THE LATEST: Staffers for last 3 presidents urge Trump to begin ‘transition process’

8 p.m.

A bipartisan group from the last three White Houses is urging the Trump administration to move forward “to immediately begin the post-election transition process.”

The call from the Center for Presidential Transition advisory board comes as the General Services Administration has yet to formally recognize Democrat Joe Biden as the president-elect. That’s a necessary move to free up money for the transition and clear the way for Biden’s team to begin putting in place the transition process at agencies.

“This was a hard-fought campaign, but history is replete with examples of presidents who emerged from such campaigns to graciously assist their successors,” members of the advisory board said in a statement.

The statement was signed by Bush White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt as well as Bill Clinton-era chief of staff Thomas “Mack” McLarty and Obama Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker.

5:45 p.m.

Former President George W. Bush says the American people “can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear.” He says in a statement that “no matter how you voted, your vote counted.”

Bush says President Donald Trump has the right to request recounts and pursue legal challenges, with any unresolved issues to be “properly adjudicated.” Bush says now is the time when “we must come together for the sake of our families and neighbors, and for our nation and its future.”

4:15 p.m.

President-elect Jo Biden on Sunday named a former surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, and a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, David Kessler, as co-chairs of a coronavirus working group -- the first appointments of his administration.

Transition team officials said that other members expected to be announced Monday and Biden will launch his agency review teams this week that will have access to key agencies in the current administration to ease the transfer of power.

“People want the country to move forward,” said Kate Bedingfield, Biden deputy campaign manager, in an interview on NBC’s "Meet the Press. She added that Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris “have the opportunity to do the work, to get the virus under control and to get our economy back together.”

11 a.m.

For the second day in a row, President Donald Trump is going to play a round of golf at his course in Sterling, Virginia. Along the route of the motorcade, protestors held signs and chanted.

Trump was on the course Saturday when The Associated Press and other news outlets called the race for his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, because he had won enough votes to deny Trump a second term.

7:45 a.m.

Joe Biden, the second Catholic elected president, will start his full day as president-elect attending church at St. Joseph on the Brandywine near his home in Wilmington, as he does nearly every week.

He’ll then begin facing key staffing decisions to make as the coronavirus rages. The always-frenzied 10-week transition period before Inauguration Day on Jan. 20 already has been shortened by the extra time it took to determine the winner of Tuesday’s election.

His top priority in the transition is expected to be quickly naming a chief of staff. Biden suggested during the campaign that his first call after being elected would be to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, but his advisers have not said whether the two have spoken yet.

6:45 a.m. Sunday

The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit late Saturday in Arizona that seeks the manual inspection of potentially thousands of in-person Election Day ballots in metro Phoenix that they allege were mishandled by poll workers and resulted in some ballot selections to be disregarded.

The legal challenge against Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs centers on instances in which people are believed to have voted for more candidates than permitted.

When tabulators detect such an “overvote,” poll workers should give voters a choice to fix the problem, but the workers instead either pressed or told voters to press a button on the machine to override the error, leaving the devices to disregard the problematic ballot selections, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed hours after the dismissal of another Arizona election lawsuit that contested the use of Sharpie markers in completing Election Day ballots in Maricopa County. Even though election officials have said voting with a Sharpie would not invalidate a ballot, many social media users in the controversy known as #Sharpiegate have falsely claimed their ballots had been invalidated because they were told to use the markers.

9 p.m.

In his first speech after securing the White House, President-elect Joe Biden is making an appeal to supporters of President Donald Trump.

Biden said Saturday night in Wilmington, Delaware, that ``this is the time to heal in America'' and pledged to be a president to represent even those who didn’t support him.

Noting “I’ve lost a couple times myself,” Biden said, “now, let’s give each other a chance."

Trump has not conceded the race to Biden, pursuing legal challenges over ballot counts in several states.

Biden said “it’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again,” saying of his political opponents, “they are not our enemies. They are Americans.”

8:55 p.m.

Joe Biden is pledging to be a president “who seeks not to divide but to unify.”

Biden is delivering his first remarks as president-elect at a victory party in Wilmington, after he was officially declared the winner of the presidential election on Saturday. Biden jogged onto the stage wearing a black suit, black mask and light blue tie. He pointed and waved at the screaming crowd gathered to hear him speak.

Echoing his campaign stump speech, Biden promised to be a president who “doesn’t see red states or blue states, only sees the United States,” and said he would work “with all my heart” to win the confidence of all Americans.

Biden touted the fact that he’s won more votes than any presidential ticket in history, calling his win “a convincing victory, a victory for the people.” He also said he was “surprised” by seeing the celebrations and an “outpouring of joy” in the wake of his win nationwide.

Biden said that ``once again, America’s bent the arc of the moral universe more toward justice.''

8:45 p.m.

Vice president-elect Kamala Harris says voters have “ushered in a new day for America.”

Harris is speaking Saturday in her first address to the nation since she and Joe Biden were declared the winners of the presidential election.

Harris says voters chose hope, unity, decency, science and truth in choosing she and Biden over President Donald Trump.

Harris, the first woman to be elected vice president, wore a white pantsuit in tribute to women’s suffrage. She also opened her remarks with a tribute to the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis, a Civil Rights icon, who said democracy is not a state but an act. Harris will also be the first Black woman to serve as vice president.

7:06 p.m.

A crowd of supporters have gathered in Wilmington, Delaware, where President-elect Joe Biden and VP-elect Kamala Harris are scheduled to speak at 8 p.m.

You’ll be able to watch live by following this link.

6:06 p.m.

President Donald Trump’s campaign has filed a suit on rejected votes in Arizona. The suit alleges that Maricopa County “incorrectly rejected votes cast by in-person voters on Election Day.”

Click here to read the lawsuit.

5:38 p.m.

Georgia’s secretary of state tweets that Fulton County has discovered “an issue involving reporting."

4:40 p.m.

As partisans celebrated and protested Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, some Georgia counties are inching toward a final count of ballots in the state elections.

Biden continues to narrowly lead President Donald Trump in the contest for Georgia’s 16 electoral votes.

The Associated Press declared Biden the nationwide winner Saturday, but hasn’t called a winner in Georgia.

At Freedom Park in Atlanta, a rally broke into a dance party to celebrate the declaration of Biden’s win. At the State capitol, hundreds of Trump supporters rallied to allege the election has been stolen from their candidate. No substantiated allegations of fraud have come to light.

3:15 p.m.

Supporters of President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump gathered outside the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.

3:05 p.m.

Joe Biden has spoken to Barack Obama, reaching out to the former president with a phone call.

Biden’s campaign confirmed the phone call Saturday with Obama, whom Biden served under as vice president for eight years, but offered few details on what was said.

Meanwhile, Michelle Obama tweeted that she was “beyond thrilled."

In a series of tweets, the former first lady said the pair would “restore some dignity, competence, and heart at the White House.”

But Michelle Obama also warned supporters that voting in elections for candidates who win “isn’t a magic wand.”

“Let’s remember that tens of millions of people voted for the status quo, even when it meant supporting lies, hate, chaos and division,” she tweeted, in a swipe at President Donald Trump. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to reach out to these folks in the years ahead and connect with them on what unites us.”

2:35 p.m.

Several hundred people have gathered outside President Donald Trump’s Virginia golf club.

The crowd includes dozens of Joe Biden supporters celebrating his win, singing, “Hey hey hey, goodbye” and chanting, “Lock him up!” — a chant frequently heard at Trump rallies, directed at people he doesn’t like.

There are also dozens of Trump supporters, many waving large Trump flags and chanting, “We love Trump!” A convoy of trucks festooned with pro-Trump and American flags has been driving up and down the street, with one driver jeering at the gathered press.

There’s horn honking, cowbell ringing, whistle-blowing and plenty of cheering.

Trump was golfing when a flurry of media outlets, including The Associated Press, declared Saturday morning that Biden was the projected winner.

He is now on his way back to the White House.

2 p.m.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who found himself at the center of President Donald Trump’s impeachment, is congratulating Joe Biden.

In a Saturday tweet, Zelenskiy said “Ukraine is optimistic about the future of the strategic partnership with the United States.” He added that the two countries “have always collaborated on security, trade, investment, democracy, fight against corruption. Our friendship becomes only stronger!”

A 2019 call from Trump to Zelenskiy, in which he asked the new Ukrainian leader to investigate Biden and the Democratic National Committee, sparked an intelligence community whistleblower complaint that resulted in Trump’s impeachment last year.

Trump was eventually acquitted by the Republican-led Senate.

1:40 p.m.

Sen. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, is congratulating Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

The Utah Republican tweeted Saturday that he and his wife know Biden and Harris “as people of good will and admirable character.” He says, “We pray that God may bless them in the days and years ahead.”

Romney, President Donald Trump’s most vocal critic within the Republican Party, said Friday that Trump was “damaging the cause of freedom” and inflaming “destructive and dangerous passions” by claiming, without foundation, that the election was rigged and stolen from him.

1:15 p.m.

Leaders of the United States' traditional Western allies are offering their congratulations to Joe Biden.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement Saturday that the U.S. is the United Kingdom’s “most important ally” and added that he looks “forward to working closely together on our shared priorities, from climate change to trade and security.”

Johnson also singled out Kamala Harris for “her historic achievement” as the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to be the projected winner of national U.S. office.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that “we have a lot to do to overcome today’s challenges. Let’s work together!”

And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he’s eager to start “tackling the world’s greatest challenges together.”

All three men have had complicated and at times strained relationships with President Donald Trump.

Biden comes to the presidency with extensive foreign policy experience and said throughout his campaign that he’d immediately work to shore us U.S. relationships with traditional allies.

1:06 p.m.

Former President Barack Obama tweets:

1 p.m.

Two former Democratic presidents are offering their congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Bill Clinton tweeted that “America has spoken and democracy has won.” The 42nd president also predicted Biden and Harris would “serve all of us and bring us all together.”

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, said in a statement Saturday that he and his wife, Rosalynn, are “proud” of the Democrats' “well-run campaign and seeing the positive change they bring to our nation.”

Neither Clinton nor Carter mentioned President Donald Trump in their congratulatory remarks.

Biden was a young Delaware senator when Carter served as president from 1977 to 1981. Biden had risen in the ranks to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman by Clinton’s presidency in the 1990s and led confirmation hearings for Clinton’s two Supreme Court nominees: Justice Stephen Breyer and the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

12:53 p.m.

Tweet from Jeb Bush:

12:45 p.m.

Joe Biden is planning to address the nation on Saturday night.

His presidential campaign announced that Biden and his wife, Jill, and Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff will appear at a drive-in rally outside the convention center in Wilmington, Delaware.

Biden clinched the White House over President Donald Trump late Saturday morning with a victory in Pennsylvania, the state where he was born. He later added Nevada to his column for a total of 290 electoral votes with three states uncalled.

The outdoor stage in Wilmington features projections of the Biden-Harris logo, colored lights and a line of towering American flags. Outside the security fence, people were already arriving with Biden campaign signs and chanting, “Joe! Joe!” and yelling, “We did it!” Cars in the area honked.

12:25 p.m.

Text of a statement from President Donald Trump on the election result:

"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.”

The statement was issued while Trump was golfing at his club in Virginia.

12:23 p.m.

12:15 p.m.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump is a “mandate for action.”

The Democratic leader said in a statement Saturday: “Today marks the dawning of a new day of hope for America.”

Pelosi called Biden’s vote tally a “historic victory.” She says President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will have a strong Democratic House majority “by their side.”

Biden clinched the White House with a victory in Pennsylvania, the state where he was born. He also won Nevada on Saturday.

12:14 p.m.

12:10 p.m.

Kamala Harris says she and Joe Biden have a lot of work to do.

Harris made the comments in a tweet Saturday, shortly after Biden clinched the presidency by winning Pennsylvania.

She says, “This election is about so much more than Joe Biden or me. It’s about the soul of America and our willingness to fight for it. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

The California senator makes history with her election as vice president. She is the first woman, the first Black person and the first person of South Asian descent elected to the office.

12:04 p.m.

Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris' husband, tweets:

12:02 p.m.

Donna Deegan tweets:

Noon

Joe Biden says it’s time for America to “unite” and to “heal.”

Biden said in a statement Saturday, “With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.”

“We are the United States of America,” he wrote. “And there’s nothing we can’t do, if we do it together.”

Biden made no mention of his opponent, President Donald Trump, who has not conceded the race.

Biden clinched the White House with a victory in Pennsylvania, the state where he was born. He will be the 46th president of the United States.

11:55 a.m.

President Donald Trump is not conceding to President-elect Joe Biden, promising unspecified legal challenges seeking to overturn the outcome of the race for the White House.

Trump said in a statement that “our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated.”

Trump was at his Virginia golf course when the presidential race was called for Biden on Saturday. Biden clinched his victory with a win in Pennsylvania, the state where he was born.

In recent weeks, Trump has alleged — without evidence — widespread fraud and misconduct in the election.

His comments have drawn bipartisan rebuke from election officials and lawmakers as dangerous attempts to undermine public confidence in the vote.

11:40 a.m.

People cheered and pumped their fists along the Wilmington, Delaware, waterfront as the news that the presidential race had been called for the state’s former senator arrived on their cellphones.

The waterfront is just steps from the outdoor stage that Democrat Joe Biden erected on Election Day to celebrate victory.

On the water late Saturday morning, two men on a kayak yelled to a couple paddling by in the opposite direction, “Joe won! They called it!” as people on the shore whooped and hollered.

Biden’s campaign had not yet scheduled a victory celebration, but he was expected to take the stage for a drive-in rally after dark.

During a speech late Friday night, Biden said he would be declared the winner very soon, adding, "I hope to be talking to you tomorrow.

11:26 a.m.

Democrat Joe Biden is the projected winner in Pennsylvania, surpassing the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the White House and become the projected 46th president of the United States, the Associated Press reported at 11:26 a.m. Saturday.

Biden also carried Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan on his path to become the projected winner of the presidency, flipping states that President Donald Trump won in 2016.

Pennsylvania was a must-win state for Trump.

The 77-year-old Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and sought to contrast his working-class roots with the affluent Trump’s by casting the race as “Scranton versus Park Avenue.”

Biden’s projected victory came after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes that delayed the processing of some ballots.

Trump would be the first incumbent president to lose reelection since Republican George H.W. Bush in 1992.

8:30 a.m. Saturday

Four days after the election, the U.S. presidential race hovered in suspended animation Saturday as the long, exacting work of counting votes brought Democrat Joe Biden ever closer to a victory over President Donald Trump.

The delay in producing a verdict can be attributed to high turnout, a massive number of mail-in ballots and slim margins between the candidates. Biden held leads in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada, putting him in an ever-stronger position to capture the 270 Electoral College votes needed to take the White House.

There was an intense focus on Pennsylvania, where Biden led Trump by more than 28,000 votes, with each release of ballots pushing the margin higher. The same is true in Georgia, although the 7,248 edge Biden has Saturday morning is 0.14% of more than 5 million votes cast and a recount will likely be ordered once the first vote total is certified later this month.

10:51 p.m.

It wasn’t the celebratory speech that some expected, but presidential candidate Joe Biden exuded confidence as he addressed the nation late Friday night in Deleware.

“The numbers tell us a clear and convincing story, we’re going to win this race,” Biden said with running mate Kamala Harris by his side. “We are going to win this race with a clear majority and the nation behind us. We have gotten over 74 million votes...that’s more than any presidential ticket has ever gotten in the history of the United States of America.”

Of Georgia, where he leads by just 4,300 votes with a likely recount looming, Biden said he will become the first Democrat to win there in 28 years.

“You know, we’re proving again what we proved for 244 years in this country, democracy works,” Biden said. “Your vote will be counted. I don’t care how hard people try to stop it, I will not let it happen.”

Votes in key states were still being tallied Friday night and Biden continued to hold slim leads in battleground states like Pennsylvania (28,833) and Nevada (22,657).

9:35 p.m.

Joe Biden was expected to address the nation in a prime-time speech alongside running make Kamala Harris, but those plans seem to have been abandoned.

Biden is holding on to a narrow lead over President Donald Trump in key swing states as votes continue to trickle in.

6:36 p.m.

Vote counting in Georgia’s Fulton County is nearly complete, election officials said during an evening update.

Officials said they will process about 5,000 more ballots Friday night, including 900 ballots from overseas and 3,800 provisional ballots.

So far, in the race for president, about 73% of the votes counted in Fulton County were for Democrat Joe Biden.

Currently, Biden holds a 4,124 vote lead over President Donald Trump in the state race.

6:25 p.m.

5:50 p.m.

5:18 p.m.

After more than 7,000 mail-in ballots were reported in Gwinnett County, Democrat Joe Biden has expanded his lead to 4,235 over Republican President Donald Trump.

3:30 p.m.

Top Republican officials in Georgia say they are confident the secretary of state will ensure that ballots are properly counted.

The statement Friday from GOP Gov. Brian Kemp and others came a day after President Donald Trump alleged without any details or evidence that election officials are trying to “steal the election” from him.

Trump said Thursday that the “election apparatus in Georgia is run by Democrats,” even though the top election official is a Republican whom he endorsed.

Democrat Joe Biden was leading Trump in Georgia by about 1,500 votes midday Friday. The Associated Press has not called the race for either candidate yet.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said earlier in the day that the final margin will be within a few thousand votes and announced: “There will be a recount in Georgia.”

When Raffensperger spoke publicly again four hours later, he added “likely” to his statement of the election going to a recount.

Under Georgia law that can’t happen until the first count is certified, which in Georgia must be by Nov. 20 although they hope to complete that process sooner.

1:40 p.m.

President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are hotly contesting Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes, one of the few remaining states to be claimed in their battle for the presidency. But by early Friday, Biden had taken a lead of more than 9,853 votes out of more than 6.5 million votes cast. Many of about 125,000 votes left to be counted in Pennsylvania were cast by mail, a form of voting that Biden has carried by a large margin. The late-counted ballots were overwhelmingly in Biden’s favor.

A flurry of litigation over voting and vote counting has been brought by Trump and the Republican Party in recent days, particularly over Pennsylvania’s year-old law that greatly expanded mail-in voting and how close GOP observers could be to the counting of the ballots. It’s not clear how those cases may change the race.

10:50 a.m.

Hours after Democrat Joe Biden took a narrow lead over President Donald Trump in Georgia, the state’s secretary of state announces: “There will be a recount in Georgia.”

By 10:30 a.m. Biden’s lead had grown to 1,098 votes and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Raffensperger said there were 5,500 votes left to be counted between four large North Georgia counties. There were also up to 8,890 military ballots that could count if they were postmarked by Election Day and arrive by the 5 p.m. Friday deadline.

Voters whose ballots had issues also have until the end of Friday to cure their ballots in order for them to count.

8:54 a.m.

Democrat Joe Biden is now leading President Donald Trump in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

By Friday morning, Biden overtook Trump in the number of ballots counted in the state, which Trump must win to have a shot at reelection. Biden now holds a nearly 6,000-vote advantage.

The contest is still too early for The Associated Press to call. Votes in the state are still being counted.

Trump’s lead dwindled after Election Day when state officials began processing mail-in ballots, a form of voting that has skewed heavily in Biden’s favor after Trump spent months claiming -- without proof -- that voting by mail would lead to widespread voter fraud.

If there is less than a half percentage point difference between Biden’s and Trump’s vote totals, state law dictates that a recount must be held.

It appears most of the votes that pushed Biden ahead of Trump came from Democratic-leaning Allegheny County, which is the Pittsburgh area.

8:15 a.m.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger posted on Twitter that as of 8:15 a.m. Friday, there were approximately 8,197 ballots still outstanding. Approximately 8,900 requested military/overseas ballots have not been returned, but can be Friday if postmarked by Election Day.

7:12 a.m.

Additional vote count expected to be released in Pennsylvania “any moment now.” President Trump leads the state by about 18,000 votes with 163,000 left to be counted.

5:08 a.m.

News4Jax learned it was votes counted in Clayton County that put Biden over the edge and in the lead. Ballots still need to be counted in Gwinnett and Forsyth counties.

4:36 a.m. Friday

Former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump are in a dead heat in the race for Georgia. Shortly after 4:30 this morning, Biden took the lead with 900+ votes over Trump.

11:04 p.m.

With counting continuing in numerous counties throughout Georgia, as of 10:35 p.m., there were about 14,097 ballots still outstanding, Georgia’s secretary of state said.

9:40 p.m.

An update from Georgia elections officials shows that President Trump is up 1,902 votes to Joe Biden in the state. Just over 4.9 million votes have been reported in Georgia.

8:51 p.m.

Georgia’s secretary of state announced that as of 8:40 p.m., there were about 16,105 votes remaining to be counted.

7:55 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden says, “No one is going to take our democracy away from us.” His comment came after President Donald Trump’s unfounded claims that Democrats were trying to “steal” the presidential election from him.

In a Thursday evening tweet, Biden says, “America has come too far, fought too many battles, and endured too much to let that happen.”

The nation is waiting to learn whether Biden or Trump will collect the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the presidency. Biden’s victories in Michigan and Wisconsin have put him in a commanding position, but Trump has showed no sign of giving up.

Speaking earlier Thursday from the White House, Trump did not back up his claim about Democrats with any details or evidence. State and federal officials have not reported any instances of widespread voter fraud.

The ballot-counting process across the country has been running smoothly, and the count is ongoing in several battleground states.

7:30 p.m.

Georgia secretary of state says 18,936 ballots are still outstanding in Georgia. The spread was 3,635 for President Trump.

Forsyth County has 4,713 votes outstanding.

7:05 p.m.

The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the presidential race, with a number of battleground states still too early to call.

But President Donald Trump is renewing his unfounded claims that Democrats are trying to “steal” the election from him. He did not back up his claim with any details or evidence. State and federal officials have not reported any instances of widespread voter fraud.

Trump spoke from the White House briefing room on Thursday, unleashing harsh criticism of pre-election polling that showed him trailing Democrat Joe Biden and claiming without evidence that the ballot-counting process is unfair and corrupt. He also renewed his criticism of widespread use of mail-in balloting in the pandemic.

The ballot-counting process across the country has been running smoothly, and the count is ongoing in several battleground states.

6:15 p.m.

A legal effort in Nevada by President Donald Trump’s campaign and state Republicans to try to stop the count of mail ballots in Las Vegas is over.

A document submitted in an appeal pending before the state Supreme Court says the campaign, state GOP, Democrats and attorneys for the state have reached a settlement requiring Clark County election officials to supply “additional observation access” at a ballot processing facility in Las Vegas.

The state high court declined on Election Day to stop the count based on an appeal of a state judge’s decision not to stop processing mail ballots in Las Vegas and surrounding Clark County -- a Democratic stronghold in an otherwise red GOP state.

In an order released Monday, Judge James Wilson Jr. in Carson City said he found neither the state nor Clark County had done anything to give one vote preference over another.

Nevada Democrats accuse Republicans of trying to suppress voting in the state’s most diverse area.

Trump campaign representatives said Thursday that they intended to file another complaint in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas to try to stop the counting of what state campaign co-chair Adam Laxalt called “improper votes.” That lawsuit was not immediately filed.

6 p.m.

President Donald Trump is set to make his first public appearance since the early morning hours after Election Day.

The White House says Trump will deliver remarks at 6:30 p.m. Thursday from the press briefing room. It was unclear if he would take questions.

(Follow this link to watch his comments live)

Trump last appeared in public early Wednesday, when he falsely declared victory over Democrat Joe Biden in the presidential race. Trump has also publicly called for vote counting to stop by citing baseless allegations of fraud and misconduct.

The presidential race has not yet been called because neither Trump nor Biden has yet collected the requisite 270 Electoral College votes.

Biden’s victories in Michigan and Wisconsin have put him in a commanding position to win the presidency, but Trump has showed no sign of giving up.

5:38 p.m.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar dismissed any claims of voter fraud during a Thursday evening press conference.

“No matter how you voted this year...every method is incredibly safe and secure,” she said.

Boockvar said several weeks ago a man tried to apply for a ballot for his deceased mother but added that she was not aware of any other incidents this year.

With more than 326,000 mail-in ballots yet to be counted, President Donald Trump holds about a 78,000 vote lead over former Vice President Joe Biden in a state that could decide the winner of the election.

The overwhelming amount of outstanding ballots are expected to be counted by Friday, Boockvar said.

A large number of the remaining mail-in votes are in Philadelphia County and Allegheny County, home of Pittsburgh — 84,896 and 35,976, respectively.

4:30 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden made an address Thursday afternoon as counting pressed ahead two days after Election Day.

“We continue to feel very good about where things stand. We have no doubt that when the count is finished, Senator (Kamala) Harris and I will be declared the winners,” Biden said. “So I ask everyone to stay calm, all the people to stay calm. The process is working. The count is being completed.”

Biden says that “the process is working” and “we’ll know very soon” the outcome of the election. Biden and his top campaign officials have expressed confidence about the vote but have been careful to emphasize the need for every ballot to be counted.

Biden made the comments after he and Harris completed a briefing on COVID-19.

On Thursday, Florida added over 6,000 COVID-19 cases for 1st time since mid-August. The state is now averaging 4,235 cases a day over the past two weeks.

3:50 p.m.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered the U.S. Postal Service to perform twice daily sweeps of processing centers in states with extended ballot receipt deadlines to check for mail-in votes and to expedite them for delivery.

Thursday’s order will remain in place until the end of states' windows for accepting ballots.

According to court records, a similar order by the same judge earlier this week found just 13 ballots in a search of 27 processing hubs in several battleground areas.

Elections officials in key battleground states are continuing presidential vote counting. Democrat Joe Biden is urging patience, while President Donald Trump is pursing his legal options.

Several key states are too early to call — Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Nevada.

3:30 p.m.

• Georgia elections officials determine President Trump leads Democrat Joe Biden by 12,835 votes.
• Biden needs 30,057 or 63.8% of the outstanding count in the state.

3:23 p.m.

Georgia election officials said around 3 p.m. that there were 47,277 ballots “still outstanding."

2:54 p.m.

Georgia election officials are expected to hold a news conference at 3 p.m. as ballot counting continues.

1:34 p.m.

There are still more than 63,000 ballots left to be counted in Nevada’s most populated county, Clark County Registrar Joe Gloria announced Thursday afternoon.

Of the 63,262 known ballots that are left to be counted, 34,743 were dropped off at election centers on Election Day and 24,311 were mail ballots that were pending.

“Today, staff is preparing to count, and has already begun counting, a little over 51,000 ballots that will be reported tomorrow,” Gloria said.

Those results will be reported Friday morning before 10 a.m.

Gloria said the majority of the mail-in ballots will be counted by Saturday or Sunday, adding that making sure the counts are accurate is taking precedent over speed.

There are also additional ballots pending, such as provisional ballots and mail-in ballots that were postmarked by Nov. 3. The last day Clark County can accept mail-in ballots is Nov. 10 and the official count won’t be completed until Nov. 12, Gloria said.

Currently, former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by just 11,438 votes statewide. The Associated Press projects that if Biden is able to win the state’s six electoral college votes, he will become the next President of the United States.

The Trump campaign said earlier in the day it is filing a federal lawsuit in Las Vegas asking a judge to stop officials from counting what the campaign described as “improper votes.” When asked by the media to provide proof, members of the campaign declined to answer.

“My response is that we are not aware of any improper ballots that are being processed,” Gloria said.

12:52 p.m.

News4Jax reporter Vic Micolucci is in Atlanta as Fulton County finalizes its counting of ballots. He said a crowd is growing outside the State Farm Arena where the ballots are being tabulated.

12:12 p.m.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has expanded his lead in Nevada, newly released voting data shows.

According to CNN, Biden now leads by 12,042 votes in the highly contested swing state.

The newly released votes came from Clack County, which includes Las Vegas and skews Democrat, 53.1% to 45.2% in favor of Biden. More updates are expected later today.

According to the New York Times, 87% of the votes in the state have been counted.

According to the Associated Press, if Biden wins Nevada’s six electoral college votes, he would secure the 270 needed to become the next President of the United States.

11:45 a.m.

A judge in Georgia has dismissed a lawsuit by the state Republican Party and President Donald 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.

11:45 a.m.

The Trump campaign signaled plans Thursday to file a legal challenge to election results in a fourth state.

Shortly before Nevada election officials were set to make an announcement, the campaign called a news conference to announce it’s filing a federal lawsuit in Las Vegas asking a judge to stop officials from counting what the campaign described as “improper votes.”

“We are filing this federal lawsuit to protect legal voters,” said Richard Grenell, a political operative. “It is unacceptable to have illegal votes counted, and that’s what is happening in the state of Nevada.”

11:30 a.m.

Votes are still being counted in Atlanta-area counties as Americans watch from around the nation to see whether Georgia will give Democrat Joe Biden the electoral votes he needs to become president.

The Associated Press has not declared a winner in Georgia’s presidential contest because the race between President Donald Trump and Biden is too early to call.

Gabriel Sterling, who was in charge of implementing the state’s new paper ballot voting system, said that as of 11 a.m. Thursday, just over 60,000 votes remained outstanding in 13 counties, including 11,200 in Fulton County and 17,157 in Chatham County. Sterling said the goal is to finish counting ballots Thursday.

9:34 a.m.

As key states hang in the balance, President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Thursday morning to call for election vote counting to stop.

The tweet comes after a night of unrest in battleground states.

Dozens of angry supporters of Trump converged on vote-counting centers in Detroit and Phoenix.

Elections officials are also continuing to comb through thousands of ballots in states like Georgia and Nevada and the results are expected to decide if there will be four more years of President Donald Trump or a new administration under former Vice President Joe Biden.

New lawsuits filed Wednesday in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia join existing Republican legal challenges in Pennsylvania and Nevada and demand better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted, and raised absentee ballot concerns, the campaign said.

8:04 a.m.

News4Jax learned Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperber will hold a press conference at 10:30 a.m. regarding ballot counting. In Neveda, election officials are expected to provide updated election results at noon EST. It will include voting results in the state’s two most populated counties.

5:39 a.m. Thursday

Nevada is expected to provide updated voting results this morning at 9 a.m. PST. The state had stopped providing updates at 5:45 a.m. Wednesday, according to a statement put out on Twitter.

11:50 p.m.

Unrest is manifesting. Dozens of angry supporters of President Donald Trump converged on vote-counting center in Detroit, Michigan and Phoenix, Arizona. Other protests, some about the election and some about racial inequality, took place in at least a half-dozen other cities, including Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, and San Diego -- according to the Associated Press.

10 p.m.

Elections officials estimated approximately 24,000 more ballots needed to be counted in Fulton County.

In Fulton County, home to Atlanta and Georgia’s most populous county, election officials brought in a fresh shift of workers Wednesday night. Rick Barron, the county elections supervisors, said he planned to keep working until midnight or later to finish the count.

“We’re going to finish tonight,” said Barron, who estimated about 36,000 absentee ballots remained to be counted. “As long as it takes we’re going to be here.”

Totals are also needed in DeKalb and Gwinnett counties. Those counts are not expected until Thursday morning.

7:04 p.m.

President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Georgia Republican Party have filed a lawsuit against the Chatham County Board of Elections asking a judge to order the county to secure and account for ballots received after 7 p.m. on Election Day.

State party Chairman David Shafer said in a statement Wednesday night that they planned to sue in a dozen counties.

The lawsuit alleges that a Republican observer watched a poll worker take unprocessed absentee ballots from a back room and mix them into processed absentee ballots waiting to be tabulated.

In Georgia, ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day in order to count. Chatham County contains Savannah and leans Democratic.

Georgia is among a handful of states that The Associated Press has not called. In the race to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, Democrat Joe Biden currently has 264 while Trump has 214.

6:59 p.m.

Fulton County elections officials are expected to hold a news conference at 7 p.m.

5:59 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has carried Michigan and its 16 electoral votes, further dismantling Donald Trump’s Rust Belt wall of support that helped deliver him the presidency four years ago.

The flip from red back to blue was a huge blow to Trump, whose victories in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2016 sent him to the White House. Biden also carried Wisconsin, though Pennsylvania hasn’t been called yet.

Biden’s victory in Michigan pushes him to 264 Electoral College votes, six short of the 270 needed to win the White House. Trump is at 214 electoral votes. Nevada, which has six electoral votes, is among the states Democrat Hillary Clinton won in 2016 that hasn’t yet been called.

Biden’s campaign had particularly focused on turning out Black voters in Detroit, who failed to show up for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the numbers that Barack Obama received during his two presidential bids.

Despite needing to win Michigan, Trump took frequent swipes at the state’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, who was the target of an alleged kidnapping plot that was foiled by federal law enforcement. Chants of “Lock her up!” toward Whitmer echoed at Trump’s rally, and he railed against the governor on Twitter for her cautious approach to the coronavirus pandemic.

4:55 p.m.

President Donald Trump’s campaign has accused a Michigan election official of failing to ensure that challengers and bipartisan observers watch the processing of absentee ballots.

The Republican campaign filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to stop the count, which was mostly centered in Detroit, until Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson allows more inspectors. There was no immediate response from a Court of Claims judge.

The Associated Press has not yet called Michigan.

Trump’s allies chanted, “Stop the count!” inside TCF Center, where ballots were being handled. The Detroit elections department was expected to finish counting absentee ballots by Wednesday evening.

Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel says, “Michigan’s elections have been conducted transparently, with access provided for both political parties and the public, and using a robust system of checks and balances to ensure that all ballots are counted fairly and accurately.”

More than 3 million absentee ballots were cast in Michigan in the first major election since a new law made them available to any voter. But local election clerks couldn’t start counting them until after polls closed Tuesday.

4:20 p.m.

Joe Biden says he’s not ready to declare victory as vote counting continues in the presidential election, but he says, ``When the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.''

The Associated Press hasn’t called the presidential race. Biden currently has 248 electoral votes, while President Donald Trump has 214. It takes 270 to win the presidency.

Biden addressed reporters Wednesday afternoon from Wilmington, Delaware, alongside his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris.

Biden says, “Every vote must be counted.” He added, “We the people will not be silenced.”

Biden also tried to sound like a president-elect, promising to reach out to political opponents and insisting that the presidency “itself is not a partisan institution.”

Biden did not take questions. President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan as ballots continue to be counted in both states.

3:35 p.m.

President Donald Trump’s campaign says it’s suing to temporarily stop the vote count in Pennsylvania, claiming lack of “transparency.”

Justin Clark, Trump’s deputy campaign manager, said in a statement Wednesday that the campaign is ``suing to stop Democrat election officials from hiding the ballot counting and processing from our Republican poll observers.'' He said the campaign wants ``to temporarily halt counting until there is meaningful transparency and Republicans can ensure all counting is done above board and by the law.''

Clark also said the campaign would seek to intervene in an ongoing Supreme Court case involving the deadline for receiving mail-in ballots.

There have been no reports by law enforcement of fraud or any type of ballot concerns out of Pennsylvania. The state had 3.1 million ballots mailed out that take time to count, and an order allows them to be counted up until Friday if they are postmarked by Nov. 3.

The Associated Press has not yet called Pennsylvania. Democrat Joe Biden currently has 248 electoral votes, while Trump has 214. It takes 270 to win the presidency.

2:18 p.m.

Joe Biden has defeated President Donald Trump in battleground Wisconsin, securing the state’s 10 electoral votes and reclaiming a key part of the blue wall that slipped away from Democrats four years ago, the Associated Press reported.

The president’s campaign was scheduled to made an address in the afternoon.

The Associated Press called Wisconsin for Biden after election officials in the state said all outstanding ballots had been counted, save for a few hundred in one township and an expected small number of provisional ballots.

Trump’s campaign has requested a recount. Statewide recounts in Wisconsin have historically changed the vote tally by only a few hundred votes; Biden leads by .624 percentage points out of nearly 3.3 million ballots counted.

The victory for Biden bumps him up to 248 electoral votes, while Trump has 214. It takes 270 to win the presidency.

2:02 p.m.

President Donald Trump’s campaign says it has filed a lawsuit trying to halt the vote count in battleground Michigan.

The latest counts gives Trump’s Democratic challenger Joe Biden a small lead, but the race is still too early to call.

Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien says in a statement Wednesday that the campaign “has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law.”

He says a suit was filed Wednesday in the Michigan Court of Claims “to halt counting until meaningful access has been granted.”

Michigan is a critical battleground state that helped deliver Trump the presidency four years ago, along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Neither Wisconsin or Pennsylvania has been called yet.

1:30 p.m.

Former vice president Joe Biden will address results from the election Wednesday afternoon, the Associated Press reported. The Democrat candidate is currently leading the general election with 238 electoral votes. President Donald Trump has 214 electoral votes.

The AP said that Biden’s campaign manager expressed confidence in an eventual win for Democrats during a call with reporters earlier Wednesday, pointing to their projections of the outcome in Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

1:22 p.m.

While he praised his state’s efficient counting of more than 11 million votes, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday criticized the national media coverage of the presidential election Tuesday night.

“Perhaps 2020 was the year that we finally vanquished the ghosts of Bush versus Gore,” DeSantis said during a news conference in Tallahassee.

There was no repeat of the recount drama that played out in the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore or what played out in the 2018 elections in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Florida election results were tabulated quickly in the swing state Tuesday night while other key states are still counting votes and may be for days to come.

“The people are actually looking at Florida, and asking the question, why can’t the states be more like Florida,” DeSantis said. “I think that the contrast between how a tough battleground state like Florida handled the election versus what we’re seeing in some states, I think that it’s dramatic.”

DeSantis also ripped the national media for waiting until well after midnight to call the state for President Donald Trump.

(Click below to watch Gov. DeSantis' news conference)

12:45 p.m.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger spoke Wednesday afternoon praising the efforts of his elections officials and touting short wait times at Georgia precincts despite record-breaking turnout.

“Every legal vote in Georgia will count. Right now we have about 200,000 ballots that are left to be counted. With the absentee ballot process, counties worked on scanning as many as they could. There are also about 40-50,000 early votes that need to be counted. Every legal vote will be counted,” Raffensperger said.

He said Georgia will also be doing a statewide audit for the first time.

“I know there’s a lot of information out there, misinformation, some just lack of knowledge. The audit will verify results so if there’s a race that reports 51-49, when we do the audit, we can verify the result and have over a 90% confidence level. That gives people additional assurance,” Raffensperger said. “By Friday, Nov. 13, we’ll have the certification. Nothing is certified until after we do the audit.”

As of 12:45 p.m., AP still had not called Georgia, which carries 16 electoral votes. With 94% reporting, President Donald Trump was leading Democratic challenger Joe Biden 50.3% to 48.%%.

12:13 p.m.

Democrats are driving toward extending their control of the House for two more years but with a potentially shrunken majority.

So far, they have lost seven incumbents and failed to oust any Republican lawmakers in initial returns. The only gains for Democrats have been two North Carolina seats vacated by GOP incumbents after a court-ordered remapping.

Though Democrats seem likely to retain House control, the results have been disappointing for the party, which had hoped to make modest gains of perhaps 15 seats. One major loss is 15-term Minnesota congressman Collin Peterson, defeated by a former lieutenant governor, Republican Michelle Fischbach.

11:45 a.m.

City officials in Philadelphia are hard at work post-election night with an “avalanche” of mail-in ballots that still need to sorting and counting Wednesday. Officials caution it could take days, said the Associated Press.

Pennsylvania is one of the undecided key states left in the election.

10:45 a.m.

The electoral vote has former vice president Joe Biden in front of President Donald Trump, 238-213, at this point. Biden is up in both Michigan and Wisconsin, while Trump leads in Pennsylvania. The counts continue this morning.

Trump and Biden were locked early Wednesday in a razor-thin race in Wisconsin as vote-counting stretched into the predawn hours and the nation’s eyes turned to the same Midwestern battlegrounds that decided the election four years ago, the Associated Press said.

With nearly all votes counted, Biden had a lead of sixth-tenths of a percentage point over Trump, a margin narrow enough to allow Trump to request a recount if it stands.

9:20 a.m.

Reaction from the presidential election locally has been relatively relaxed. Former vice president Joe Biden became the first Democrat to win Duval County in a presidential election since Jimmy Carter in 1976. But how has that reaction looked in one of the largest areas in the state, South Florida, where curfews and tighter restrictions remain in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic?

News4Jax reporter Vic Micolucci has been in the area since Sunday and said the atmosphere has been rather festive down there.

8:30 a.m.

Right now the race to 270 remains neck and neck. News4Jax political analyst and head of Jacksonville University’s Public Policy Institute Rick Mullaney joined us on The Morning Show. Mullaney adds an update on Wisconsin that helps out former vice president Joe Biden in the race for the White House.

8:25 a.m.

Former Jacksonville Chief of Staff Chris Hand is in the News4Jax studio and says that the votes that remain to be counted like absentee and mail-in ballots are likely to favor former vice president Joe Biden.

7:25 a.m.

Democrat Lucy McBath has defeated Republican Karen Handel’s attempt to reclaim her former congressional seat in Georgia’s 6th District. McBath, a gun control activist whose teenage son, Jordan Davis, was fatally shot in Jacksonville in 2012, had unseated Handel in 2018. The Democrat foiled a GOP comeback in the district by holding onto a swath of affluent Atlanta suburbs in Cobb, Fulton and DeKalb counties that were once a Republican stronghold.

Davis was a 17-year-old who attended Wolfson High School when he was shot and killed on Nov. 23, 2012. He is remembered during events annually in the area on that day. McBath penned a letter to him last year on the anniversary of his death.

7:00 a.m.

After a very short sleep, News4Jax Political Analyst Rick Mullaney is back in the building. Mullaney is providing context on the potential lawsuits that could follow this election. Turn to Channel 4 or Watch News4Jax live here.

6:18 a.m.

RECAP:

Here is where The Associated Press has called the elections so far:

• For Biden: Maine, Arizona, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Hampshire, California, Oregon, Washington, Washington, D.C., New York, New Mexico, Vermont, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island
• For Trump: Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Indiana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Louisiana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Kansas, Idaho, Missouri, Utah, Ohio, Iowa, Montana, Florida and Texas.
• Too close to call: Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina, Michigan, and Georgia. The AP also has not yet called a winner for Alaska.

5:30 a.m.

He had no path to legitimate victory, but rapper Kanye West had created a little bit of a buzz during the election cycle.

West was on the ballot in 12 states, receiving around 50,000 votes overall, according to the Associated Press.

5:12 a.m.

The Presidential race is too early to call. Key battleground states continued to count mail-in and absentee ballots, including in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina, Michigan, and Georgia.

4:30 a.m.

Joe Biden’s campaign responds to Donald Trump’s claims that he won the election early this morning.

“It was unprecedented because never before in our history has a president of the United States sought to strip Americans of their voice in a national election,” Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said in an official statement.

4:00 a.m.

After more than nine hours of wall-to-wall coverage, News4Jax relieved its nighttime anchors and continues following election results with The Morning Show crew.

2:40 a.m.

President Donald Trump is vowing to ask the Supreme Court to weigh in on the inconclusive election. The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the presidential race.

Trump appeared before supporters at the White House early Wednesday morning and cried foul over the election results, calling the process “a major fraud on our nation.” But there’s no evidence of foul play in the cliffhanger.

The night ended with hundreds of thousands of votes still to be counted, and the outcome still unclear in key states he needs if he is to win against Democrat Joe Biden.

Nevertheless, he has cast the night as a disenfranchisement of his voters. He said: “We will win this and as far as I’m concerned we already have won it.”

Trump says: “We’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court -- we want all voting to stop.” In fact, there is no more voting -- just counting.

(Click below to watch President Trump’s address)

2:34 a.m.

President Donald Trump touts wins in key states, says he will fight election in Supreme Court.

12:49 a.m.

President Donald Trump tweets: “I will be making a statement tonight. A big WIN!”

12:48 a.m.

Joe Biden is asking his supporters to “keep the faith” and urging them to “be patient” as the counting goes on in the drawn-out U.S. presidential election.

The Democratic presidential candidate emerged Wednesday after midnight to speak on the election results that have left the outcome in the balance. He spent the evening watching the returns come in from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, then drove downtown by motorcade to make his statement outside the Chase Center.

He told a gathering of supporters that his hopes for victory remain high despite the uncertainty and cautioned them that it could take a day or longer to know who won.

He told them: “Your patience is commendable.”

Hours after the polls have closed across America, however, the result is up in the air.

A number of key states still have hundreds of thousands of ballots outstanding, after a large influx of mail ballots have slowed down the count in states across the nation.

(Click below to watch Joe Biden’s full address)

12:37 a.m.

The Associated Press says President Donald Trump has won Florida’s 29 electoral votes.

12:28 a.m.

Joe Biden is expected to deliver a statement at 12:30 a.m.

12:08 a.m. Wednesday

Florida voters have rejected Amendment 3, a measure that would have opened primaries for statewide races to voters of all parties, with the top two vote-getters advancing to the general election.

In addition, Florida voters have rejected adding an extra election to the process for passing new amendments to the Florida Constitution. Amendment 4 would have required that future amendments to the Florida Constitution be approved in two elections instead of the current single election.

11:46 p.m.

Why The Associated Press hasn’t called Florida:

"President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden were locked in a tight race in Florida late Tuesday, and it was too early for The Associated Press to call the perennial battleground state.

“Florida has a history of close elections, including the state’s 2018 governor’s race, which went to a recount. The AP was waiting on more vote count to come in from south Florida, including Miami-Dade County, the largest county in the state.”

11:14 p.m.

Florida voters have approved a measure raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next six years, which advocates say will lift the pay for hundreds of thousands of workers in the state’s service-heavy economy.

11:13 p.m.

Republican Jody Phillips defeated Democrat Jimmy Midyette in the race for Duval County clerk of court.

11 p.m.

For the first time in decades, Duval County turned blue in a presidential election.

It’s the first time since President Jimmy Carter that a Democratic candidate took Duval. That was back in 1976.

President Donald Trump was poised to win the state, leading Democrat Joe Biden in the battle Tuesday for Florida’s 29 electoral votes. With about 93% of the votes counted by 10 p.m., the Republican president had more than a three percentage-point advantage over his Democratic rival, prompting Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida GOP leaders to declare Trump the winner.

With 100% of the precincts in Duval reporting, Biden took Duval with 250,942 votes. Trump received 232,846 votes.

10:39 p.m.

A half-cent sales tax measure to benefit schools in Clay County was passed by voters on Tuesday, bringing the county much-needed relief for improvements to schools there.

10 p.m.

Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has secured a fourth term in the U.S. Senate.

The incumbent defeated Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison, an associate chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

9:59 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won the state of Kansas.

The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its six electoral votes.

In 2016, Trump coasted to victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton by 20 percentage points in the state.

9:51 p.m.

Amendment 5, which would give homeowners an extra year to claim a homestead tax benefit, has passed.

9:49 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has won the state of Colorado.

He was awarded its nine electoral votes on Tuesday.

The state, which went for Democrat Hillary Clinton four years ago, has trended sharply to the left since President Donald Trump’s 2016 election.

The state also has a competitive Senate race between Republican incumbent Cory Gardner and the state’s former governor John Hickenlooper. Gardner is considered one of the nation’s most vulnerable senators.

9:35 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has won the District of Columbia.

He was awarded its three electoral votes on Tuesday.

District voters have been allowed to cast presidential ballots since 1964 and have always voted overwhelmingly Democratic. Hillary Clinton’s win in the District over Republican Donald Trump in 2016 was the widest margin ever.

9:28 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won Louisiana, Nebraska, Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, while Democrat Joe Biden has won New Mexico and New York.

Nebraska, one of two states that divides its electoral votes, has five total electoral votes up for grabs. Trump won the statewide vote, which is good for two electoral votes. He also won the 3rd Congressional District, which nets him a third vote.

Nebraska’s 1st and 2nd congressional districts haven’t yet been called.

Trump nets 20 electoral votes from his wins in Louisiana, Nebraska, Nebraska’s 3rd, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, while Biden takes 34 electoral votes for winning New Mexico and New York.

9:15 p.m.

Florida Amendment 1, which clarifies that only U.S. citizens over age 18 were eligible to vote in elections, has passed.

Florida Amendment 6, which extends a property tax discount to the surviving spouse of a veteran with combat-related disabilities, has passed.

8:45 p.m.

Jacksonville voters approved an amendment to the city’s charter empowering the City Council to appoint and remove four members of the city-owned utility’s board of directors. The measure also includes residency requirements for board members along with some additional qualification requirements.

8 p.m.

By 2-1 margin, Duval County voters agreed to a half-cent sales tax to improve Duval County school facilities.

7:40 p.m.

Republican U.S. Rep. John Rutherford wins reelection to U.S. House in Florida’s 4th Congressional District, defeating challenger Donna Deegan.

Democrat U.S. Rep. Al Lawson wins reelection to U.S. House in Florida’s 5th Congressional District.

7:10 p.m.

The first polls in Florida, including those in Northeast Florida, and polls in Georgia closed at 7 p.m.

Here’s a look at voter turnout in Duval and surrounding counties:

Mike Hogan, the supervisor of elections in Duval County told Jim Piggott he expected a higher turnout.

6:45 p.m.

In Brunswick, officers are preparing to escort poll workers into the Glynn County Supervisor of Elections headquarters. They are carrying with them memory cards from the voting machines in precincts across the county.

Around 6,000 people voted Tuesday in Glynn County. The county had a 67% turnout in this presidential election.

In Duval County, early voting and vote-by-mail results should be out after 7 p.m.

6:30 p.m.

With about 30 minutes until polls close in Northeast Florida, Duval County turnout is at 74.24%.

6:10 p.m.

The elections center on Jacksonville’s Northside is getting ready for the polls to close at 7 p.m. and begin tabulating and releasing the results.

Here’s how it’s going to work: At 7:05 p.m., they will actually press a button, and the early voting and mail-in will be tabulated and the results released.

As for Duval County voter turnout, as of 5:50 p.m., it was at 73.6%, which has Duval County Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan stunned.

In Brunswick, Georgia, polls will be closing in an hour.

As of around 6 p.m., the Glynn County supervisor of elections was calling out to precincts to get an idea of voter turnout. But we do know Glynn County has already surpassed the vote in 2016 by the close of early voting.

5:35 p.m.

Within the last hour, voter turnout in Clay County increased to 74%.

At the Oakleaf Baptist Church, more than 700 people have shown up to cast ballots. During early voting, 2,295 people showed up at the church.

On Tuesday morning, there was a line of voters that stretched around the building, but from noon until early evening, there has been a steady flow of people showing up to cast ballots.

In Nassau County, the supervisor of elections said more than 7,200 people have voted Tuesday. Springhill Baptist Church has been the busiest polling location, with more than 750 voters casting their ballots Tuesday.

There haven’t been any long lines at the church. News4Jax also didn’t see any long lines at the Yulee Sports Complex polling location earlier.

5:16 p.m.

As of shortly after 5 p.m., the St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections is reporting more than 83% turnout. A staggering number of people voted early (93,221) and by mail (57,470), but more than 24,000 voted today.

5:13 p.m.

Campaigners and sign waivers could still be found outside Grace Church, a polling location in Jacksonville’s Avondale neighborhood, past 5 p.m. While those present acknowledged things have been tense at times with some heckling, cooler heads have prevailed.

5:03 p.m.

The cybersecurity agency at the Department of Homeland Security says the U.S. election so far has featured the usual technical glitches and routine issues but no apparent signs of any malicious cyber activity — at least not yet.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency also says it’s too early to declare victory as polls near closing time around the nation Tuesday and with days of vote counting and certification ahead.

A senior agency official says, “It has been quiet and we take some confidence in that but we are not out of the woods yet.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity to brief reporters about ongoing nationwide election monitoring efforts ahead of the release of any kind of official evaluation.

The official warned that local and state election systems could experience problems as results are reported, but the most likely cause would be from high demand put on the system as people overwhelm websites to check results.

— By AP writer Ben Fox

4:52 p.m.

Just before 5 p.m., there was a short line of about 10 people waiting to vote at the Oceanway Community Center.

4:40 p.m.

A steady line of voters are waiting to cast their ballot on Election Day at the Springhill Baptist Church in Nassau County.

As of 4:40 p.m., more than 6,800 people have voted in Nassau County. Voter turnout at the time was estimated at 79%.

In Duval County, voter turnout was near 72% as of 4:30 p.m. Mike Hogan, the Duval elections supervisor, told Jim Piggott he believed that number would be much higher by now.

As of 4:40 p.m., voter turnout in Clay County was just over 73%.

The Oakleaf Plantation Athletic Center and the Oakleaf Baptist polling site have seen hundreds of people show up to cast their ballot. People who News4Jax spoke with seemed eager to vote Tuesday and said that they would have participated in early voting, but they could not get time away from work. News4Jax also ran into several first-time voters who were thrilled about participating in the election process.

4:03 p.m.

A round of robocalls are breathing new life into concerns that automated messages could have a chilling effect on Election Day turnout.

As reported by the Washington Post, American voters have received about 10 million automated calls and messages recommending they “stay home.”

YouMail has been tracking the robocalls, showing they have affected the vast majority of area codes across the country. It found the calls might be coming from overseas.

3:30 p.m.

Duval County Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan tells Jim Piggott he’s disappointed with the election turnout so far.

As of 3:30 p.m., 70% of eligible voters in Duval had cast a ballot.

3:10 p.m.

A judge ordered some United States Postal Service processing centers in South Florida and other key battleground states to do a sweep for stray election ballots on Tuesday afternoon.

The move was done to ensure that any potentially delayed ballots were immediately sent out to be counted. Reuters wrote that the ruling comes after a lawsuit was brought forth by voting rights organization Vote Forward and Latino community groups.

2:55 p.m.

Things are quiet Tuesday afternoon at Promised Land Baptist Church, a polling place off Normandy Boulevard on Jacksonville’s Westside. An estimated 300 people have cast their ballots in person today, a fraction of the roughly 2,500 that have been cast at the precinct since voting began.

2:50 p.m.

The number of Americans who have voted so far just passed 100 million. This likely is 99% from people who voted either by mail or at early voting sites -- little if any of those votes were cast today. Here’s where we stand:

2:44 p.m.

Wanda Cooper-Jones, mother of Ahmaud Arbery, voted not far from where her son was shot and killed

Arbery was shot Feb. 23 by Travis McMichael in the Satilla Shores neighborhood in Brunswick. McMichael, his father, Gregory, and William Bryan face murder and various other charges in relation to Arbery’s death.

STORY: Arbery’s mother: Election day vote is ‘for me and Ahmaud’

Arbery’s death became a major national story after video of the encounter was released in early May.

2:29 p.m.

Voter turnout in St. Johns County has reached the 80% threshold with four and a half hours to go, surpassing the number of those who made it to the poll four years ago. In 2016, 80.58% of voters turned out for the election.

2:17 p.m.

At Precinct 405 in Ponte Vedra Beach, it’s no lines, no waiting.

That’s good and bad for one area voter, who said that he misses the elections of interaction, coffee and donuts.

2 p.m.

Duval County voter turnout is right at 69.4% with five hours left for voters to get to the polls. A total of 460,860 ballots have been cast thus far.

1:40 p.m.

High voter turnout continues across the area.

Clay County supervisor of elections Chris Chambless said that by 10 a.m. the voter turnout for this election in his county had surpassed the total number of votes in 2016.

The current voter turnout is 69.7% in Clay County.

12:30 p.m.

In Hastings, it was relatively easy access and short lines for voters in the small town in St. Johns County. Precinct 209 is one of the smaller voting places in the county. Only 3,884 voters are assigned to that precinct.

12:19 p.m.

The big rigs moved through Downtown Jacksonville on Tuesday afternoon, blaring horns in support of President Donald Trump. Some trucks had Trump’s slogan, “Keep America Great," on the side of their rigs.

12:10 p.m.

News4Jax isn’t just in the area today. Reporter Vic Micolucci is in South Florida, and it’s a festive scene there as a traveling band is making its way around polling locations to provide some sights and sound to voters.

12:09 p.m.

It has been a consistent and strong turnout in St. Johns County.

As of 12:09 p.m., the county said that 78% of eligible voters have taken part in the election, a number that exceeds 165,000.

11 a.m.

It’s been a steady and strong number of voters in Duval County. As of 11 a.m., more than 38,000 ballots had been cast on Election Day.

10:01 a.m.

For the most part, lines seem to be moving smoothly at precincts in and around Jacksonville this morning. Our reporters have seen lines moving at a brisk pace in Duval, Clay and St. Johns counties.

Some voters did express concern about a machine at a local precinct that wasn’t working, forcing them to leave their ballots in the emergency slot to be counted at the end of the day. The issue caused a delay of roughly 40 minutes. Hear more from them about that situation in the video below:

Duval County Supervisor of Election Mike Hogan told News4Jax anchor Melanie Lawson that because the voting machines are electronic, there is the process they will fail and not be able to accept ballots for some time. He said voters have to trust the process and the poll workers who are there to be sure that every ballot is counted.

Voters who have to use the emergency slot can return to watch all the ballots from the emergency box be fed through the machine after the polls close, but Hogan admitted that is less than convenient for voters.

Hear his response to the issue this morning:

10 a.m.

First lady Melania Trump cast her ballot in the election at a precinct in Palm Beach County. Trump said that she was feeling “great” after voting, according to a pool report.

Her husband, President Donald Trump, voted early in Florida during a visit to the state last Saturday.

8:17 a.m.

At Creekside Christian Church, the early line moved quickly Tuesday morning. News4Jax spoke with one family who all came out to vote together, saying it was their duty as patriots. Click play below to hear why they made voting a family affair today:

8:12 a.m.

Duval County Supervisor of Election Chief Elections Officer Robert Phillips said, during a live interview with News4Jax Anchor Melanie Lawson, two precincts were delayed opening this morning. A voting machine malfunction delayed voting until 7:07 a.m. at 3435 University Boulevard and an issue with a locked closet delayed voting until 7:12 a.m. at the McGirts Creek Community Center precinct.

News4Jax is working to get additional clarification on the exact nature of the delays at the two precincts based on what we were told earlier in the morning.

8:09 a.m.

News4Jax reporter Lena Pringle was out at a precinct in the Creekside area of St. Johns County and shared a timelapse video of what the line was like early this morning.

7:14 a.m.

News4Jax confirmed with the Duval County Supervisor of Elections Office that the voting precinct at 3435 University Blvd. North in Jacksonville did not open at 7 a.m. as it was meant to.

When poll workers arrived to open the building, they were unable to access a locked closet that was holding needed supplies, according to David Hester, the warehouse manager for precincts.

The issue was expected to be resolved by 7:30 a.m., but voting was not occurring at the location in the meantime.

News4Jax is reaching out to Duval County Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan to determine if the location will stay open later for the same amount of time it remained closed this morning. We will update you once we have the answer.

7:05 a.m.

News4Jax reporter Brittany Muller found a long line this morning at a precinct in the Ortega area.

7:00 a.m.

Polls have opened in Florida and Georgia!

After weeks of waiting (and voting), Election Day is finally upon us. If you’re just getting up to speed, you might be surprised to find out that millions of your fellow Americans have already cast their ballots, either during early voting or by mail. Still, with plenty of ballots still waiting to be cast, we’ll be tracking updates across Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia starting at 7 a.m. Even though polls are set to close at 7 p.m., we won’t know the results right away, so we’ll keep you updated well into the night with this live blog.

Check out these helpful resources

• What you can expect when you head to the polls on Tuesday
• Trust Index: How you can become a fact-checker on Election Day & beyond
• Do your homework before heading to the polls with our Voter’s Guide
• What to expect from us at News4Jax on election night and beyond
• Problems at the polling place? Rave reviews? We want to hear from you
• Test your civics knowledge with our presidential trivia quiz