After a campaign that exposed deep rifts in a nation more polarized than at any time in modern memory, each announcement of new vote totals stoked waves of emotion from the competing factions.
Attention shifted on Thursday to a handful of states where the presidential result remained too close to call but where Joseph R. Biden Jr. seemed to have an advantage, and to the courts, where the Trump campaign had filed a barrage of lawsuits challenging the validity of the count.
The vote counting created mirror-image dramas across the United States: The former vice president’s lead over President Trump in Arizona dwindled, while in Georgia and Pennsylvania, Mr. Biden slowly eroded Mr Trump’s leads.
Georgia and Pennsylvania are expected to release another round of results Thursday morning, and Nevada, where Mr Biden leads by less than 8,000 votes, is expected to release results around noon Eastern time. Arizona is set to release more results Thursday night.
In Arizona, after 62,000 votes from Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, were added to the tally early Thursday, Mr Biden led Mr Trump by about 68,000 votes or less than three percentage points. But Mr Trump faced a steep uphill battle to close the gap.
Courtesy – The NewYork Times
