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President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, alongside vice-president elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff.

President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, alongside vice-president elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. Source: President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, alongside vice-president elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff.

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'Let's give each other a chance': US president-elect Joe Biden calls for unity in moving victory speech

Follow the SBS News live blog for the major updates from the 2020 United States presidential election.

President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, alongside vice-president elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff.

President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, alongside vice-president elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. Source: President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, alongside vice-president elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff.

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Polls close in key states, including Florida
We are well and truly under way now. 

Polling centres have just closed in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Washington DC, and the remaining areas of New Hampshire and Florida.

Florida is one of the important states in the election, with a massive 29 electoral college votes. If Donald Trump loses this state, it will be a huge blow to his re-election chances. 

Polls have also closed in the Eastern Time Zone Sections of Michigan, Central Time Zone sections of Kansas, South Dakota and Texas, and parts of North Dakota.

It's still early days result-wise. Here's how the tally is looking so far:



Biden takes his second state, Virginia
Virginia has been declared for Joe Biden, as expected, delivering him 13 electoral votes. 

Trump takes West Virginia
Another Republican safe seat goes to Donald Trump, but all eyes are on swing state Florida which is quickly making its way through the count. 

Biden takes Vermont, Trump takes Kentucky
And shortly after the first state was called, we now have two more to add to the list.

Joe Biden has won Vermont, a safe Democratic state, delivering him three electoral votes.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has also retained Republican stronghold Kentucky, with eight electoral votes.

'WE ARE LOOKING REALLY GOOD,' tweets Donald Trump
As polls start to close, incumbent Donald Trump appears to be in high spirits. 

"WE ARE LOOKING REALLY GOOD ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. THANK YOU," he tweeted as the first polling booths shut their doors.

Democratic challenger Joe Biden has instead taken to Twitter to issue a PSA to voters still waiting to cast their ballot. 

"As polls begin to close in certain parts of the country, remember to stay in line. If you’re in line at your polling place before it closes, you’re able to vote," he wrote on Twitter.

And more polls have closed
They’re dropping like flies. Polls have now closed in Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, parts of Florida (a key swing state), parts of New Hampshire, and the remaining areas of Indiana and Kentucky. 

As results come in, we’ll be updating our infographic below.



We're live!
If reading words is not your thing, check out our live stream below.

We will be streaming the results live until 6:00pm this evening, when you can switch to the SBS World News election special. 



The battleground states explained
Still confused over where you should be looking once results start to drop? This handy video explainer from SBS News presenter Catalina Florez should get you up to speed. 




'She is from here and we are proud of her'
Residents of vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris' ancestral village in India have prayed for Democratic success in the US election.

Hours ahead of the US presidential election, people living in and around Thulasendrapuram, the village of Ms Harris’ grandfather, gathered at a temple for special prayers.

Villagers next to a billboard featuring US democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Thulasendrapuram village, India.
Villagers next to a billboard featuring US democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Thulasendrapuram village, India. Source: AP


One local politician conducted an “abhishekam”, a practice that involves pouring milk over a Hindu idol while religious verses are recited, in the presence of about 20 villagers, said R. Manikandan, a shopkeeper near the temple.

Meanwhile, R.R. Kalidas Vandayar, a businessman and the head of a cricket association in the nearest town, plans to offer food to more than 150 people to seek their blessings for Ms Harris. If elected, she would become the first black and south Asian woman to become vice president.

“She is from here and we are proud of her,” said Mr Vandayar’s brother R.R. Jayakumar Vandayar.

READ MORE

People in Kamala Harris' Indian ancestral village are performing special prayers for her victory



'It was exhilarating': Former felons among voters in Florida battleground
Shikila Calder, 32, thought about voting early this year, but decided to save her vote - the first of her life - for Election Day on Tuesday, Reuters reports. 

“It made it special. It was exhilarating,” said Ms Calder, one of potentially thousands of people with past felony convictions voting in a general election for the first time this year, after their rights were restored in a 2018 referendum.

Under Florida law, Ms Calder had been denied the right to vote owning to a conviction for which she served time and repaid her debt to society a decade ago, she said after voting at a community centre in the city of St. Petersburg.

Voters queue up outside of St. Luke's United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Voters queue up outside of St. Luke's United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, Florida. Source: EPA


“I have my voice back,” she said, a beaming smile visible in spite of her face mask. “I’m welcomed back into my community as a person and I don’t have that big label on me as a bad person.”

An amendment to Florida’s constitution was to restore voting rights to an estimated 1.4 million felons in the battleground state, ahead of the crucial election between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, this also in from Florida:

First polls close!
Physical polls in the Eastern Time Zone section of Indiana and Kentucky are about to close - the first in the country to do so.

It's getting close now. Buckle in. 

‘I protested Trump in 2016. Now, I’m voting for him’
New York resident Ada Lee, 26, wrote about why she's voting for Donald Trump - four years after protesting his election - for SBS Dateline's election diary series. Read an excerpt below. 

"A lot of the politics are very liberal and one-sided. And because I was stuck in that bubble growing up, I thought that was the only way to think. I was extremely influenced by what was around me. And so I adopted the politics and policies there as if they were my own.

When Donald Trump first got elected in 2016, I was part of that group that was angry, I thought he was racist and sexist. I was also in the streets, protesting and chanting ‘not my president’. One day during that time, I stopped and looked at the people around me and I saw how genuinely angry they were.



And I started to wonder, why am I so angry?

What is the big deal about this? I always had a positive feeling about America. My parents are immigrants and they came here with nothing from communist China. They worked multiple jobs, just to make a life for themselves, to put food on the table for their family and to get us through school."

Read the latest instalment of SBS Dateline's 'US Election Diaries' here. 

Election day running smoothly so far
Millions of Americans have waited patiently to cast their ballots at libraries, schools and arenas across the country - defying concerns over possible voter intimidation or disruption.

While civic rights groups said they were monitoring for any signs of voter interference and law enforcement agencies were on high alert, by election day afternoon their worst fears had not materialised.

Voters line up to cast their ballots at St. John the Apostle Catholic Church.
Voters line up to cast their ballots at St. John the Apostle Catholic Church. Source: AAP


In New York City, some voting lines snaked around blocks, but in many places voting wait times were short or non-existent. Poll workers speculated this was due to record-breaking numbers of early votes. As of about 9:30am AEST, more than 101 million early and postal votes had been received - more than 73 per cent of the total voter turn-out in 2016.

"I was afraid we'd have a line today but nothing," California voter Elsa Avalos, 79, told AAP. "Every election we've voted, we've done our duty."

A quick note on where we're at: The first physical polls are set to close in about half an hour at 10am AEST (parts of Indiana and Kentucky).

An hour later, polls in the remainder of those states will close, alongside Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, parts of New Hampshire, and the Eastern Time Zone sections of Florida. We can expect to have some interesting exit poll data coming through from about midday.

Here's a snapshot of election day so far: 



Do Australians care about the US politics?
You betcha, that's why you're here.  

But how about another measurement: Donald Trump has been the subject of more Australian media this year than our very own leader Scott Morrison, according to analysis released on Tuesday by Australian media monitoring company Streem. 

In October, the US President generated 26,152 mentions in the Australian press, more than double Mr Morrison's 10,714. By comparison, Joe Biden showed up 15,644 times.

"His [Mr Trump's] hospitalisation with coronavirus, and rejoining of the campaign trail, made the US president the subject of 26,000 distinct media items last month alone, some 35 per cent more than Mr Morrison in March, when Australia’s coronavirus-lockdown was first implemented," the article reads. 

Joe Biden's promises to America
With polls strongly suggesting a Biden presidency, let's take a look at what that would actually entail.  

The Democratic challenger has presented himself as an ideological alternative to Donald Trump, taking a more progressive approach to immigration, human rights and climate action - all areas the current administration has sought to wind back.

On coronavirus, Mr Biden has vowed to provide free testing for all and hire 100,000 new people to set up a national contact tracing program. He also wants at least 10 testing centres in every state and more drive-through testing centres.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden during a campaign stop.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden during a campaign stop. Source: AP


If elected, he has also sworn to expand the Affordable Care Act - also known as Obamacare - a legislative achievement by the Obama administration which expanded health insurance to millions more Americans.

On one of the most divisive issues, abortion, Mr Biden says he will fight to keep abortion accessible and legal.

READ MORE

Human rights and a climate fight: What Joe Biden has promised if he wins



Mr Biden also plans to invest $US2 trillion in renewable energy infrastructure over the next four years in a bid to slow climate change. He also plans to remove fossil fuels to generate electricity by 2035 - and bring the country to net zero emissions by 2050 - by instead using wind, solar and other energy forms such as nuclear, hydropower and biomass.

When it comes to immigration - one of the key issues of the 2016 election - Mr Biden says he will allow 11 million undocumented citizens in America to receive documentation if they register, are up-to-date on taxes and pass a background check. He would also rescind the controversial 'Muslim ban' that bars foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from visiting the US. 

For the full details of Mr Biden's promises, take a look at this article by my colleague Gavin Fernando. 

What's Joe Biden been up to?
Joe Biden has been campaigning in Philadelphia, the biggest city in Pennsylvania - one of the key states expected to drive the election result. 

As the 77-year-old arrived in Philadelphia, the crowd can be heard shouting "Joe, Joe, Joe" and "we love you Joe".

"You've been great to me my whole career," he told the crowd, as he stood alongside his grand-daughter.

"The President's got a lot of things backwards, including that he thinks he can decide who gets to vote. Well guess what, the people are going to decide who gets to be president.

"Not only are we going to be able to overcome this virus by taking some smart moves, but secondly, we are going to rebuild the middle class ... and by the way, the middle class built this country.

"And thirdly, I promise you this: while I'm running as a proud Democrat, if you elect me I'm going to be an American president. There is going to be no red states, or blue states, just the United States."

Kanye votes for ... Kanye
Kanye West has shared a video of himself "voting for the first time" in his life in which he votes for, well, himself.

The American rapper does not feature on the ballot under presidential candidates, but that didn't stop him - he simply wrote his name under that of Donald Trump and Joe Biden and left the rest of the ballot empty.

He has previously urged Americans to do the same - in the US, some states allow "write-in candidates", who are eligible to win the presidency in the unlikely event they receive enough votes. 

"Today I am voting for the first time in my life for the President of the United States, and it's for someone I truly trust ... me," he wrote on Twitter.

Despite appearing on the official ballots in a handful of states, Kanye has "no mathematical chance of winning" the election, according to Reuters. 

FBI investigates robocalls telling people to 'stay home'
The FBI are investigating a spate of mysterious robocalls urging people to stay home on election day as the nation remains on high alert against voter suppression, a Department of Homeland Security official says. 

Audio of the calls feature a synthetic female voice saying: "Hello. This is just a test call. Time to stay home. Stay safe and stay home."

New York Attorney General Letitia James also announced an investigation into the calls, in a statement on Wednesday, describing voting as "the cornerstone of our democracy".

“Attempts to hinder voters from exercising their right to cast their ballots are disheartening, disturbing, and wrong. What’s more is that it is illegal, and it will not be tolerated," she said.

"Every voter must be able to exercise their fundamental right to vote without being harassed, coerced, or intimidated. 

"Our nation has a legacy of free and fair elections, and this election will be no different."

Meanwhile, in Australia...
And in local news, notorious and/or beloved Aussie comedy group The Chaser have had their Twitter account shut down ahead of one of the biggest news events of the year. Their crime? Changing their display picture and username to that of the US President and tweeting: "Don't vote for me, I'm a massive idiot".

The Tweet went out at about 9:30pm on Tuesday. As of 7:30am on Wednesday morning, clicking on their Twitter profile brings up an "account suspended" message.

The offending Tweet.
The offending Tweet. Source: Twitter


In a blog post, The Chaser's website editor Cam Smith said it was "impressive" how quickly Twitter had responded. "It’s impressive that twitter only took 20 minutes to unverify our tweet – given it took them almost four years to start fact checking the actual President," he said.

And yes, I know what you're thinking: this is the same group that infiltrated the United States' APEC conference in 2007 dressed as Osama Bin Laden.

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