UPDATE - On cusp of victory, Biden says numbers in his favor

ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden said Friday all signs from ongoing vote processing in key battleground states indicate he is on track to claim the presidency from incumbent Donald Trump.

"The numbers tell us a clear and convincing story, we’re going to win this race," Biden said. “Our vote total is still growing. We’re beating Donald Trump by over four million votes, and that’s a margin that’s still growing as well.”

The former vice president pointed to a series of tallies in which he has not only closed the gap with Trump, but has in fact overtaken and expanded his lead as election officials process mail-in ballots.

Those states include Pennsylvania, which holds 20 Electoral College delegates, and where he leads by nearly 29,000 votes. And in Georgia, Biden has a much narrower but expanding advantage, currently ahead by nearly 4,400 votes.

Meanwhile, Biden has continued to maintain his hold in Nevada where he has a nearly 2% lead.

None of those states have been called by The Associated Press.

A victory in any of them would put Biden across the 270 vote Electoral College threshold needed to claim the White House. He currently sits at 264 delegates, according to the AP. At 214 delegates, Trump could still theoretically surpass 270, but his path is far more difficult than Biden's.

The president has lost critical ground as states that were not allowed to process mail-in ballots until at least the start of Election Day began the arduous process.

Trump spent much of the past six months warning voters against voting by mail, saying doing so exposed them to heightened levels of fraud.

Many, however, did so amid the raging coronavirus pandemic, particularly Democrats. They make up nearly 48% of those who returned mail-in ballots while Republicans comprise just 27% of the 37.6 million who did, according to the US Elections Project.

As Americans continue to await results three days after Election Day, Biden urged patience while saying he wants "people to know we’re not waiting to get the work done."

“We both know tensions are high, they can be high after a tough election, one like we’ve had," he said as Senator Kamala Harris, his running mate, stood alongside. "We have to remain calm, patient, let the process work out as we count all the votes.”