Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin could tip election. When will we know the results?
The result of the 2020 presidential election remains up in the air as of Wednesday afternoon — and it could hinge on the outcome in three key states: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The Associated Press called Wisconsin, which has 10 electoral votes, for Democratic nominee Joe Biden just after 2:15 p.m. Wednesday. Election officials say all ballots had been counted “save for a few hundred in one township and an expected small number of provisional ballots,” the AP reports.
President Donald Trump said he wants a recount in the state.
Biden has 248 electoral votes and Trump has 214 as of Wednesday afternoon. The winner needs at least 270.
Multiple routes to victory remain open for both candidates, and results in other contested states still counting ballots — such as Georgia and North Carolina — could shift those paths.
Poll analysis site FiveThirtyEight says Biden’s “easiest path to victory” is through Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Trump carried all three states in 2016, but Biden was favored to win them in 2020 going into Election Day. Before then, they were all considered potential tipping points in the race, according to FiveThirtyEight.
As the election outcome remains unclear, here’s when results could come in for Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Michigan
Electoral votes: 16
When results are expected: Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said she expects to “have a very clear picture if not a final picture” of the outcome by Wednesday night, according to The New York Times.
More than 1 million ballots remain to be counted in Michigan as of early Wednesday, and The Associated Press has said the race between Trump and Biden is too close to call in the state.
Biden pulled ahead in the state Wednesday morning, and the AP reports many of the uncounted votes were mail-in ballots from heavily Democratic areas.
Trump narrowly carried Michigan in 2016 with 47.5% of the vote compared to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 47.3%, per Ballotpedia. It was the first time the state picked a Republican for president since 1988, when George H.W. Bush beat Democrat Michael Dukakis.
Pennsylvania
Electoral votes: 20
When results are expected: Most votes are expected to be counted by Friday, officials tell The New York Times.
Election officials in Pennsylvania couldn’t start counting votes until 7 a.m. Tuesday, according to FiveThirtyEight, and Nov. 6 is the deadline for most mailed ballots to arrive.
So far, results have favored Trump, but the remaining votes are expected to favor Biden, per The New York Times.
About 1 million mail ballots still need to be counted in Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf said on Twitter early Wednesday.
“What’s most important is that we have accurate results and that every vote is counted, even if that takes a little longer,” Wolf said Tuesday night, according to the AP. “So I’m urging Pennsylvania to just to remain calm, be patient, stay united on election night and in the days ahead.”
Pennsylvania, where Biden spent 10 years of his childhood, was the state FiveThirtyEight said was most likely to tip the election, with a 36.5% chance. On Tuesday, it called Pennsylvania the “most tenuous” of the three states.
Trump scraped by in the state in 2016 with 48.2% of the vote, according to Ballotpedia. It was the first election in which Pennsylvania was won by a Republican since 1988.
This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 6:50 AM with the headline "Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin could tip election. When will we know the results?."
