The deep south doesnt seem like obvious joe the deep south doesnt seem like obviousjoe biden territory, he is doing quite well, but why is that . There have been years of grassroots organising, mobilising, getting people registered to vote, taking these states to court for their Voter Suppression laws and so what we are seeing is the culmination of years of activism and court cases. Doctor anderson, one of the things looking at the breakdown of how people voted, and if we can just bring those figures up on the screen, we have actually seen that the african vote is actually down on 2016, the African American vote is actually down. Having said that, 30 of voters were African Americans. What can you read into that . Does that show a lack of enthusiasm for joe biden, the candidate . No, not at all. I mean, what we are seeing, for instance we are in a nation that has gutted the Voting Rights act. They have provided protection, particularly for black voters, in the south. We are looking at a series of laws that have shut down holding places where African Americans and poor people live and they have created massive distances to the polls. That have put in fewer resources in the remaining polling stations where African Americans are. That have purged a disproportionately African American from the voting holes. We are looking at a whole series of policies and procedures and laws that have been targeted to suppress and depress black voter turnout. The fa ct and depress black voter turnout. The fact that we are seeing the election this close in the midst of a pandemic, where violence was threatened at the polls by donald trump, where the post office has been what you call knee capped by donald trump, from dismantling sorting machines where the Postal Service is now important today because it has not processed 300,000 ballots. All of that is the backdrop to what looks like a close election, but in fact what we are really seeing is the incredible effort of americans to vote and be heard. Dr carol anderson, thank you very much indeed forjoining us. And i was just going to mention that i spoke to quite a few people in atlanta in the lead up to the election, many of them queueing for hours to cast their vote, so a real passion for democracy and for their voice to be heard in atlanta, so we will wait for a final result coming in from georgia, but lets take you straight to madison, wisconsin, where the states chief election official birth is holding a post election Media Briefing and we can listen in. The Media Briefing and we can listen in. The Public Meeting of wisconsins public Election Commission is when those votes will be certified and that is when we will have the official winner and the official results of the election at that december the 1st meeting, as prescribed by state law. And so, i dont know if you had any other ground you want to lend and then we can opened up for some questions. Sure, the only other thing to let people know is that the results that you are seeing recorded on websites and newspapers and cable tv, they are numbers that are based on newsgathering, the Associated Press, other newsgathering organisations, to get those numbers from the counties. They aggregate them and report them. The Wisconsin Elections commission doesnt get any numbers from the locals until starting next week when the county starts to certify the numbers, so if you are asking us is this number right or that number right . The numbers that you are seeing are from the news media. They are generally very accurate, but they are not official and we dont have a in from the counties ourselves, so that isjust something to make sure that you all know. So if you want to take some questions, meagan, the first one is from nick. Good morning. Thank you. The president was referring to the election this morning early as a fraud, and saying that they are finding votes everywhere. Anything you would like to say about that and how the process went late into the night and early in the morning in wisconsin . Thank you for the question. I wont respond to that, but as i always do i am happy to talk about the facts of how elections work. In elections, they are such a deliberate, meticulous process , are such a deliberate, meticulous process, where each of our local Election Officials in our local communities are conducting this process in a public setting. Every piece of data is publicly available and so there is no opportunity to add additional votes to the tally, right . Because you have to make sure that everybody is registered to vote, that they have a lawful route lawful absentee request on file or they show their photo id at the poll booth. There is no opportunity to catch a ballot that did not go through that incredibly meticulous process to make sure it was issued correctly, to make sure that it is counted correct correctly and then again it also has to go through those three steps of canvas, at the municipal, the county and the state level before we have certified results. Anybody is welcome to watch that process. Some of the places even livestreamed their tally last night, and so i think it is insulting to our local Election Officials to say that yesterdays election was anything but an incredible success that was the result of years of preparation and meticulously, carefully following the law. And that was meagan wolfe, the law. And that was meagan wolfe, the chief elections officer for wisconsin. Lucy, iam the chief elections officer for wisconsin. Lucy, i am absolutely fascinated watching that, not because of anything she actually said, but because of how much the optics of this election have totally changed. I mean, there you have a state official in what looks to be her bedroom, herfront state official in what looks to be her bedroom, her front room, state official in what looks to be her bedroom, herfront room, i dont know, but it is clearly in her home. There are no flags, no great pomp and circumstance, there she isjust chatting away i mean, her sitting behind her looks very nice there, she has made some good decisions on her backdrop. Very tidy, isnt she . It is remarkable because the pandemic we are seeing this all over the states. But also significantly, and im not entirely sure she was expecting to be on National Television when she gave this press conference, but we are starting to see these sorts of officials right across america in those Battle Ground states and what is interesting the very first question she was asked is what her response was to this allegation of fraud from President Trump . Thats right, and like all the officials before her andi like all the officials before her and i am sure many to come she is very much taking the job of reassuring the public that there is nothing untoward here. This is simply about counting the votes that have been legitimately cast and that is what these Battle Ground states, even though the pressure is on, that is what they are going to continue to do. And jane, given we have seen that historic turn out right across the us, this passion for democracy, people want to feel that their vote counts. They do indeed, whether it is by mail, whether it is by an absentee vote, whether it is in person early voting or on the day, as we saw many, many millions of people turn out to cast their vote on november the 3rd, but yes, the emphasis is on the fact that all those votes will be counted and it is not up to the president to declare the winner, it is not up to joe biden to declare the winner, it is up to the voters within those states. Well, lets go to wisconsin, not to a bedroom or a sitting room, youre on a rooftop somewhere with a lovely background behind you. A reporterjoins us now lovely background behind you. A reporter joins us now from milwaukee. What are you hearing now . Well, as you say, wasnt it extraordinary listening to that official from the Election Commission reiterating and asjane was saying there, trying to calm the public down by saying, these things are all done in a public setting and people are free to watch. It was livestreamed, so if you want to go back and watch our process it is all donein back and watch our process it is all done ina back and watch our process it is all done in a very meticulous and transparent way, and they are put in a position now to have tojustify the process and clarify how things are done. I have spent the last couple of weeks here in wisconsin, i have been going to Donald Trumps rallies and in those valleys he continues to make one of the main talking points, this idea of voter fraud. He was leading up to this, so when he came out and gave that press co nfe re nce when he came out and gave that press conference i certainly didnt feel shocked hearing what he was saying because i was hearing it over and overagain at because i was hearing it over and over again at these rallies, where he was telling his base, he was telling the supporters who were there that, my concern is voter fraud. He has been saying it across the board. Here in wisconsin, the other thing that i found quite interesting that came out of that press conference from the Election Commission was that any numbers you are seeing coming out are being done by the media, it is being done by cable news. We havent actually issued any of the official numbers are as yet, so while we are hearing things like, 99 of the votes are being reported that this county has released votes or that county has released votes or that county has released votes, we have to reiterate that that isnt numbers that are coming out from the Election Commission. They are numbers that outfits like the Associated Press are projecting. The Electoral Commission also reiterated that most of the tiny numbers are accurate, so there is no reason to doubt that, but it certainly isnt something that the Election Commissions are doing themselves, so it is hanging bya doing themselves, so it is hanging by a knife edge here. The democrats have declared victory in wisconsin, but that is certainly not what the Election Commission is saying. They are saying, just hold your horses, be patient. These things take time. 1. 9 Million People in wisconsin voted, either by mail in or early voting. 3. 4 Million People have voted across wisconsin, so this thing is going to take some time. While you have been speaking, we have actually heard from the Donald Trump Campaign in wisconsin, who are demanding immediately an official recount. Is it not automatic bear, when the voters this close . It isnt automatic here in wisconsin, it has to be requested by the losing side and it is done based on a margin of 196 and it is done based on a margin of 1 or less and im just going to read that statement to you, lucy. This is, as you say, from the Trump Campaign statement on wisconsin. Despite ridiculous polling news as a Voter Suppression tactics, wisconsin has been a razor thin race as we always knew that it would be. There have been reports of irregularities in several wisconsin counties, which raises serious doubts about the validity of the results. The president as well within the threshold to request a recount. There you have it, i have just read that for the first time, that statement that the wisconsin Republican Party here is calling for a recount or saying that the president is in his right to request a recount because as i have just said it is not automatic in wisconsin like some other states across the United States, and as you have to remember, it varies from state to state, but here in wisconsin it is not automatic, it has to be requested and it can only be requested if it is done within a margin of 1 or less, and it seems at this point when looking at those numbers donald trump is within1 . Yalda hakim, thank you so much for that update and forjoining us from milwaukee. Well, both mr biden and mrtrump milwaukee. Well, both mr biden and mr trump believed that they are the man who is going to win. Rita is here to tell us more. Yes, lets just stand back and take stock a little bit. Take a look at the figures as they are still now a bitingly close. We have had maine projected for mr biden in the last hour or projected for mr biden in the last hourorso, projected for mr biden in the last hour or so, but otherwise not very much movement, but as you say both candidates are saying that they are quite confident of victory. How is that . Well, lets take a little look at some of the events that have led to these positions. Donald trump has had a much better night than a lot of people had expected, and here is an illustration of some of the key moments as to how that happened. From midnight onwards, ohio, then florida, then texas were very big holds for donald trump. Texas was a lwa ys holds for donald trump. Texas was always a long shot for the democrats, but florida had been seen as being very much in play and they tried very hard to try to flip florida, but it wasnt to be and if anything, donald trump actually extended his lead in florida over the Democratic Party. So these are signs that donald trump was really outperforming expectations, by quite some considerable way. And interestingly, ohio and florida are bellwether states that for decades they have almost always voted for they have almost always voted for the winning candidate, so that will have been extremely important for mr trump. Butjoe biden is also expressing confidence. And this is mainly because of the rust belt states, all of which have shown a swing towards the democrats. We just heard yalda hakim and lucy talking about wisconsin. The local Democratic Party there has projected wisconsin for the democrats. They say they have won it. You heard that is being contested by the republicans there, so well have to wait and see what the outcome is. In michigan, we are told we will get unofficial result by the end of the day. Pennsylvania is going to take a rather longer, possibly even until friday. Again, we will have to wait and see. But he reasoned that these three states are so important for the democrats is that the swing that they show away from the republicans to the democrats all suggest that the democrats have a very good chance of taking these states, flipping them from the republicans, which is whyjoe biden is saying he is confident of victory. Rita, as ever, thank you very much indeed for joining us. Lets go now to a republican strategist and pollster, who is in alexandria in virginia and a democratic pollster who joins us from washington, dc. I going to start with you and thank you for joining us. I havent the end for having the courage to front up to us today because i think you know that first question. You joined us yesterday and you said by this time we would know the result of the election and it would definitely be joe biden who would win, we would have President Biden coming up. How did you get it so wrong . Well, i still think it is going to be joe biden. He is going to win arizona, he is going to win nevada, he is going to win wisconsin, he is going to win michigan and that puts him at 270 votes. He doesnt even need pennsylvania to go over the top. I think we were somewhat disappointed in florida done. In that we thought was a closer race in what we saw with predictions. North carolina and quite frankly georgia are going to end up much closer once all the votes are in. But i think those will be andl votes are in. But i think those will be and i always thought they would be. Winning states for donald trump. But the bottom line is that northern walls that they talk about, the blue wall of minnesota, michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania. Are guess is that those are going to do coming through forjoe biden those are going to do coming through for joe biden and those are going to do coming through forjoe biden and that is enough to put in faroverthe forjoe biden and that is enough to put in far over the top by the time this is over. Im not going to be as brutal as lucy was and just say, why did you get it wrong . Another question perhaps is are the polls and the methods that pulses use really the right way to try to gauge the outcome of elections . Are you going to have to change your methodology to try to capture the nuance of some of these states . Well, thats where political pollsters like myself and like this lady who was on with me, we do poles for clients. And if we are not right, we either lose our campaigns or right, we either lose our campaigns ora right, we either lose our campaigns or a client or a combination of both. The problem with the average of all polls, the reason why we have gravitated to accepting that from the public polls is that as a route by averaging the poles out you take ones that are perhaps using methodology that is not quite correct and you even it out with others that are doing a betterjob. I think if anything in this cycle, and we will have to go back and look at the public polls, is that the one thing we knew all along its that the Trump Campaign had put a real effort into the ground game. They talked about. They knocked on about 100 million household doors and talk to voters knew the registration numbers, whether they had registered new voters in florida or nearly 100,000 new voters in pennsylvania. As a political pollster, we constantly take our sample from the latest list of registered voters. I think that may be where the problem is for some of the public polls is that they are missing a whole group, especially since the. Imjust missing a whole group, especially since the. Im just going to interrupt you, ed, because we are running out of time and we want to bring this lady in. We understood you had changed your methodology from the last election. Is there not just a truth here that people lied to pollsters . We have a method now for looking for lies, actually, and we asked people who their friends and neighbours would vote for and we have a method for looking at the trump vote. I think eddie is right. The private polls were a lot closer than the public polls and what we saw some surging in turnout and when you have a record high turnout youre going to have surgery on both sides, so i think we knew these were going to be close, somewhere a little closer than we had hoped. We knew that the latino vote is very, very diverse and it is a different latino vote in arizona, where we won almost two thirds, than a latino vote in florida, where we did have some problems. One thing i would say, though, in terms of the win, remember that joe biden is say, though, in terms of the win, remember thatjoe biden is i think going to be the next president of the United States and when he wins wisconsin and michigan and flipping arizona, he is going to win all of these states by a greater margin than donald trump did. So he is not only flipping states, he is winning them ina only flipping states, he is winning them in a biggerway only flipping states, he is winning them in a bigger way and that is a very, very important part of this victory that is being camouflaged. Celinda and ed, thank you both very much forjoining us. They have it, jane. Both of those pollsters predicting a victory forjoe biden. They are indeed, we will see, but it is looking good for the biden camp. Lets just recap where things actually stand with this election right now and the headline really is that, as i just right now and the headline really is that, as ijust said, we still dont know who will be americas next president. And we may be waiting some time find out. President trump has continued to cast doubt on the vote, particularly postal ballots and in his last campaign his saying he has demanded a recount in the state of wisconsin, which is not yet officially declared its results. Joe biden, his democratic challenger, said on twitter that his campaign would not rest until every vote was counted. In a runthrough of the critical Battle Grounds that are still voting, joe biden we are counting their has a narrow lead in the key states of wisconsin and michigan, while in pennsylvania mr trump is currently ahead. Many postal votes there though, are yet to be tallied. Whatever the final outcome of the count, both camps seem to be squaring up for a battle in the courts as the race for the white house continues well into the second day. Thanks for watching bbc news. Our coverage continues. Hello there. High pressure brought us a quiet day of weather on wednesday. The best of this sunshine across england and wales where much of the day skies looked like these. However, there were a few showers around across the north of wales. Across northwest england and the West Midlands as well. In scotland and Northern Ireland clouds have been thickening towards the end of the afternoon. And that cloud is associated with this cloud you can see here on the satellite picture. So warm fronts brings the rain across northern scotland and once that rain has pushed through we will start to get milder air coming around this area of High Pressure. So temperatures will actually be rising through the night. Whereas across the heart of england and wales the fronts are kept at bay and here its going to be a cold night with long clear spells, frost, temperatures getting down to about 3, 4 degrees in the coldest areas in the countryside and there will be some dense patches of fog. Whereas that rain banned in scotland, whereas that rain band in scotland, well it trickles into the far north of england whilst weakening work over the hills i suspect will be a bit of drizzle. Once that front is through its a night where temperature will be rising through the night and by the end of the night will be back to 11 degrees in glasgow. So a mild start to the day for much of scotland, Northern Ireland and the far north of england. Cold in the south, sunshine once the fog patches have lifted and the frost has melted away. As far as the temperatures go, well as we go through thursday afternoon, broadly speaking similar to what we had on wednesday highs of around 10 to 13 degrees, but it could turn quite mild for a time aberdeenshire. If we see a bit of sunshine, those higher temperatures boosted by the fern effect. Thats the winds coming over the mountains. On into fridays forecast, another quiet day, High Pressure stilljust about clinging on. Again, a cold start across southern areas with a few mist and fog patches. Rather cloudy again across northwestern parts of the country. And later through friday afternoon we will start to see the winds pick up across the south. And that can make it feeljust a little bit cooler and fresherfor a time. Although on the face of it, those temperatures similar values. Highest 10 to 13 degrees. Now for this weekend we are going to start to see the winds turn to a more southerly direction. And those southerly winds will be pushing in some slightly milder air. But its going to take a while for that milder air to mix into the weather in scotland, so here it stays quite cool. Those temperatures go to rise but england and wales turning milder and a 16 degrees or so in london. But there will be some cloud and rain around at times through the weekend as well. Five to finish the of selection, the outcome numbers depends on the results in just a few states they are still counting. The close to call. Knowing the ballots left to sift through, doctor palardy claims without evidence that he has one saying the democrats are trying to steal the election. We will be going to the us Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We dont want them to find any ballots at four oclock in the morning and add them to the list. Joe bidens team has called effo rts list. Joe bidens team has called efforts to stop the count and millions of the shipment votes outrageous. Were going to have to be patient until we,