As Nation Awaits Final Vote Count, Biden Stays Hopeful While Trump Alleges “Fraud On American Public”

Election officials counted the votes of millions of Americans in battleground states into the morning hours and long after polls had closed on Election Day, leaving the country in suspense about the next president of the United States.

“Your patience is commendable,” Democratic candidate Joe Biden told supporters who gathered outside and applauded from their cars in Wilmington, Delaware. “We knew this was gonna go long, but who knew we knew we would go into tomorrow morning — maybe longer…we believe we are on track to win this election.”

At 2:00 a.m. EST President Donald Trump delivered his first remarks about the status of the election from the White House, following a tweet that accused officials of “trying to steal the election.”

“This is a fraud on the American public,” Trump said. “This is an embarrassment for our country. We were getting ready to win this election…frankly, we did win this election.” 

He added, “We want the voting to stop.” In a wildly unorthodox move, Trump called for vote counting to cease without explanation, a flagrant disregard of voters’ constitutional rights.

Vice-President Mike Pence offered a different message that contradicted Trump, saying “while the votes continue to be counted.”

Former Republican presidential candidate, Rick Santorum who joined CNN as an election night analyst, said, “I understand the President feels like, you know, it’s a grievance against him and somehow or another, this is another example of the media not treating him fairly. I can just say I could not disagree more in this case.”

Santorum called for “caution” in the face of Trump’s announcement that he would take legal action. 

Close to 3:00 a.m. EST, the Associated Press called Arizona as a win for Biden. Battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and North Carolina had not been determined with votes still being counted and some election officials having decided to return Wednesday morning to resume the process of counting votes.