Election Tuesday has come and gone. Now it’s a question of whether we know the results Wednesday, Thursday --  or even longer. 

What You Need To Know

  • As of Wednesday morning, it still was not clear who won the presidential election

  • President Trump prematurely declared victory in the early-morning hours, while former Vice President Joe Biden remains optimistic

  • As of 6:30 a.m. Eastern, The Associated Press had yet to project winners in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada

  • It was unclear when the final votes will be counted

As a tense, divided country bedded down for what promised to be fitful sleep, the presidential election remained inconclusive, with President Donald Trump holding on to several states where former Vice President Joe Biden campaigned, but ballots have yet to be fully counted in pivotal states from the Great Lakes to the Grand Canyon. 

As of 6:30 a.m. Eastern, The Associated Press had yet to project winners in the following states: Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada.

“We’re going to have to be patient, until the hard work of tallying the votes is finished,” a self-proclaimed “optimistic” Biden told supporters in Delaware.  “And it ain’t over ‘til every vote is counted, every ballot is counted.”

Right around that time, Trump wrote on Twitter: “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!”

The President initially spelled “Polls” as “Poles.” 

Shortly after reposting the tweet with the correct spelling, Twitter hid the post behind a warning label: “Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.” Facebook labeled the post as well.

After 2 a.m. Eastern, Trump addressed the nation: “I want to thank the American people for their tremendous support," he said, before claiming that “a very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise" his supporters.

After listing states that Trump is projected to win, according to The Associated Press, like Texas and Florida, Trump claimed, without evidence, that he has “clearly won” Georgia and North Carolina, where votes are still being counted. Those races have not been called.

There was no indication ballots were being cast after the polls had closed; ballots were instead still being counted amid a record turnout and many ballots cast by mail. The president has repeatedly cast unfounded accusations about the electoral process.

Control of the U.S. Senate also seemed up for grabs, with Democrats and Republicans appearing to each knock off incumbents – Democrats projected to win in Colorado and Arizona, Republicans in Alabama and Iowa – but results in other contests too close to call. The U.S. House of Representatives was expected to remain in Democratic hands.

But it was the presidential race that captured, and no doubt stressed, tens of millions of Americans already on edge from partisanship and a pandemic that has killed more than 230,000 and is accelerating. Trump defied some predictions with an impressive projected win in Florida, particularly holding down Biden’s support in the Miami-Dade area.

Georgia, which hasn’t gone for a Democrat since 1992, seemed a suddenly tantalizing possibility for Biden, as returns seesawed through the evening before officials halted counting in Atlanta until morning. North Carolina, which Democrats also hoped to flip, was too close to call, with Trump ahead in the count.

With Biden’s path seemingly dashed through there, eyes turned to Arizona, where the former VP became the first Democrat to win since 1996 – and most crucially Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Trump famously flipped the three states four years ago over Hillary Clinton by fewer than 80,000 combined votes. 

Intent on foiling a repeat, Democrats poured resources -- and embraced a novel strategy: Voters would be encouraged to vote by mail. The thinking dovetailed with Biden’s campaign of public health caution, playing out against Trump calling for states to open their economies.

After midnight, in those three states, Trump was holding sizable leads – but they didn’t appear to reflect the mail-in ballots. In Philadelphia, for instance, only 40% of the vote had yet to be counted – which likely would cut into Trump’s approximate 15% overall lead. 

It was unclear when the final votes will be counted in Pennsylvania, and in states where Trump held smaller leads, Wisconsin and Michigan. 

Stay tuned!