Decision Desk HQ, the 4-year-old election data firm that has beat out it’s predecessors in calling election results for a majority of the 2020 race, has awarded Pennsylvania to Joe Biden, giving Biden 273 electoral college votes and calling him the 46th President of the United States.
According to a story on FastCompany.com, the decision was made after the latest batch of ballots to come out of Philadelphia, where Trump held a slim lead until early Friday morning. Scott Tranter, who leads the call team at DDHQ, was the one who made the decision.
“We knew that as long as Biden came out ahead on that Philly drop that that was enough and Biden was not going to relinquish his lead,” Tranter says. “He’s going to increase his lead throughout the day, based on the trending and the modeling we have.”
DDHQ uses a proprietary system of analysis that they say allows them to make calls faster and more accurately. They were one of the firms who didn’t call Arizona as early as other competing agencies like Associated Press and major news networks, but essentially called the presidential race on Twitter at about 8:00 AM this morning:
Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight congratulated them, calling the decision “apparent for a while. No reason other sources shouldn’t follow.”
Neither the Associated Press, nor any of the other major news outlets have called the race so far. Votes are still being counted (and are likely to be recounted) in several states, including Pennsylvania.
Trump responding with lawsuits in several states
President Trump began filing suit on Wednesday to demand recounts in several states, according to a story by the Associated Press, who says that Trump now faces “long odds, and that he would have to “win multiple suits in multiple states” change the tide of the election in the last few days.
Some of the Trump team’s lawsuits demand better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted, but it’s unknown how helpful the litigation will be. A judge in Georgia dismissed the campaign’s suit there less than 12 hours after it was filed. And a Michigan judge dismissed a Trump lawsuit over whether enough GOP challengers had access to the handling of absentee ballots.
Biden attorney Bob Bauer told AP the suits were legally “meritless.” Their only purpose, he said “is to create an opportunity for them to message falsely about what’s taking place in the electoral process.”
Mitt Romney says Trump election fraud claim is “reckless”
Utah Senator and former 2012 presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has publicly denounced President Trump’s claims that Democrats are trying to “steal the election.” Romney says that Trump is within his rights to request recounts and investigations in places where voter irregularities exist, but said on Twitter that the president is “wrong to say say that the election was rigged, corrupt and stolen.” Romney says that “[Trump’s claim] damages the cause of freedom here and around the world … and recklessly inflames destructive and dangerous passions.”
Biden preparing a speech during prime time on Friday
Joe Biden’s campaign has said that the Democratic presidential candidate would be making an address on Friday, but didn’t say where, or give any clues as to what he plans to say. It’s believed he’ll be giving the address in Wilmington, Delaware. A stage has been in place since election night for a planned victory party outside the city’s convention center and has been secured for days by barriers and security personnel.
