AUSTIN (KXAN) — On Saturday morning, Joe Biden won the state of Pennsylvania’s electoral votes — winning 273 total votes and becoming the president-elect of the United States.
Ballot counting continues in Alaska, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina.
6:30 p.m. Saturday
The crowd has dwindled but is still significant in front of the Texas State Capitol on Saturday night.
Supporters of President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden have remained steady in their enthusiasm as they gather out there, but also drivers have honked as they pass through 11th Street.
Austin Police tell KXAN just one arrest was made early when protests first began.
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are expected to speak at a celebration event at 7 p.m. from Wilmington, Delaware.
4:40 p.m. Saturday
Earlier today, Reporters Wes Rapaport and Kaitlyn Karmout shared the sights and sounds of the protest downtown near the Texas Capitol. That protest continues at this hour with each side’s supporters on different sides of the street.
4:30 p.m. Saturday
President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday afternoon, making a number of claims about the election. Twitter flagged it, saying “This claim about election fraud is disputed.”
“THE OBSERVERS WERE NOT ALLOWED INTO THE COUNTING ROOMS. I WON THE ELECTION, GOT 71,000,000 LEGAL VOTES. BAD THINGS HAPPENED WHICH OUR OBSERVERS WERE NOT ALLOWED TO SEE. NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WERE SENT TO PEOPLE WHO NEVER ASKED FOR THEM!” Trump tweeted.
Election officials say poll watchers have been allowed to observe per the rules put in place in various states. Additionally, mail-in ballots are automatically sent to everyone in 10 states.
Here’s a list of how the president’s campaign is working to challenge results in various states.
4:22 p.m. Saturday
A simple Tweet by VP-elect Kamala Harris garnered thousands of comments and retweets in just minutes.
Earlier Saturday Harris posted a video of herself calling Joe Biden and congratulating him, saying “We did it. You’re going to be the next President of the United States.”
4:05 p.m. Saturday
Here are scenes from the protests and celebrations in downtown Austin.
Trump supporters gathered at the Capitol, across the street from a group of Biden supporters.
One video showed a Biden supporter waving a large flag as others listened to music.
Trump supporters then marched downtown.
3:50 p.m. Saturday
The Travis County Democrat party plans to hold a watch party starting at 6:30 p.m., about 30 minutes before Joe Biden is expected to speak.
According to the chair of TCDP, Katie Naranjo, Travis County Attorney Delia Garza (who was elected back in July), newly-elected Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza, re-elected District 21 Sen. Judith Zaffirini and Rep. Donna Howard will join.
3:24 p.m. Saturday
Austin Police Department says there was one arrest at the beginning of the demonstrations, but it’s not known what they were arrested for.
3 p.m. Saturday
As protests continue in downtown Austin, several Austinites and Texans have given their reactions to Biden’s victory.
Pres. Donald Trump has returned to the White House after spending the morning golfing, Reuters reports.
1:33 p.m. Saturday
Kamala Harris will break boundaries once again when she becomes the first female Vice President of the United States. But it’s not her first time making history. In 2017, Harris was sworn into the U.S. Senate, representing her home state of California and becoming the second African-American woman and first South Asian-American in Senate history, according to her Senate bio.
1:28 p.m. Saturday
Biden and Trump supporters gathered on either side of the street at the Texas Capitol, each side chanting.
Trump supporters then began marching downtown.
Throngs of supporters also took to the streets in cities across the nation to celebrate the victory of President-elect Joe Biden.
1 p.m. Saturday
The Trump campaign has filed legal challenges in Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia. Trump’s campaign also announced that it would ask for a recount in Wisconsin. Campaign manager Bill Stepien cited “irregularities in several Wisconsin counties,” without providing specifics.
Biden campaign attorney Bob Bauer called the Trump campaign’s lawsuits meritless.
11:45 a.m. Saturday
President-elect Biden will address the nation from his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, tonight at 7 p.m.
AP has also called the state of Nevada for Biden.
11:13 a.m. Saturday
Local reactions included celebrations and protests in Austin.
Texas Democrats released a statement, saying in part:
“A strong majority of Americans led to this victory. Texas is proud to have delivered the third highest amount of raw votes for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. It’s time to unify our country. Biden and Harris will lead us forward and build our economy back better. Our time is now. Our national nightmare of Donald Trump is finally over.”
Texas Democrats
Congressional Hispanic Caucus chairman and former 2020 presidential candidate Joaquin Castro released a statement, saying in part: “The election of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris fills our hearts with hope for a better future. This is a new day in America.”
10:25 a.m. Saturday
Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States on Saturday after winning Pennsylvania and amassing 273 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win.
In a statement, Biden responded to the historic win:
“I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect Harris.
Joe Biden, president-elect
In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America.
With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.
It’s time for America to unite. And to heal.
We are the United States of America. And there’s nothing we can’t do, if we do it together.”
Despite the worldwide announcements, Pres. Donald Trump is not conceding just yet.
Vice-president-elect Kamala Harris shared a video of her calling Biden, congratulating him, saying, “You’re going to be President of the United States!”
In a statement shortly after, Pres. Trump said:
“We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed. The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor. In Pennsylvania, for example, our legal observers were not permitted meaningful access to watch the counting process. Legal votes decide who is president, not the news media.
“Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated. The American People are entitled to an honest election: that means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots. This is the only way to ensure the public has full confidence in our election. It remains shocking that the Biden campaign refuses to agree with this basic principle and wants ballots counted even if they are fraudulent, manufactured, or cast by ineligible or deceased voters. Only a party engaged in wrongdoing would unlawfully keep observers out of the count room – and then fight in court to block their access.
“So what is Biden hiding? I will not rest until the American People have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands.”
10:15 p.m. Friday
Joe Biden addressed the nation Friday night as ballots continue to be counted and his lead widened in key states like Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Although it wasn’t a declaration of victory, Biden remained confident he and his campaign would win the election.
“The numbers tell us a clear and convincing story,” Biden said. “We’re going to win this race.”
He urged voters to remain patient and calm as votes are counted.
Biden also turned his focus to the pandemic and vowed to implement additional coronavirus response measures from day one, both from a medical standpoint and from an economic one. He spoke to families who have lost loved ones to the virus.
“I want them to know they’re not alone—our hearts break with you,” Biden said.
He said we have to come together as a nation to heal and to protect our future.
“I’ll work as hard for those who voted against me, as those who voted for me. That’s the job,” he said.
President Trump hadn’t addressed the nation since Thursday evening but tweeted earlier on Friday, saying his leads in key states “miraculously” disappeared and vowing to move forward with legal proceedings.
As of Friday night, Biden led Trump in votes in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona, although his lead in Arizona diminished during the day Friday.
North Carolina, Alaska, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania remain uncalled by AP.
9 p.m. Friday
Joe Biden is expected to speak sometime Friday night at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware.
4:43 p.m. Friday
In Central Texas, Williamson County reported there will be a delay in precinct-by-precinct voting data, due to a programming issue with its ballot machines. Officials said while the election results are still accurate, early voting in-person ballots could not be broken down by precinct, because the machine didn’t assign a precinct to each ballot.
The county turned blue this year and chose Democratic challenger Mike Gleason over incumbent Robert Chody for its sheriff.
2:45 p.m. Friday
Joe Biden currently leads President Donald Trump by a slim margin of 1,586 votes in Georgia, according to the state’s top elections officials.
Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Secretary of State, shared that update Friday afternoon on the ongoing process to count ballots.
“The stakes are high, and the emotions are high on all sides,” Raffensperger said. “We will not let those debates distract us from our work. We will get it right, and we will defend the integrity of our elections.”
One of his top officials, Gabriel Sterling, added there are still about 4,000 ballots left to be counted statewide. Sterling said the state has yet to receive 8,410 military ballots, which will be counted if they were postmarked on Election Day and received by the end of the business day Friday.
The narrow margin between the two presidential candidates in Georgia still shows a “strong probability” of a recount happening there, Sterling said.
12:45 p.m. Friday
Joseph Gloria, the Clark County Registrar, said he’s going to offer updates to the ballot counting process in Nevada twice a day. The next update from there is expected by 6 p.m. Central time. Elections staff is still going through about 63,000 ballots, he said, with more coming in the mail Friday.
Staff also has to go through about 60,000 provisional ballots, but that’s on hold until the Nevada Secretary of State gives them some direction, NBC News reports.
12:30 p.m. Friday
Biden’s campaign announced that he’ll give a speech televised during prime time Friday, but his campaign didn’t give an exact time or details on what he might say.
Unrelated to Biden’s announcement, President Donald Trump issued a statement that struck a much different tone than his previous ones, but still claimed the Democrats are cheating.
The statement says, in part, “From the beginning we have said that all legal ballots must be counted and all illegal ballots should not be counted, yet we have met resistance to this basic principle by Democrats at every turn.”
The full statement is below:
We believe the American people deserve to have full transparency into all vote counting and election certification, and that this is no longer about any single election. This is about the integrity of our entire election process. From the beginning we have said that all legal ballots must be counted and all illegal ballots should not be counted, yet we have met resistance to this basic principle by Democrats at every turn. We will pursue this process through every aspect of the law to guarantee that the American people have confidence in our government. I will never give up fighting for you and our nation.
President Donald Trump
10:35 a.m. Friday
Biden’s lead in Nevada has swelled to 22,000 votes with 91% of the expected vote returned, NBC News reports.
10 a.m. Friday
The Georgia Secretary of State said a recount in the presidential race will happen because the margin of votes between Joe Biden and President Donald Trump will remain incredibly slim.
Brad Raffensperger said Georgia remains “too close to call” for either candidate even though Biden took the lead narrowly in the vote count early Friday morning.
Gabriel Sterling, the state’s voting system implementation manager, said there are still 4,169 ballots left to count. He broke down where they’re coming from now:
- 150 in Cherokee County
- 75 in Cobb County
- 440 in Floyd County
- 3,500 in Gwinnett County
Raffensperger also said there are still 8,890 military ballots that have yet to be returned. He said they’ll be counted if they arrive by the end of this business day.
Additionally, Sterling said Georgia is “not seeing widespread irregularities.” However, any credible reports will be thoroughly investigated because the state has a margin the size “of less than a high school,” he said.
7:50 a.m. Friday
The latest ballot count update in Pennsylvania has Joe Biden taking the lead from President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania by more than 5,500 votes.
5:30 a.m. Friday
Democrat Joe Biden has taken the lead in Georgia. At last report, Biden leads President Donald Trump by 1,096 votes in a state that’s typically a Republican stronghold. The Associated Press is reporting that Georgia has counted 99% of its expected ballots.
Trump still holds a lead in Pennsylvania by 18,229 votes, but his advantage is dwindling there with 97% of the expected votes counted, according to the AP. Biden is still ahead in Nevada and Arizona as of Friday morning.
10:15 p.m. Thursday
The vote counts in Pennsylvania are also tightening as of Thursday night. NewsNation Now reports Trump’s lead over Biden fell from more than 42,000 votes to 26,132. As of 11 p.m. ET, there are around 176,000 ballots left to count.
Pennsylvania remains one of the states uncalled by the Associated Press.
In Georgia, the Secretary of State says there are 14,097 ballots still outstanding in seven counties as of Thursday night. As of 10:05 p.m., there is approximately a 1,775 vote difference, with Trump leading in the state, according to the Associated Press.
After Trump’s remarks from the White House Thursday night, some recently re-elected U.S. representatives for Texas sounded off on social media about the 2020 presidential election.
9 p.m. Thursday
The Georgia vote count tightened Thursday night, with Trump narrowly leading by about 1,900 votes, according to AP, as of 9 p.m. Gwinnett County, outside of Atlanta, faced software problems, which delayed the counting of thousands of ballots, NewsNation Now reports. Certified results from the state aren’t expected to come until late November, according to election officials.
6:30 p.m. Thursday
President Trump gave remarks from the White House Thursday evening, congratulating Republican congressmembers for winning their respective races. Many were quick to point out Trump’s unsupported claims of voter fraud during the speech. NewsNation Now says state and federal officials have not reported any instances of widespread voter fraud.
3:30 p.m. Thursday
Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, delivered remarks Thursday, urging people to remain calm while states keep counting ballots.
“Every vote must be counted,” he said from the stage in Wilmington, DE, with vice presidential candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris, standing by his side.
Biden said democracy is “messy” and “requires patience.” However, he expressed confidence he will win once all the votes are counted.
“We feel very good about where things stand,” he said.
Biden’s remarks came shortly after President Trump’s supporters held their own news conference in Phoenix outside the Republican Party of Arizona headquarters there. Despite the Associated Press already calling Arizona for Biden, these Republican leaders said they believe the ongoing ballot count will ultimately shift and prove victorious for the president.
“We’re winning this,” Kelli Ward, the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, said Thursday.
12:20 p.m. Thursday
The Associated Press reported judges in Georgia and Michigan have dismissed lawsuits by President Trump’s campaign aimed to stop the states from counting mail-in ballots.
In Georgia, the lawsuit by the state Republican Party and President Trump’s campaign that asked him to ensure a coastal county was following state laws on processing absentee ballots.
Chatham County Superior Court Judge James Bass did not provide an explanation for his decision Thursday at the close of a roughly one-hour hearing. The county includes the heavily Democratic city of Savannah.
The suit had raised concerns about 53 absentee ballots that poll observers said were not part of an original batch of ballots. County elections officials testified that all 53 ballots had been received on time.
In Michigan, Judge Cynthia Stephens dismissed a lawsuit in a dispute over whether Republican challengers had access to the handling of absentee ballots.
Judge Stephens noted that the lawsuit was filed late Wednesday afternoon, just hours before the last ballots were counted. She also said the defendant, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, was the wrong person to sue because she doesn’t control the logistics of local ballot counting, even if she is the state’s chief election officer.
The Associated Press called the Michigan presidential election for Democrat Joe Biden on Wednesday evening. Trump won the state in 2016.
The lawsuit claimed Benson, a Democrat, was allowing absentee ballots to be counted without teams of bipartisan observers as well as challengers. She was accused of undermining the “constitutional right of all Michigan voters … to participate in fair and lawful elections.”
Benson, through state attorneys, denied the allegations. Much of the dispute centered on the TCF Center in Detroit where pro-Trump protesters gathered while absentee ballots were being counted.
10:30 a.m. Thursday
President Trump’s campaign announced they intend on filing an injunctive relief in Nevada to stop the counting of ballots, to which they claim are fraudulent in one way or another. It’s now the fourth lawsuit the campaign has filed against states to stop ballot counting. The campaign has filed suits in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and now Nevada.
Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt made the announcement, and while other members of the President’s campaign team spoke, none of them identified themselves to media members other than Laxalt. The others who spoke had their last names on their campaign pullover sweaters, but didn’t verbally identify themselves when asked.
Former Acting Director of National Intelligence Rick Grenell called the mail-in ballot system in Nevada the “Harry Reid machine” and said it “recklessly threw ballots into the mail.” He said they have evidence, that’s “publicly available,” that Nevada is counting illegal votes. When asked to provide the evidence by a NBC reporter in Las Vegas after the press conference, Grenell didn’t and told the reporter to ask the Clark County Clerk those questions.
The campaign didn’t take any questions, even though reporters were shouting asking if they had evidence of their voter fraud claims.
10 a.m. Thursday
Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s voter implementation manager, spoke at a press conference and said there are about 60,000 ballots outstanding right now. He said the state has been in constant communication with county elections officials to get results as soon as they possibly can.
At last count, President Trump held a lead of about 18,000 votes, but ballots from historically Democratic areas are the bulk of the ballots yet to be counted.
Sterling said they are working to get all the votes counted Thursday. Sterling starts speaking at the 14-minute mark of the video, so skip to that unless you want to listen to some music.
9:05 a.m. Thursday
Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says his office will hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. Central Time to address the ongoing ballot counting in the state.
Previously, he said counting would be done by 12 p.m. Thursday.
Tom Wolf, the governor of Pennsylvania, will also hold a news conference to update the public on its ballot counting process at 10:45 a.m. Central Time.
8 a.m. Thursday
KLAS in Las Vegas says President Trump’s campaign will hold a news conference for a “major announcement” at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, so 10:30 a.m. Central Time, outside the Clark County Clerk’s office.
Scheduled to be at the news conference is former Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell, former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, Chairman of the American Conservative Union Matt Schlapp and Nevada GOP Chair Michael McDonald, KLAS reports.
Wednesday recap
Many of the elections in Texas were decided Tuesday, but some big ones across the country, including the race for President of the United States, are still in limbo.
President Trump carried Texas, however, behind the strength of support from voters in the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas. With 89% of the expected votes reported, Trump has a 52-46 lead over challenger Joe Biden and is the projected winner in the state.
Five states are still up for grabs as we move into Thursday, including the battleground state Pennsylvania.
Sen. John Cornyn held his seat for the Republican Party with a win over Democratic challenger MJ Hegar. Hegar, an Air Force veteran and Purple Heart recipient, conceded the election around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. As of this morning with 88% of the expected votes counted, Cornyn has a 53-43 lead.
In Austin, Proposition A, the Project Connect mass transit plan, passed in emphatic fashion 58-42. Proposition B, which will provide funds for other transportation improvements around Austin, also passed by a big margin, 67-33.
In Williamson County, there will be a new sheriff. Challenger Mike Gleason defeated incumbent Robert Chody 56-44 to take over the county’s top law enforcement position. Chody is currently under indictment for tampering with evidence in relation to an investigation into the in-custody death of Javier Ambler and the footage from reality show “LivePD” connected with it.
11:55 p.m. Wednesday
On Wednesday night, Alaska, Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania were yet to be called by AP.
In Georgia, NBC News reports less than 100,000 votes are left to be counted. The news outlet also documented the rising tensions in Arizona outside of a Phoenix ballot-counting facility where crowds have gathered.
AP has called Arizona for Biden, but NBC News has not called it yet.
9:30 p.m. Wednesday
In Arizona, NBC News reports people are gathering outside Maricopa County Elections as workers are counting ballots. The county contains the city of Phoenix.
In Texas, 815 mail-in ballots were found in a sweep of some of the state’s USPS processing facilities.
6:17 p.m. Wednesday
The Trump campaign has filed a third lawsuit in a third state—Georgia, according to the Associated Press. He’s also filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan and has requested a recount in Wisconsin.
5:15 p.m. Wednesday
AP declared Joe Biden the winner in Michigan, securing him 16 more electoral votes. Right now, he stands at 264. AP has yet to call Alaska, Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Nevada.
3:22 p.m. Wednesday
Joe Biden took to the stage Wednesday to call for unity and let the electoral process play out.
“I’m not here to declare that we’ve won,” he said. “But I am here to report, when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.”
3:15 p.m. Wednesday
“People seemed to take our advice to vote early,” Travis County Clerk Dana Debeauvoir said Wednesday during a press conference to share an update about the election process and reflect on Election Day 2020.
She said they are working to reconcile 7,579 provisional ballots, and have five days to do so. Then, Travis County’s plan is to canvas its portion of the election results to the Secretary of State’s Office on Nov. 12.
There will be a number of runoffs, including Austin ISD District 8 and Austin City Council Districts 6 and 10. Debeauvoir said there may be another couple runoffs called in the next few days.
The runoff election will take place Dec. 15.
1:42 p.m. Wednesday
President Donald Trump’s campaign says it has filed a lawsuit trying to halt the vote count in battleground Michigan.
Here’s the statement released by the campaign:
“As votes in Michigan continue to be counted, the presidential race in the state remains extremely tight as we always knew it would be. President Trump’s campaign has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots as the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law. We have filed suit today in Michigan Court of Claims to halt counting until meaningful access has been granted. We also demand to review those ballots which were opened and counted while we did not have meaningful access. President Trump is committed to ensuring that all legal votes are counted in Michigan and everywhere else.”
– BILL STEPIEN, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN MANAGER
1:24 p.m. Wednesday
Biden has won Wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes by a thin margin, according to the Associated Press.
Even before that race was officially called in Biden’s favor, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said the president would formally request a Wisconsin recount, citing “irregularities in several Wisconsin counties,” and the campaign filed filed suit in Michigan to halt counting of ballots because it contended it wasn’t given “meaningful access” to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process.
Michigan has not yet been called.
1 p.m. Wednesday
In other election news, Rep. Dade Phelan says he has enough votes to become Speaker of the Texas House.
Each legislature lawmakers choose someone to become Speaker, the presiding officer over the House of Representatives in Texas.
The last speaker, Dennis Bonnen, chose not to run for re-election after a secret recording was released indicating he would give media credentials and floor access to a conservative non-profit group if they target 10 moderate Republicans in the primaries.
12 p.m. Wednesday
When could the presidential election be decided? It could be in flux until next week or longer as ballots are counted, finalized and subject to possible disputes and other legal actions, said Dr. Jeremi Suri, a professor of public policy and history at the University of Texas at Austin.
“As those ballots are counted, you’ll see the different campaigns jockeying to try to control the narrative,” Dr. Suri said. “Once we have counts from various states, wherever that takes us, we could certainly have some disputes in some states.”
10:45 a.m. Wednesday
Travis County District Attorney-elect José Garza didn’t flinch in an interview Wednesday when KXAN News Today anchor Sally Hernandez asked him if he intends to investigate the death of Mike Ramos.
“It’s one of the first cases that we will take a look at when I take office in January,” Garza said. “My heart continues to break for the Ramos family that they have had to wait so long for justice.”
Garza intends to take the case to a grand jury, he said, and then doubled down and said all cases of police misconduct will go in front of grand juries moving forward.
10:30 a.m. Wednesday
Despite millions of dollars spent on down-ballot races and repetitious statements that Texas is the biggest battleground state, Democrats failed to achieve their goal of flipping nine seats and gaining a majority in the state House for the first time since 2002.
In fact, little changed to the balance of power in the Texas House on Election Day.
With still some mail-in and provisional votes to be counted, it appeared that the 83-67 Republican majority would remain mostly intact.
7 a.m. Wednesday
The state of Nevada, which NBC News says Joe Biden leads by a slim 7,600 votes, announced it will not provide another results update until Thursday. So far, Nevada says all in-person early and Election Day votes have been counted as well as all mail-ballots received through Monday.
Here’s what is left to count in Nevada.
Provisional ballots and mail ballots received on Election Day and over the next week are still outstanding. Nevada reports “it is difficult to estimate (outstanding ballots) because every voter was sent a mail ballot. Obviously, not all will vote.”
6 a.m. Wednesday
Votes were tabulated throughout the night, but there are still six states that haven’t reported full results, and those will decide who the next President of the United States will be.
Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia still haven’t finalized results at this writing. Biden is holding a razor-thin lead in Wisconsin, while Trump has a slim lead in Michigan.
Reid Epstein of the New York Times reported a lack of ink in a printer held up ballot counting in Wisconsin overnight, but new ink was delivered and the counting resumed. Those ballots, from Brown County, are on their way to being finalized.
3:07 a.m. Wednesday
Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon called Trump’s statement that he will “be going to the U.S. Supreme Court” and that he wants “all voting to stop” “outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect.”
O’Malley Dillon says the Biden campaign has “legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist that effort.” And she says, “They will prevail.”
The Associated Press says it has not declared a winner in the presidential race, saying: “There are still hundreds of thousands of votes left to be counted, and the outcome hinges on a handful of uncalled battleground states.”
2:00 a.m. Wednesday
The Associated Press is not calling the presidential race yet, however, it has called Arizona for Joe Biden as of Wednesday morning. Biden becomes only the second Democrat since 1948 to win the state.
Houston Police Department Chief Art Acevedo tweeted in reference to the strong Republican showing in races that: “Texas Democrats can thank “socialist democrats and defund the police crowd” led by @GregCasar, @JimmyFlannigan and the rest of the Austin City Council. Fact, Americans and Texans want better policing, not de-policing, and they don’t want anything to do with any form of socialism.”
12:09 a.m. Wednesday
Pres. Donald Trump is projected to win Texas and its 38 electoral votes, AP reports. Trump said in a speech early Wednesday that he spoke to Gov. Greg Abbott who congratulated him on the win.
Republican Chip Roy is projected to beat Democratic challenger Wendy Davis for the Texas U.S. House Dist. 21.
11:43 p.m. Tuesday
Joe Biden gives first speech of the night, saying he believes the campaign is “on track to win the election.” Biden explains that voters will need to be patient due to the unprecedented nature of voting this year. “It’s not over until every vote is counted,” Biden exclaimed.
First-term representative Erin Zweiner projected to be re-elected to District 45 seat, beating Republican challenger Carrie Isaac.
11:37 p.m. Tuesday
Pres. Donald Trump wins Florida and its 29 electoral votes, AP confirms.
11:19 p.m. Tuesday
Joe Biden wins Minnesota and its 10 electoral votes, AP reports.
Meanwhile, Ohio goes to Trump with 18 electoral votes.
Early numbers show Republican incumbent Roger Williams holding onto the U.S. House Texas Dist. 25 seat against Dem. challenger Julie Oliver. Oliver responded, saying in part, “Gerrymandering sucks. And Texas deserves better. Texas, I love you and I’m proud of you. Learn from tonight, take what you can from the hard lessons, and keep fighting. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. See y’all down the road.”
Williams released a statement, saying: “Tonight, the people of Texas’ 25th District have once again sent a clear message that they want a government that abides by the Constitution and empowers the American people to reach their fullest potential. I’m honored they have once again trusted me to represent them in Congress, and I pledge to spend this next term continuing the fight for lower taxes, defending our law enforcement, taking care of our military and veterans and protecting the unborn.”
10:46 p.m. Tuesday
Austin Proposition A passes — the project, dubbed “Project Connect,” is Austin’s most comprehensive transportation plan. It will build the city’s first light rail system, add new bus routes, create a new downtown tunnel system and provide $300 million for affordable housing.
Vanessa Fuentes was elected to serve Austin City Council District 2.
Greg Casar was re-elected to Austin City Council’s District 4 seat.
Incumbent Leslie Pool won re-election to Austin City Council District 7.
10:16 p.m. Tuesday
Republican incumbent Gary Cutler was re-elected as Hays County Sheriff, defeating Democrat challenger and Kyle City Council member Alex Villalobos.
10:05 p.m. Tuesday
Election judges are hard at work, continuing to drop off ballots at the Travis County Clerk’s Office Tuesday night.
9:52 p.m. Tuesday
John Carter was re-elected to U.S. House District 31.
9:26 p.m. Tuesday
Mike Gleason has beat Robert Chody and will become the new sheriff of Williamson County.
August Pfluger won the U.S. House District 11 seat.
Pete Sessions will represent House District 17 in Congress.
Ann Howard will represent Western Travis County in the Commissioners Court Precinct 3 seat
9 p.m. Tuesday
A number of people from the Travis County Republican Party gathered for a watch party Tuesday night at a place on Research Boulevard.
8:57 p.m. Tuesday
MJ Hegar released a statement after conceding to John Cornyn, saying, “Together, we stood up and got to work, building a powerful grassroots campaign from the ground up, shattering voter turnout records, and most importantly sending a message to a previously safe Senator that he answers to us. I am confident that the work we did will move our state forward for years to come.”
8:46 p.m. Tuesday
Currently, the Associated Press has called the following states for Joe Biden, who has 131 electoral votes, and President Donald Trump, who has 92 electoral votes:
- Trump: North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia
- Biden: Colorado, New Mexico, Illinois, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont
8:33 p.m. Tuesday
John Cornyn has been re-elected to the U.S. Senate. Democrat MJ Hegar called him to concede Tuesday night, a Cornyn campaign spokesman told Nexstar’s Wes Rapaport.
8:15 p.m. Tuesday
Travis County experienced record-breaking turnout in 2020, but Election Day was a “steady, quiet day for voting,” according to Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir.
DeBeauvoir expects voting totals for Travis County to be around 600,000, which is still a record 70% turnout, but the number is lower than what officials thought possible after a surge in early voting.
7:37 p.m. Tuesday
Greg Casar has won re-election to represent District 4 for the Austin City Council.
Leslie Pool won re-election for the Austin City Council District 7 seat
José Garza was elected Travis County District Attorney
Andy Brown is the new Travis County Judge
Austin Proposition B passed. It will provide $460 million for transportation infrastructure such as 78 miles of new and ADA-accessible sidewalks, urban trails, bikeways, safe routes to school and improvements for substandard streets.
7 p.m. Tuesday
The Associated Press has called Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Oklahoma for Donald Trump.
Rhode Island, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, Delaware and Connecticut have been called for Joe Biden, according to AP.
6:56 p.m. Tuesday
The Associated Press has called South Carolina for Donald Trump.
6:45 p.m. Tuesday
As of now, early voting accounts for 92% of all votes in Travis County. That number will decrease as Tuesday’s total increases.
6:40 p.m. Tuesday
As of 5:30 pm, a spokesperson from the county judge’s office says 504 votes were cast at government center in San Marcos. That’s second busiest location in the county.
Voters at Texas State university had surpassed that number by 3:30pm, with 565 votes cast. The spokesperson said the university has been the highest performing polling station in the county. She says the biggest challenge has been that many students needed a provisional ballot. Students were registered in a different county or hadn’t changed their addresses.
6:36 p.m. Tuesday
The Associated Press has called Virginia for Joe Biden.
6:30 p.m. Tuesday
The Associated Press has called West Virginia for Donald Trump.
6:15 p.m. Tuesday
Earlier today, voters spoke to KXAN’s Will DuPree at Brushy Creek Community Center in Round Rock, explaining why they came out to vote, some for the first time.
6:09 p.m. Tuesday
The Associated Press has called Kentucky for Trump and Vermont for Biden.
5:40 p.m. Tuesday
KXAN Photographer Ed Zavala reports there’s a sizeable line at the Randall’s on Gattis School Road in Williamson County.
Voters are lined up at Texas State University to cast their ballots.
5:23 p.m. Tuesday
Polls in parts of Indiana and Kentucky have closed, and results are beginning to trickle in.
Less than 3% of the vote has been counted in Indiana, but President Donald Trump currently leads by more than 20,000 votes. Six percent of the vote has come in for Kentucky, currently showing results in favor of Joe Biden by more than 10,000 votes.
New Hampshire is also beginning to report votes. Polls will close at 6 p.m. CT in Florida and Georgia.
Meanwhile, Central Texas counties have released their early vote totals:
- Travis: 553,290
- Williamson: 263,020
- Hays: 97,143
5:15 p.m. Tuesday
Hidalgo County’s 74 polling locations will stay open until 8 p.m. after a laptop issue delayed the opening of 10 locations on Tuesday morning.
Hidalgo County is one of only three counties out of Texas’ 254 counties that have had significant polling issues, so far, today, Texas Civil Rights Project President Mimi Marziani said in an online call with media on Tuesday afternoon.
Full story here: South Texas border county extends voting by 1 hour after late openings at several poll sites
5 p.m. Tuesday
Williamson County is reporting over 282,000 total votes with three hours to go before the polls close.
4:30 p.m. Tuesday
Hays County updated its absentee ballots numbers, showing a massive rise in requested and received ballots compared to 2016.
3:15 p.m. Tuesday
In a memo to city leaders, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley says APD has created “comprehensive” and “proactive” plans to “keep the community safe in the most peaceful and organized manner” on Election Day and the following days.
Manley said the plans are strictly precautionary at this point.
“While we are not aware of any planned attempts to disrupt the election process, we stand ready to address them should they occur,” Manley said.
You can read more here: APD ‘proactive’ with plans to keep Austin safe before and after Election Day
2:15 p.m. Tuesday
More than 9.6 million Texans cast their ballots during the early voting period in the November 3 election, according to data from the Texas Secretary of State.
KXAN’s Christopher Adams broke down which counties saw the highest turnout in early voting.
Check out the data deep dive here: More than 9.6 million Texans voted early. Which counties saw the highest turnout?
12:50 p.m. Tuesday
The Travis County Clerk’s office tweeted an update at 12:36 p.m. that more than 27,000 people in the county have voted on Election Day. Remember, if you can’t get to a polling place until later, you just have to be in line by 7 p.m. (the time polls close) in order to vote. If you can get to a polling place earlier, however, do that.
11:55 a.m. Tuesday
We’ve been tracking wait times at polling places in Travis County, and generally speaking, they have been pretty light thus far without major problems. Hopefully that doesn’t jinx the afternoon, but this morning has been smooth sailing for most polling places in the area, and that’s a great thing to see.
A mariachi band was playing music outside the Manchaca branch of the Austin Public Library.
11 a.m. Tuesday
Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir says the county is expecting to have 625,000 voters by the end of Election Day — an estimated 73% turnout for Travis County.
In a Facebook Live on Tuesday, DeBeauvoir says 20,000 voters have already voted on Election Day as of 10:45 a.m. Travis County could see another 72,000 voters before the end of Tuesday.
DeBeauvoir also confirmed the county’s early voting record. Travis County recorded approximately 552,290 votes during the early voting period.
You can hand deliver your vote-by-mail ballot to the Travis County Clerk’s office until 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
8:20 a.m. Tuesday
One polling place in Williamson County encountered some technical difficulties this morning. The Pinballz arcade and entertainment center on U.S. Highway 183 in far northwest Austin had issues with its voting machines, and briefly workers had to tell voters to find another place to cast their votes.
A statement from the county said there were connectivity issues between the print servers and ballot card printers there. The delay lasted about an hour and 15 minutes, officials said.
KXAN’s Candy Rodriguez went out to the polling place, and after talking with poll workers there, she said the issues have been cleared up and voting has continued.
7:30 a.m. Tuesday
We haven’t received any reports of long lines or problems with polling places as of yet, but if you’re in southwest Austin around 11 a.m., you could get a free taco out of the deal at Austin Oaks Church.
Torchy’s Tacos has a truck parked outside the church on 4220 Monterey Oaks Blvd., and while the early birds won’t get the chance to partake in the free fare, anyone who shows up after 11 a.m. will.
KXAN photojournalist Todd Bailey was out early on a story and stopped to snap the sun rising on Election Day. Here’s to some good vibes on what could turn out to be a wild day.
7 a.m. Tuesday
Polls open on election day Tuesday. Before you head to the polls, make sure you have the proper forms of ID and lookup a polling place near you. You can check out KXAN’s election guide for that information.
After you vote, you can show your “I Voted” sticker at a number of places in town to get free or discounted food