Presidential election results 2020

Franklin County, Ohio, which includes the city of Columbus, will use paper poll books to check voters in today, Franklin County Board of Elections Public Information Officer Aaron Sellers told CNN.

The decision to use paper poll books instead of their electronic poll book system was made at 5:30 a.m. local time, he said, because there was trouble updating the electronic poll book system after yesterday’s early voting concluded, Sellers said.

Early voting ended in the county at 2 p.m. yesterday, but because of long lines, Sellers said they were not finished with voting until about 3:30 p.m. After voting concluded, there was trouble updating the electronic poll book file, Sellers said. “There was an issue where we couldn’t determine that 100 percent of it was downloaded onto poll pads. Because of that, we decided to go with paper poll books,” today, Sellers said.

This decision applies to all of the county’s polling locations, Sellers said.

Poll workers are trained on paper poll books, and contingency plans were made to be able to use paper poll books if needed, he said. Sellers does not anticipate that this will negatively impact voting today. He said it might “slow things down a bit,” but also noted that about 50 percent of registered voters in the county have already voted.

“Up until three or four years ago, that’s what we used to do, we used to have paper poll books,” Sellers said. “We’re going old school I guess.” 

The Ohio secretary of state said Franklin County will use paper poll books today “due to the large amount of early voting. This happens occasionally and is something the boards were directed to prepare for,” in a tweet.

More than 100 million Americans voted nationwide before the polls opened on Election Day, according to a survey of election officials by CNN, Edison Research, and Catalist.  

These votes represent more than 47% of registered voters nationwide. Twenty-one states and Washington, DC, have seen more than half of their registered voters cast ballots already.  

Pre-Election Day voting has skyrocketed nationwide during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. At least six states, including Texas, Hawaii, Nevada, Washington, Arizona and Montana have surpassed their total turnout from the 2016 general election in recent days. 

In an additional seven states, the pre-election vote represents at least 90% of their 2016 total vote – North Carolina, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee. 

Nationwide, the 100.2 million ballots already cast represents 73% of the more than 136.5 million ballots cast in the 2016 presidential election.  

At least 37 states and Washington, DC have crossed their halfway marks for total 2016 ballots cast, including 14 of CNN’s 16 most competitively-ranked states - Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, Maine, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska and Ohio 

A little less than half of the votes already cast this cycle comes from those 16 key states, which will play a crucial role in determining who wins the presidency this year.  

Some voter information comes from Catalist, a company that provides data, analytics and other services to Democrats, academics and nonprofit issue-advocacy organizations and is giving insights into who is voting before November.  

Nine out of 10 drive-thru polling locations will be closed in the Houston-area county on Election Day.

Some background: On Monday, a federal judge had rejected a GOP request to invalidate 127,000 ballots cast in drive-thru early voting. However, he said he would have ruled against allowing such voting on Election Day, adding that voting needed to take place in a "structure."

In announcing the decision to close most of the drive-thru locations, Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins said on Twitter that he "cannot in good faith encourage voters to cast their votes in tents if that puts their votes at risk." The location that will remain open is the Toyota Center, which has "walls and a roof" and would fit the judge's description as a building, a county clerk spokesperson told CNN.

CNN’s Brian Todd is at the only drive-thru polling place that's still open. He walked through the parking garage of this Toyota Center in Houston to explain what voters can expect.

Watch the moment:

President Trump is trying to stop former Vice President Joe Biden's pathway to 270 electoral votes. The polls released over the weekend suggest that this will be difficult, but not an impossible task.

Trump's best path to stop Biden is for there to be a larger than average polling error in Arizona and especially Pennsylvania.

The electoral math is pretty simple. Biden needs to find 38 electoral votes on top of the 232 in the contests that Hillary Clinton won in 2016. He's likely to win the one from Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District. Remember, the state of Nebraska allocates an electoral vote to the winner of each of its congressional districts.

On top of that, Biden holds clear and significant leads in two states Trump won by less than a point in 2016: Michigan and Wisconsin. A CNN/SSRS poll on Saturday put Biden up 12 points in Michigan among likely voters, while Biden led in Wisconsin by 8 points in a CNN/SSRS poll and 11 points in a New York Times/Siena College poll released Sunday.

Those two states are worth a combined 26 electoral votes. Add in Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District, you get Biden to 259 electoral votes.

This means Biden needs to get 11 more electoral votes. Other polls released on Saturday and Sunday from individual states worth at least 11 electoral votes suggest he will have options to choose from.

The hardest lift is probably in Florida. A New York Times/Siena College poll has Biden and Trump separated by 3 points, while an ABC News/Washington Post poll has the race within 2 points. Although the nominal leader in both was different, the polls combined indicate what has become clear for weeks. Florida and its 29 electoral votes are too close to call with perhaps a slight edge to Biden.

Biden could also get to 270 electoral votes with North Carolina and its 15 electoral votes. A CNN/SSRS poll had Biden up by 6 points there yesterday, while the polling average puts the race closer to a 3 point edge. This is a race that Biden is favored to win, though one where an average sized polling error (about 3 points in competitive presidential races dating back to 1972) would be enough for Trump to emerge victorious.

If Trump is able to take both Florida and North Carolina (along with Georgia which has similar polling to Florida), then you can begin to see how Trump could pull it off.

He would need to win in Arizona and Pennsylvania. Is that possible? Yes. Will it be easy? No.

Read the full analysis here

Watch John King break down latest Electoral College numbers:

Early results that pop up shortly after the polls close might look very different from the final outcome, because of unprecedented levels of mail-in ballots and early voting due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, supporters of Democratic nominee Joe Biden have shown a strong preference for mail-in voting. Most of President Trump's supporters say they want to vote on Election Day. States count these different types of votes in very different ways.

As a result, in some of the most competitive states— including Florida and Texas — early results may look too rosy for former Vice President Joe Biden, before falling back down to earth and becoming more representative of the true outcome. In other states — particularly Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — Trump could see early leads that slowly narrow as more ballots are counted.

This won't be a sign of fraud or irregularities. Rather, it's just a reflection of how states count votes. Some states process early ballots first, and will report those early in the night, while others save them for last.

Read more about what to watch for in the pivotal states here

The Republican secretary of state of Ohio said that all legally cast ballots will be counted in "an election unlike we have ever seen before."

In an election-eve message to Ohio voters, Secretary of State Frank LaRose quoted President Lincoln saying that "elections belong to the people."

Ohio has seen a record level of early and absentee ballots, some 3.4 million out of the 8 million registered voters. 

The Secretary reaffirmed that all votes will be counted, "the foundation of our government and our way of life relies on the confidence of votes," Sec LaRose said. 

Watch the full video:

Today Americans will choose a president, members of Congress, governors and a host of local officials. To help you follow the races that are most important to you and your community, we developed a tool called My Election.

My Election allows you to select races to follow prior to election night. When results begin to come in on Nov. 3, the races you've selected will be conveniently available in the My Election drawer, which can be opened anywhere in CNN's Election Center.

Here's how to get started:

Learn more here

First, have you voted? If not, make your plan and go vote now. Many states allow same-day registration. For rules in your state, check CNN's voter guide here.

Here are key things to know for tonight:

How long will election night last?: Who knows! CNN won't project a winner of a state until polls in that state close (and maybe much later if things are tight).

When do polls close?: Polls close at various times starting at 7 p.m. ET on the East Coast. The last polls will close at 1 a.m. ET in Alaska.

When do the polls close in key battleground states?

When will we know the winner? This is an impossible question to answer, because we don't know how all the early voting will affect different states' ability to report results quickly.

Many, many more millions of Americans have voted early in person or by mail this year than usual because of the pandemic, so it could take more time to count those ballots, particularly in a few key battleground states (ahem, Pennsylvania).

What do we know about how the vote will come in on election night?

We have some educated guesses.

Read more here.

Voting in person is a cherished right for many Americans — and for people concerned that their ballot might be lost in the mail, delivering their mail-in or absentee ballot may be their preferred option this year.

Standing in long lines at the polling center with people who may or may not be wearing masks, often inside buildings without good ventilation, certainly raises your risk of catching Covid-19.

But there are things you can do to reduce risk if you vote in person:

Read more here.