Can 2020 get any weirder?
Vote-counting has temporarily stopped in a key US state due to a machine running out of ink.
According to reports, the counting of absentee ballots in Wisconsin’s Green Bay district has been delayed as the vote-counting machine ran out of ink.
Council officials promptly headed to the district’s City Hall to stock up, and probably hide their embarrassment for a moment.
Green Bay's absentee ballot results are being delayed because one of the vote-counting machines ran out of ink and an elections official had to return to City Hall to get more.
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) November 4, 2020
Reid J. Epstein, politics reporter at the New York Times said: “Green Bay’s absentee ballot results are being delayed because one of the vote-counting machines ran out of ink and an elections official had to return to City Hall to get more.”
Wisconsin is proving to be a key battle ground in the race for the White House.
As it stands, 41 out of 50 US states have returned their votes, with Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden currently in the lead with 224 Electoral College votes, as opposed to President Trump’s 213.
As it stands, the race between Trump and Biden is hanging in the balance, and there seems to be no sign of a clear winner.
Vote-counting is continuing in the remaining nine states, but the preliminary results suggest the key states are Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
The US might not have a clear picture of who has won the election for a few days, due to the number of absentee ballots still being counted.
President Trump has so far taken states such as Texas, Ohio and Florida, performing better than exit polls suggested.
Overnight, Trump made a factually-inaccurate speech in which he claimed victory, labelling the ongoing counting of votes as “a fraud on our nation.”
Trump said he would launch a Supreme Court challenge to cease vote-counting, even though millions of votes are still to be counted.
The Biden campaign labelled Trump’s “fraud” statement as “outrageous”, adding: “The counting will not stop.”
Turnout for the election was around 67% – the highest turnout for a US presidential election in more than a century.
