Bob, a Vietnam veteran, stands on a corner with a sign in support of the Biden-Harris campaign on the morning of the 2020 U.S. presidential election in Tucson, Arizona, U.S. November 3, 2020.
Bob, a Vietnam veteran, stands on a corner with a sign in support of the Biden-Harris campaign on the morning of the 2020 U.S. presidential election in Tucson, Arizona, U.S. November 3, 2020.
REUTERS/Cheney Orr
  • The outcome of the presidential race in the battleground of Arizona is expected to become a bit clearer on Wednesday night. 
  • Election officials in Maricopa County, home to over 60% of Arizonans, say they will report thousands of mail-in ballots at around 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
  • As of Wednesday evening, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was leading by just under 100,000 votes in the key battleground state. 
  • According to Decision Desk HQ, 51% of Biden’s total votes have been counted versus President Donald Trump’s 47.7%. It’s unclear what percentage of Maricopa County’s outstanding ballots will go to each candidate. 
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The outcome of the presidential race in the battleground of Arizona is expected to become a bit clearer on Wednesday night as the state’s largest county plans to report a slew of ballots. 

Election officials in Maricopa County, home to over 60% of Arizonans, say they will report thousands of mail-in ballots at around 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The vast majority — about 400,000 — of the approximately 600,000 ballots yet to be reported in Arizona were cast in this county, which has shifted blue in recent years. 

As of Wednesday evening, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was leading by just under 100,000 votes — 51% of the total votes counted to President Donald Trump’s 47.7%, according to Decision Desk HQ. 

It’s unclear what percentage of Maricopa County’s outstanding ballots will go to each candidate. 

Fox News became the first major news outlet to call the race in Arizona late on Tuesday night, undermining Trump’s false claim that he won the presidential race. The network’s data team lead, Arnon Mishkin, stood by the call on Wednesday, insisting that the president has no path to victory with uncounted votes in the state. The Associated Press called Arizona for Biden early Wednesday morning. 

Trump likely has no chance of being reelected if he fails to hold Arizona — which he won in 2016 by just over 3 percentage points — and its 11 electoral votes. If Biden's able to win Arizona, he'll inch closer to or reach the 270 electoral college votes he needs to win the White House. 

Flipping Arizona would be a triumph for Biden. No Democratic presidential nominee has won the state since President Bill Clinton in 1996. Before Clinton, it had been almost 50 years since a Democratic presidential nominee won there.

Also on Wednesday, some Republicans and social media users spread unfounded claims that Arizona was invalidating ballots that were filled out using Sharpie markers. State election officials quashed those claims. 

"There's absolutely no merit to saying that this was some conspiracy to invalidate Republican ballots," Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs told CNN. 

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