A man stops to read a plaque below a mural of US Presidential candidate Joe Biden in his ancestral home of Ballina, Co. Mayo where he visited in June 2016 as Vice President. PA Images PA Images

AFTER A GRUELLING 48-plus hours, it looks like there may be a result in the US presidential election on the horizon. 

Joe Biden, who tonight repeated his belief that he will win and become the 46th President of the United States, has 264 electoral college votes and needs to secure one of Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina or Pennsylvania to reach the magic number of 270. 

Trump, in a press conference at the White House after midnight claimed – without any evidence – that he is being cheated out of a win. His team has begun legal action in three of the battleground states to either stop counting or insist his team are given greater access to scrutinise the process.

The president needs to win all four of those states to win a second term but his path to victory has increasingly narrowed. 

Here’s a rundown of the key things to know from the results so far:

• Trump made a number of illogical and baseless remarks about how the election was conducted in a press conference at the White House. 
• Biden has announced he has “no doubt” he is going to win the election. He also called on people to be calm and patient. 
• Earlier this afternoon, the president called for all counting to stop, tweeting “Stop The Count!” and “Any vote that came in after Election Day will not be counted!”
• The Secretary of State for Pennsylvania has said the state is expecting to have the “overwhelming majority” of its votes counted today. Trump’s lead has narrowed there to about 65,000 votes. 
• Counting in Georgia, which carries 16 electoral college votes, is 99% complete and Trump’s lead has dramatically shrunk to about 3,500. The Biden camp is confident the remaining 18,000 ballots will hand him the key state.
• In Nevada Biden holds a narrow lead of around 11,500 votes. Counting is 87% complete.
• Why is this taking so long? The pandemic, mainly. 
• Biden took the states of Michigan and Wisconsin yesterday evening.
• Trump is so far projected to win 23 states, including Texas, Ohio and Florida, having outperformed pollsters’ predictions.
• Trump’s campaign said it will request a recount in Wisconsin after Biden won the state by less than 1% of the vote. It also looked to stop the count in Michigan. 
• Overall turnout at the election is projected to be the highest in 120 years at 66.9%.
• Here’s a piece looking at what lawsuits the Trump campaign has launched and why. 
• The election has raised questions about polling efficacy again. Did they get it wrong? We take a look here.
• Our columnist Larry Donnelly’s analysis looks at what Trumpism means for America’s future.
• Dozens of Trump supporters began protesting outside a vote-tallying centre in Detroit last night chanting “stop the count”. 
• A number of conspiracy theories have emerged since the president started talking about election fraud. Here are some examples of that misinformation. 
• Here’s what you need to know about the Senate and House of Representatives after the election
• A group of international observers has found that the US presidential election was “competitive and well managed” but condemned Donald Trump’s “baseless accusations” of systemic fraud saying they undermine public trust in democratic institutions.
• Prop 114: Colorado has voted to reintroduce wolves to its western mountains. 
• Here are the state result projections at the moment.
• Trump said in the early hours of yesterday morning he will go to the Supreme Court with his team launching several legal bids to stop counting later that day. 
• We will be updating our liveblog here with all the latest as it happens. 

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