Decision Desk HQ Declares Biden As President; Trump Campaign Retorts ‘Election Is Not Over’
Decision Desk HQ, who claims to “collect, organize, and report election night results and provide election related data to anyone interested” has declared Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election — becoming the first outlet to do so as major outlets refuse to call the race as several of the contested states remain “too close to call.”
Decision Desk HQ projects that @JoeBiden has won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral college votes for a total of 273.
Joe Biden has been elected the 46th President of the United States of America.
Race called at 11-06 08:50 AM EST
All Results: https://t.co/BgcQsEyt3j
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) November 6, 2020
“Decision Desk HQ projects that @JoeBiden has won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral college votes for a total of 273. Joe Biden has been elected the 46th President of the United States of America,” the organization tweeted, adding that it called the race at “11-06 08:50 AM EST.”
Decision Desk HQ made the call after the Democratic nominee posted a 5,587-vote lead against President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, although over 100,000 votes remain to be counted.
Major networks, however, are hesitating to make a final call in the presidential race as results in key battleground states like Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania remain “too close to call.”
Arizona has been called for the Democratic nominee by Fox News and the Associated Press, although other outlets are refusing to award the electoral votes to Biden with thousands of outstanding ballots yet to be canvassed. President Trump is cutting Biden’s lead in the Grand Canyon State.
The legal battle launched by the Trump campaign could also impact the final decision on the presidential race.
The Trump campaign has earlier filed several lawsuits in the hotly contested states — citing reports of fraud, limited access to observe ballot counting, and claims that thousands of ballots were cast illegally with reports of dead people and non-residents casting votes, to ballots being thrown out, burned or simply undelivered to Republicans.
“We think there’s going to be a lot of litigation because we have so much evidence, so much proof, it’s going to end up perhaps at the highest court in the land, you’ll see,” President Trump said. “We think there’ll be a lot of litigation, because we cannot have an election stolen like this.”
“If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us,” he added.
At least 21K dead people on PA voter rolls
In Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign said at least 21,000 dead people have remained on the state’s voter rolls and were sent ballots.
“As of October 7, 2020, at least 9,212 registrants have been dead for at least five years, at least 1,990 registrants have been dead for at least ten years, and at least 197 registrants have been dead for at least twenty years,” the lawsuit states.
“Pennsylvania still left the names of more than 21,000 dead individuals on the voter rolls less than a month before one of the most consequential general elections for federal officeholders in many years,” it said.
Judicial Watch, a conservative activist group, has already earlier sued the state claiming that there are over 800,000 inactive voters included in Pennsylvania’s voter roll and in May, the state admitted to sending out duplicate ballots to registered voters.
Trump campaign: Election is not over
Meanwhile, responding to Decision Desk HQ’s decision to call the election for Biden, the Trump campaign reiterated that the election is not yet over.
The Trump campaign this morning: pic.twitter.com/mLrdGLu3GT
— Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) November 6, 2020
“This election is not over,” Matt Morgan, Trump 2020 campaign general counsel said in a statement.
“The false projection of Joe Biden as the winner is based on results in four states that are far from final.”
Morgan said results in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Nevada will be challenged due to “irregularities,” while Arizona remains too close to call. He said Georgia is also headed for a recount.
“Biden is relying on these states for his phony claim on the White House, but once the election is final, President Trump will be re-elected,” Morgan concluded.
