What’s left to count?

Although America was repeatedly warned to expect an “Election Week” rather than getting results on Tuesday night, it feels slightly surreal that the nation does not yet know – midway into Thursday – who the next president of the United States will be.

Vote counts are slow to come in across the country, thanks to the unprecedented number of mail-in ballots and the variety of state laws regarding how to count them. While in most states, the mail-in vote will not change the result – California has counted less than 75% of their votes, but was called for Biden as soon as the polling stations closed – the election is extremely narrow in five crucial states:

Nevada (6 electoral college votes) – Biden currently has a slim lead in the Silver State, with almost 200,000 votes still to be counted. However, most of these votes are from deep-blue counties.

Arizona (11 votes) – Although the state was called for Biden by FOX News and the Associated Press yesterday, most news outlets have been unwilling to make that judgement yet. Biden has a small lead in the Grand Canyon State, but it has narrowed in recent hours. However, many of the mail-in ballots still to be counted are from comfortably Democratic areas.

Georgia (16 votes) – Trump’s lead in Georgia is razor thin (less than a third of a percent) and getting thinner, as the influx of votes from Atlanta and its suburbs have tipped the scales slowly towards Joe Biden.

North Carolina (15 votes) – Trump has a slight lead in the Tar Heel State, and is likely to win there when all is said and done. However, mail-in ballots are still coming in, and state laws say that ballots can arrive as late as November 12th and still be counted.

Pennsylvania (20 votes) – Trump maintains a lead in Pennsylvania, but it is narrowing by the hour. He absolutely must win Pennsylvania to be re-elected, but Biden is crushing it with mail-in votes, exceeding the margins he needs to overtake his Republican rival.