US President Donald Trump launched an assault on the country's democratic process from the White House on Thursday, falsely claiming the election was being 'stolen' from him as Democratic Party Joe Biden nears victory.
Trump said, "This is a case where they are trying to steal an election."
Biden, the former vice president, was steadily eating away the Republican incumbent's leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia even as he maintained narrow advantages in Nevada and Arizona, moving closer to securing the 270 votes in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the winner.
According to reports, in Pennsylvania, Trump's lead had shrunk from 319,000 on Wednesday afternoon to around 50,000 by Thursday night, while his margin in Georgia fell from 68,000 to 2,500. Those numbers were expected to continue to move in Biden's favor, with many of the outstanding ballots from areas that typically vote Democratic, including the cities of Philadelphia and Atlanta. Biden, meanwhile, saw his lead in Arizona contract from 93,000 to around 48,000; he was ahead in Nevada by only 11,000 votes. Biden would become the next president by winning Pennsylvania, or by winning two out of the trio of Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona. Trump's likeliest path appeared narrower – he needed to hang onto Pennsylvania and Georgia while overtaking Biden in either Nevada or Arizona.
Most major television networks gave Biden a 253 to 214 lead in Electoral College votes, which are largely determined by state population after he captured the crucial states of Wisconsin and Michigan on Wednesday. In Georgia, Gabriel Sterling, an election official, said it would "take time" to process tens of thousands of remaining ballots. Arizona, where there were at least 400,000 ballots remaining, and Nevada, which had 190,000 uncounted votes, were also expected to take days to complete their tallies.
