pennsylvania election 2020 vote counting absentee mail ballots
An election worker in Chester County, Pennsylvania, handling mail-in ballots on Tuesday. AP Photo/Matt Slocum

 

  • Pennsylvania could be done counting its remaining mail ballots on Thursday, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said.
  • Joe Biden has been cutting into President Donald Trump’s lead in the state as mail ballots have been counted, particularly those in the Philadelphia suburbs.
  • If Biden wins Pennsylvania, he’ll secure the Electoral College majority necessary to win the presidency, according to Insider and Decision Desk HQ projections.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar announced that most of the state’s 550,000 outstanding ballots should be counted on Thursday.

Joe Biden has so far secured 253 electoral votes, according to Insider and Decision Desk HQ projections. A win in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state and his birthplace, would bring him to 273 electoral votes, over the 270 needed to win the presidential race.

President Donald Trump’s lead over Biden in Pennsylvania has narrowed drastically — to just over 114,000 votes as of Thursday, according to Decision Desk HQ — as election officials have tabulated and reported the results of mail-in ballots, which heavily favor Biden, particularly in the Philadelphia suburbs.

In 2016, Trump carried the state by less than 1 point, making it a top priority for Democrats to win back in 2020.

Insider and Decision Desk HQ have projected that Biden will win Michigan and Wisconsin, swing states that Trump also narrowly carried in 2016.

The three states — part of the “Blue Wall” — were considered Democratic strongholds for decades, but Hillary Clinton’s weakness among white, working-class voters there in 2016 led to them flipping to Trump.

Trump has so far won the battlegrounds of Florida, Iowa, Ohio, and Texas, Insider and Decision Desk HQ project. Races in Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina remain too close to call.

As reported by Business Insider