We’re hearing horror stories about election fraud — Trump

…As Biden reiterates confidence in victory, urges calm***

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday night again questioned the integrity of Tuesday’s presidential election and doubled down on his allegation of fraud against Democrats.

In an address to the nation, Trump said he was hearing “horror stories” about how Democrats were manipulating the exercise, especially mail-in ballots.

“I have been talking about this for many months. I have said very strongly that mail-in ballots are going to end up being a disaster.

“Small elections were a disaster, this is a large-scale version and it’s getting worse everyday. We are hearing stories that are horror stories, absolute horror stories.

“We can’t let that happen to the United States of America. It’s not a question of who wins, Republican or Democrat; Joe or myself.

“We can’t let that happen to our country. We can’t be disgraced by having something like this happen,” he said.

As of the time of filing this report, Trump was trailing his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, with 214 to 264 electoral college votes, according to the Associated Press tally.

This means that Biden needs just six more electoral votes to reach the 270 finishing line and end the president’s second-term dream.

But the race was still too close to call with counting yet to be concluded in key swing states including Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Alaska.

The president said he would file a lot of litigation that would probably end up at the Supreme Court, adding that he had a feeling “judges are going to rule”.

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“If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us.

“I challenge Joe and every Democrat to clarify that they only won legal votes, because they talk about votes , and I think they should use the word, ‘legal’.

“We want every legal vote counted, and I want every legal vote counted.

In a related development, the Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has reiterated his confidence in winning the election, with counting still ongoing in battleground states.

In an address to the nation on Thursday, Biden said he had no doubt he would be declared winner once all the votes were counted.

He urged his supporters to remain calm and patient, noting that “democracy is sometimes messy”.

“Democracy is sometimes messy. It sometimes requires a little patience.

“We have no doubt that when the count is finished, Senator (Kamala) Harris and I will be declared the winners.

“So, I ask everyone to stay calm. The process is working. The count is being completed and we’ll know very soon,” he said.

As of the time of filing this report on Thursday night, Biden was leading in both the popular and electoral college votes.

According to the Associated Press tally, he was ahead with 73,639,060 or 50.4 per cent of the general ballots cast and 264 electoral college votes.

That means the former vice president needs just six more electoral votes to reach the 270 finishing line to end the president’s second-term dream.

Trump, on the other hand, was closely behind with 69,066,908 popular votes representing 47.9 per cent of the total and 214 electoral college votes.

Counting continues in key swing states including Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Alaska.

Shortly before Biden’s address, Trump vowed to legally challenge election results in all the states claimed by his Democratic rival.

“Plenty of proof, just check out the Media. We will win! America first!”, he said in a tweet, which Twitter labeled as unsubstantiated.

His campaign organisation has cited alleged instances, including limited access to counting centres in Pennsylvania.

It also alleged that people who tried to vote in Nevada were told that they had previously voted by even when they claim they had not done so.

The Biden campaign organisation said it was not at all concerned about Trump’s claims and campaign lawsuits.

It said that it had been prepared against this since September when they started seeing efforts by the president to discredit mail-in voting with misinformation.