Wisconsin Officially Biden’s

10 more Electoral votes.

Multiple sources report that the Wisconsin Elections Commission has officially declared Joe Biden the unofficial winner* of the state’s 10 Electoral votes. It looks like the margin may be close enough to trigger a recount but not close enough for the recount to make a meaningful difference.

That puts Biden at 245 Electoral votes, 25 short of the magic 270. It would be shocking if Biden didn’t get at least 3 more in Maine and 6 in Nevada, bringing him to 254. There are a lot of ways to get those 16.

UPDATE: The Trump team has already indicated that they are filing for a recount.

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*Which is to say: the votes have all been counted. There’s still a certification process that will happen in the coming days.

FILED UNDER: 2020 Election, US Politics, , , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    I’ma just say it now and let people be enraged at me. I don’t see Biden winning PA. GA and NC are all over but the shouting, allowing for recounting.

    I’m a pessimist and a cynic, though. Still, I no longer see a route for Biden to win. The best he gets now is a tie. It may be what to pray for.

    1
  2. Moosebreath says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    “The best he gets now is a tie.”

    Biden is leading in Michigan already, and that has the 16 electoral votes needed to get Biden to 270. That said, I am seeing multiple people saying that Pennsylvania’s uncounted mail-in ballots are enough for Biden to win, and for Georgia to be close.

    2
  3. An Interested Party says:

    I don’t see Biden winning PA. GA and NC are all over but the shouting, allowing for recounting.

    Biden doesn’t need any of those states to win the election…if he wins Michigan and Wisconsin, as seem likely, the only way he would lose is if he lost Nevada, which seems unlikely…

  4. James Joyner says:

    @An Interested Party:

    Biden doesn’t need any of those states to win the election…if he wins Michigan and Wisconsin, as seem likely, the only way he would lose is if he lost Nevada, which seems unlikely…

    Indeed. And PA looks likely to wind up in Biden’s column and GA is a distinct possibility. I’d be surprised if NC went his way given the way the Senate went.

  5. Tony W says:

    Biden also looks great in Arizona – Maricopa county should hold for him.

  6. KM says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    I feel ya. My mind says there’s a good chance based on what we know but my gut is churning and the pessimism is high. This can still go wrong. I trust nothing till 2hr after Inauguration Day (I assume the SS will have planned ahead and can clear out any lingering… issues by then). Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.

    2
  7. JKB says:

    Well, first off, let me say, yes, my faith was not strong enough to bring about the Trump blowout or popular vote win.

    But we still don’t know who is the projected winner. Wisconsin will be recounted, perhaps litigated. They did, “unexpectedly”, find 100,000 ballots that went 100% for Biden just when they were “needed”. Odd, how that keeps happening when Democrats control the elections.

    In any case, win or lose, Trump is president for about 10 or so more weeks. He’s a go getter, might get world peace in that time.

    And the long term story is the demographics. NY Times writers were already tweeting how they were going to write impassioned articles to go after Cuban-Americans for daring to not follow Democrat orders.

  8. Kathy says:

    It’s said that when Lincoln was asked whether God was on the Union’s side, he replied, “I hope so. But what we really must have is Kentucky.”

    Biden really needs to have Pennsylvania.

    I should have made that sacrifice to Athena…

    1
  9. Paine says:

    Former Governor Scott Walker himself observed that the last time Wisconsin had a state-wide recount it only changed a couple hundred votes or so. I’m just wondering though why the media hasn’t shaded Wisconsin solid blue yet.

    2
  10. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @JKB: They did, “unexpectedly”, find 100,000 ballots that went 100% for Biden just when they were “needed”.

    And you believe that.

    6
  11. James Joyner says:

    @Kathy:

    Biden really needs to have Pennsylvania.

    I think he’s going to get Pennsylvania but he doesn’t need it. Presuming Nevada declares for him when they release their count tomorrow, all he needs are Michigan OR Georgia OR Pennsylvania. Since Michigan and Georgia are both likely to announce their unofficial tallies today, Pennsylvania may just be icing on the cake.

    2
  12. Mikey says:

    @JKB:

    They did, “unexpectedly”, find 100,000 ballots that went 100% for Biden just when they were “needed”.

    And I found $100,000 under my pillow this morning, just when it was needed!

    You credulous sap.

    6
  13. al Ameda says:

    It’s been said on CNN MSNBC and elsewhere – Biden gets to 270 through Maine, AZ, Nevada, Wisconsin and Michigan. Really thin margins in Nevada and Michigan.

    Then we wait for Trump to sue in Wisconsin and elsewhere.

    Amazing

    1
  14. An Interested Party says:

    He’s a go getter, might get world peace in that time.

    BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!! Surely that is a typo…more like he’s a grifter and he will try to steal as much as he can in that time…

  15. Gustopher says:

    @JKB: It was George Soros in Wisconsin, with a Candlestick.

    11
  16. Kathy says:

    @James Joyner:

    Without Pennsylvania or Georgia, and with Michigan, the count would be 270 to 268. Trump Minimus will litigate the hell out of that, and we’d be vulnerable to two faithless electors or other shenanigans from state legislatures.

    Add Pennsylvania and the count is 290 to 248. Far more secure.

    Oh, and for me it’s the icing that makes the cake.

    2
  17. JKB says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    What most amazes me is that they’ve been finding boxes of ballots in the trucks of cars since I went with my grandmother voting on those big voting machines with actual levers to pull. Really, a bit of ballot box accounting and security would go a long way improving the perceptions of impropriety. Not much would be needed, just a truck certified empty at the start and with cameras on the cargo area. Same for the “room” the supposedly lock them in at the election office.

  18. wr says:

    @OzarkHillbilly: “And you believe that.”

    It’s not a matter of whether JKB “believes” anything he posts here. It’s that it pisses off libs.

    His entire family could die of Covid, and as long as some liberal was annoyed because he won’t wear a mask, it’s good with him.

    2
  19. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @JKB:

    What most amazes me is that they’ve been finding boxes of ballots in the trucks of cars since I went with my grandmother voting on those big voting machines with actual levers to pull.

    Yes. People have been telling stories about boxes of ballots in the trucks (sic) of cars since those days. Even though there were very few absentee paper ballots. And credulous (disingenuous?) people like you have been believing in found boxes of paper ballots for equally long.

    I will agree that election security is important. It also seems to be one of the same sort of nothing burgers that gave us “3 million votes by illegal aliens in California” four years ago. And credulous (disingenuous?) people keep trumpeting this bloviation, too.

    2
  20. Kathy says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    Oh, you can see the found ballots, if you stand in front of a mirror at midnight and say “Bloody Mary” three times.

    1
  21. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @JKB: Really, a bit of ballot box accounting and security would go a long way improving the perceptions of impropriety.

    Apparently not with you though. Because there already is “ballot box accounting and security”. You know this, yet you want to pretend that it isn’t sufficient and talk as tho it is nonexistent, saying things like, “find 100,000 ballots that went 100% for Biden”.

    You wonder why nobody takes you serious. It’s because you will repeat any damn thing you read on the internet that conforms to your preconceived narrative, no matter how obviously idiotic it may be.

    1
  22. Mister Bluster says:

    But we still don’t know who is the projected winner.

    “We” apparently does not include your boyfriend Trump.
    You need to get that message to the Oval Office. I’m sure he will listen to you.
    Unless Kim Jong-un is still wispering in his other ear.

  23. Kathy says:

    I’ve followed, with varying degrees of attention, every presidential election since 1984, and some midterms as well. I had a favorite, but not always. Even when I did, I never quite thought the other guy a danger or so irredeemably incompetent as to prefer a vacant presidency to their win.

    Until now.

    No, not in 2016. I was convinced there was no way in Hell El Cheeto pendejo would ever win. Well, we know what happened.

    But having had four years of malice and vindictiveness, tempered only by incompetence and laziness, I feel like I’m staring down into the abyss.

    I get people being for what Trump says he stands for. it’s mostly wrong, mostly terrible, and mostly malignant, but we’ve seen worse (see the genocide in Rwanda and the ethnic wars in the Balkans, not to mention WWII). I don’t get they support him when he has fallen so far short, proven himself unequal, and then some, to the job, and actively harmed America’s standing in the world. I would want someone capable of accomplishing something, besides upsetting other people. And this is before the disastrous handling of the pandemic. I’d prefer what we seem to be about to get: a Biden presidency (fingers crossed) with a GOP Senate acting as gatekeeper.

    If you stare long enough into the abyss, it begins to stare back.

    2
  24. mattbernius says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Apparently not with you though. Because there already is “ballot box accounting and security”. You know this, yet you want to pretend that it isn’t sufficient and talk as tho it is nonexistent, saying things like, “find 100,000 ballots that went 100% for Biden”.

    A key part of his “smarmy smartest and least biased person in the room” act is to ignore lots of very basic proceedures because he’s either intentionally or unintentionally ignorant of the processes in place.

  25. Mu Yixiao says:

    {looks out the window and says “thank you”}

  26. Mu Yixiao says:

    @Kathy:

    I should have made that sacrifice to Athena…

    I’m sacrificing some boneless, skinless chicken breasts tonight. I’ll offer some up to Bast (even though both of them already had some gooshy tonight). Will that do?

    1
  27. Kathy says:

    @Mu Yixiao:

    You know what the Egyptians offered to Bast? Mummified cats.

    I appreciate the gesture (and I do eat chicken), but I don’t think the god would be keen to grant a retroactive plea, even if the offering is sufficient.