Biden campaign seeks to head off Trump efforts to prematurely claim victory

Joe Biden’s campaign is seeking to head off efforts by President Trump to prematurely claim victory on election night or to call into question ballots that are counted after Nov. 3 as fears mount among Democrats and the news media that the president will be looking to sow chaos and confusion around the results of the election

On a call with supporters Monday, Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said that it would be mathematically impossible for Trump to have won on Election Day, based on where they believe early returns to be and the timing of when results will be released in states such as Pennsylvania.

“Under no scenario will Donald Trump be declared a victor on election night, and that’s fundamentally how we want to approach tomorrow,” O’Malley Dillon said.

“Just because Donald Trump says something on election night … does not mean it is based in fact. There’s no way he’ll be outright winning on election night,” she added.

Bedingfield said Biden’s likeliest path to the White House goes through Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

The results in Pennsylvania could take days to tally, as officials will not start processing the hundreds of thousands of mail and absentee ballots received until the morning of Election Day. The ballots cannot be counted until the polls close, and absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day have until Friday to arrive.

Furthermore, the Biden campaign says it is not expecting final results out of Michigan or Wisconsin on election night. 

Meanwhile, states that Trump must win to have a shot at a second term — Georgia, Florida and North Carolina — are expected to release vote counts on election night.

Trump has denied that he would prematurely declare victory. But he’s also signaled that he’s preparing to mount vigorous legal challenges to prevent ballots from being counted after Nov. 3. 

Several states will allow extra time to receive and count ballots that are postmarked by Election Day due to the surge in mail voting amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump has also demanded the final results be produced on Nov. 3, even though it is normal for vote counting to continue for hours or days beyond the election.

“I think it’s a terrible thing when ballots can be collected after an election,” Trump said. “I think it’s a terrible thing when people or states are allowed to tabulate ballots for a long period of time after the election is over because it can only lead to one thing.”

Election analysts are bracing for some wild swings in the vote count, depending on when and how states release their tallies of mail, absentee and in-person counts. Democrats are outpacing Republicans in mail and absentee ballots, while Republicans are expected to do better with in-person turnout on Nov. 3. 

Bedingfield said the campaign’s internal data indicates that Biden has won 58 percent of the early vote in Wisconsin and 53 percent each in North Carolina and Arizona.

As early and absentee voting is expected to make up the strong majority of votes cast in those states, she said Trump would need to win 60 percent support or more on Election Day to pull out victories in those states. 

O’Malley Dillon said Biden will likely address voters at some point on Tuesday night, but declined to elaborate more.

“We expect not only that we’ll address the nation but the vice president will be the voice of calm and unity and speak to the American people about how this information needs to be processed,” O’Malley Dillon said.