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Explainer: Why the Associated Press hasn't called Pennsylvania

Explainer: Why the Associated Press hasn't called Pennsylvania
Posted at 11:39 AM, Nov 05, 2020
and last updated 2020-11-05 17:22:32-05

The E.W. Scripps Company is a partner with The Associated Press and has been following guidance from their election desk on 2020 race updates.

Below is the AP's explanation as to why they have not declared a winner in Pennsylvania.

The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, because there were hundreds of thousands of votes left to be counted Thursday morning in the contest between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump, who held a 675,000-vote lead early Wednesday, prematurely declared victory in the state.

By Thursday morning, his lead had slipped to about 136,000.

And the race is destined to get tighter.

The vast majority of the votes left to be counted there were cast by mail — and that is a form of voting that Biden has carried by a large margin.

That's probably because Trump has spent months claiming without proof that voting by mail would lead to widespread voter fraud.

According to the Associated Press, elections officials, under state law, are not allowed to process mail-in ballots until Election Day.