Pennsylvania, "Counting to be completed today"... Will the US presidential election result be confirmed?

Biden Confirmed Winner if Pennsylvania Victory Secured
More 'Scenarios' Arise if Upset Occurs in Pennsylvania

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The Pennsylvania authorities, a key battleground state that will determine the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, have announced that they expect to complete the vote count on the same day, raising hopes that the election results could be announced as early as today. Most of the mail-in ballots counted so far are reported to support Democratic candidate Joe Biden, and if Biden maintains his lead in the remaining uncounted votes, he could secure his victory.

According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 5th (local time), in Pennsylvania, the largest battleground state in the North, the vote margin has been steadily narrowing as the counting progresses. As of 8:50 p.m. that day, with 250,000 votes left to be counted, President Trump was leading by 53,000 votes, the NYT reported. Kathy Boockvar, Pennsylvania Secretary of State, told the NYT in an interview, "We will definitely complete the counting today," and emphasized, "I am confident that the winner of our state will also be announced today." If Boockvar's promise holds, the results from Pennsylvania are expected to be announced after 2 p.m. on the 6th Korean time.

Pennsylvania holds 20 electoral votes, and if Biden wins here, he will secure 273 electoral votes regardless of the counts in other states such as Arizona and Nevada, thus confirming his presidential victory. The vote gap between the two candidates had exceeded 600,000 votes during the mid-count on the previous day, but as mail-in ballot counting progressed, it has now narrowed to around 50,000 votes.

Secretary Boockvar predicted a possible comeback for Biden. She said, "Among the mail-in ballots counted so far, about 77% supported Biden and about 22% supported President Trump. If the remaining approximately 500,000 uncounted ballots continue with the same 77 to 22 ratio, Biden is expected to overtake Trump by about 100,000 votes and win." Most of the remaining ballots are from densely populated areas such as Allegheny County, which includes Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, where Democratic support is strong.

Regarding the lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign to invalidate ballots received after Election Day on the 3rd, it was explained, "The ballots received after Election Day are not numerous enough to affect the final result," adding, "About 10,000 ballots in Philadelphia and at most 500 in most other counties are being withheld from counting for now, and we are counting mail-in ballots that arrived on Election Day first."

In other battleground areas where President Trump was leading, the gap has continued to narrow as mail-in ballot counting has begun. In Georgia, with 99% of the votes counted, Trump holds 49.4% and Biden 49.3%, with the vote difference shrinking to around 3,500 votes. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Gabriel Sterling, Georgia's election official, said at a press conference that about 47,000 uncounted ballots remain, and approximately 8,900 military and overseas absentee ballots are expected to arrive on the 6th, after which the counting results will be known.

States like Nevada, Arizona, and North Carolina, where mail-in ballot counting is still delayed, are expected to have difficulty announcing results within this week. Nevada still has 190,000 uncounted ballots, Arizona 450,000, and state authorities have not announced an exact completion date. North Carolina, with 150,000 ballots remaining, legally recognizes mail-in ballots received by the 12th as valid, making it difficult to announce results before then.

Based on the current situation, if Biden wins Pennsylvania as predicted, the presidential election result will be confirmed. However, if an upset occurs in Pennsylvania, the election could enter an unpredictable phase. According to the NYT, if President Trump wins in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, and Nevada but loses Georgia, both candidates would hold 269 electoral votes, leading to a so-called 'undecided election' scenario. In this case, the House of Representatives would elect the president, with each state delegation having one vote. This election method favors the Republican Party, which holds representatives across several less-populated rural states in the Midwest, over the Democratic Party, which has many representatives concentrated in populous urban districts, increasing the likelihood of Trump's re-election, the NYT reported.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.