and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program visit right now or call during business hours. a good wednesday morning to you. craig melvin here. election day is over, but this process is not done until august of the votes are counted, and a lot of votes are being tallied at this very minute. we still don't know who has won yet. so engine me, everyone, in taking a deep breath, and let's look at where things stand right now. the race for 270.

it's tight this hour. we have our eyes on a number of key states as more data comes in. let's start this hour in arizona. here is where things stand out west in arizona. just after 11:00 on the east coast. still too early to call there in arizona with 86% of the precincts reporting. to georgia we go. in georgia we expect an update from the secretary of state there at some point here about 30 minutes from now. when that happens, we will go to georgia and listen in. from georgia to maine, there's a look in maine. still too early to call with about three-quarters of all precincts reporting any second. in michigan we'll get an update from the secretary of state in michigan. right now still too early to call in michigan. but we can note that some 90% of the precincts have reported their vote totals in michigan.

here is a look at north carolina. north carolina still too close to call. 76,737 separating the two candidates there. in nevada, here is the look right now in nevada. all eyes on this battleground state right now. still too early to call in nevada. as you can see, joe biden with a slight lead. in pennsylvania, we just got an update from the governor and secretary of state there in pennsylvania. still too early to call. 78% of the precincts reporting. president trump with a significant lead there but too early to call. in wisconsin, here is a look. 97% of the precincts reporting in wisconsin. 20,697 votes separating the candidates in wisconsin. our team of correspondents spanning the country from the big board to the battleground

states, covering every angle of this historic election. let's start at the big board. steve kornacki still there, rolled up sleeves, same khaki pants and tie he was wearing this time yesterday. let's get to 270, steve. what does that road look like at this hour? >> sure. let's take a look. joe biden sitting on 234, donald trump sitting at 213. if you're joe biden, i think here is how you're looking at it right now. arizona has 11 electoral vote. you show biden leads in the vote that's been counted so far. there will be an update later today that could tell us a lot about arizona. they want to hang on to arizona, they really need to hang on to nevada. by the way, election officials in nevada are saying tomorrow they'll release the rest of their vote or much of the rest of their vote tomorrow. we may have to wait a little bit, given how close nevada is.

that's six electoral votes. you see joe biden leading in wisconsin. ten electoral votes. he's pulled into a slim lead in michigan, worth 16 electoral votes. the question there, the vote that is still coming in seems to be heavily from detroit, wayne county. biden would need that to break his way as well. at that point, 11 and 16 is 17, plus 10 is 27, plus 16 is 43, 224 plus 43 would be 267. if that path that i just outlined, those four states come through for biden -- again, he leads in the tallies at this point in those four states, very narrowly, if they do come through, that would have him sitting at 267 electoral votes. there are a couple pathways for him. pennsylvania, they have that complicated vote count going on right now where a lot of the vote that's already been counted

is the trump favorable vote, the election day vote from yet. a lot of the vote to come, mail-in ballots, biden has been doing a lot better. let's see if biden can surpass trump when all those mail-in ballots come in. there's georgia, biden trailing by 100,000 votes in georgia, still several hundred thousand to come in, a lot from the atlanta metro area. let's see if biden is able to come from behind there. north carolina, you show that gap at 75,000 votes for biden, north carolina they're waiting on ballots that were mailed, that are still in the mail right now. we just don't know how many there are. that's a pretty substantial lead that trump has there. if widen isn't able to win one of those three -- again, if he gets these four, but isn't able to break through in a pennsylvania or a north carolina or a georgia, then there is maine, which as you showed, remains uncalled there. biden leads in the tally in

maine. maine is normally worth four electoral -- a state like maine would normally be worth four electoral votes, but maine splits the electoral vote by congressional district. there are two congressional districts in maine. trump is leading one of the districts -- trump is leading in one of the congressional districts in maine. biden is leading the other, and biden is leading statewide. what that would mean is three more electoral votes if that holds. we said biden 267. and if he got the statewide vote in maine and that congressional district in maine where he's leading, that would put him at 270. again, for biden, the path right now would be to win arizona, win nevada, win wisconsin, win michigan. he has leads in all four of those states right now. then he needs to add one more,

whether it's georgia, north carolina, pennsylvania or that weird combination in maine i just gave you. again, he's leading right now in that combination he would need out of maine. those are the paths right now that exist for biden. if you're going from the trump side, play it from the other angle. >> maine, vacation land and the state that picks presidents, who who'd have thunk it. i hate to say recanvas. but in some of the places like wisconsin and michigan, the slimmest of margins. what do we know about what it would take to trigger a recount or recanvas in some of these states? >> let's call up wisconsin. the margin right now is within one point. 7/10 of one point.

if it remains at that or lower, the trump campaign can demand one. there's not an automatic provision there, but they could move to have one. it would be on the table in a state like wisconsin. let's see where michigan ends up here. i'd say because that's very close right now. the biden lead is sitting on 9,900 votes, just went over 10,000 statewide. again, what you're hearing from the biden campaign and when you look at the map, you see the possibility of this in michigan. you look at the remaining vote. look, there is a lot, a lot to come out of detroit, out of wayne county, out of grand rapids, out of heavily democratic areas, with those heavily democratic mail ballots. it's possible that biden will pad -- that's very narrow. it's possible he's going to get votes here that pad that margin in michigan. let's see how that develops here. there are still a lot of folks to come in, i can show you, only

70% in wayne county, biggest in the state by far, detroit, dearborn. only 70% of the votes counted there. you see biden by more than two to one is leading trump in this county. there's the potential for biden to run up the score and really add to that statewide lead and make that statewide result look different. we've got to see if that happens. >> all right, steve kornacki, we so appreciate your service, sir. thank you, thank you, thank you. we'll check in with you in just a bit. a few minutes from now, georgia secretary of state -- you just heard from steve there, we're looking to see, especially the atlanta metro area, votes still coming in there. the secretary of state of georgia expected to give an update on the state's efforts to count those votes. when that starts in georgia, we'll take you there. we heard from pennsylvania's governor and pennsylvania's secretary of state on the counting process there. nbc's blayne alexander is in

atlanta. chris jansing is in harrisburg, pennsylvania. chris, let's start with you. what do we hear from the governor and secretary of state? what do we know about where the count stands in pennsylvania right now? >> reporter: the message was we still have a lot of work to do. it was something they had said leading up to this election. they knew it was going to be like this. there are almost 2.6 million mail-in ballots that they've gotten so far out of 3 million. that means there's still until friday at 5:00 that more ballots could come in by mail and would be counted. we don't know how many of those are in the mail or how many are spoil votes, people concerned about whether a mail-in vote would be counted. instead of voting by mail, even though they applied for a mail-in ballot, they actually voted in person. big numbers waiting out of philadelphia, out of allegheny county, around pittsburgh. they have actually until a week from today to report the

results. now, when you talk to folks all around in the counties around pennsylvania, they are hopeful they will get a lot of these results in in a day or two. adding to the lack of certainty is the fact that there are so many lawyers out there, about 500, a slew of lawsuits have already come in. more are expected on both the state and the federal level. there are some that were already being heard by a judge this morning. there's one that's going to be here this afternoon in harrisburg. all of this leading the governor to say very calmly, this is how democracy works. every last vote is going to be counted. but again, that major message, still work to do, and this is not going to happen today. there's nobody in pennsylvania saying this is going to happen today. as he said last night, craig, take a deep breath. >> take a deep breath. amen.

chris, thank you. blayne, what about the vote down there in georgia specifically for folks who aren't familiar with the state of georgia. the tlaenlt metropolitan area and if i recall seven or eight counties around that area really make up roughly 60% to 70% of the vote statewide. what do we know about that particular part of the vote count? >> reporter: that's a great question. that's exactly what they'll ask the secretary in about 20 minutes or so. i will say as recently as this morning he was optimistic saying he still anticipates having this entire thing wrapped up by the end of the day. there are two counties we're still watching very closely, fulton county and dekalb county. fulton county is georgia's most populous county. between the two counties, we're talking about tens of thousands of absentee ballots that still need to be scanned and

tabulated. i heard just very recently from the head of elections in fulton county who said they anticipate having all the ballots scanned by 7:00 this evening. so putting at least a finer point on the time there. let's take a step back and talk about why this is important. we've been watching steve's map. when you look at the state of georgia, you see a lot of red. if you're looking closely, you see this one clump of blue, and that area is metro atlanta. that includes the two counties we mentioned, those two counties lean heavily democratic. once those numbers start coming in, once those ballots are tabulated, it could deliver a big boost to democrats. as for the timing itself, craig, it's certainly proven to be a bit of a moving target. when i spoke with the secretary of state yesterday, he told me because the elections went so smoothly, he predicted having the results finalized by noon today. he gave me the caveat that it all comes down to the counties. we're seeing that play out right

now, given the fact there are still two counties still working to get through those ballots. that's what we're going to try to nail the secretary down on today, is where exactly we stand in that process, what it looks like and if it is realistic, to expect those numbers by the end of the day. >> all right. when that update starts there in atlanta from the secretary of state, we will take our viewers and listeners there. blayne and chris, thank you. i want to turn to our reporters following the candidates. ali vitali is in wilmington, delaware, covering the biden campaign. carol lee is covering the trump campaign from the white house. ali, let me start with you. the biden campaign just wrapped up a briefing. what did we find out about how they see the electoral map right now? >> reporter: craig, if there was any ambiguity about how confident the biden campaign is feeling, there's none left after that briefing call we got off with them. the top line there is they think joe biden is on a path to win

the election and that he is going to be the next president of the united states. that's their view. they are now mirroring the same kind of confidence we heard on a dueling phone call with the trump campaign held basically at the same time this morning. so both campaigns coming out and saying they feel good and they see paths to victory. specifically, the path i want to focus on here is the quirky one steve laid out which includes michigan, wisconsin, nevada and arizona as well as those three quirky counts from maine. that would put the biden campaign at exactly 270. in the same way we're hearing from the trump campaign that they see a path to get there, the biden campaign saying that as well. i would also add that they could get there -- they feel good about pennsylvania. if they take that route, they wouldn't have to win in pennsylvania or georgia. again, they came in with a few different paths to victory. they seem to maintain those repeated paths to victory. on the legal front, though, there's a lot of conversation

from the trump campaign about potential lawsuits. donald trump was out there last night saying they're going to take it to the supreme court. bob bower who is heading up the legal battle for the biden campaign with strong words on this phone call. i want to read a piece of what he said. he said trump will be in for one of the most embarrassing defeats a president ever suffered for the highest court of the land if he were to go to the supreme court. it's to the entirely clear what would specifically go to the supreme court, but it's clear from this phone call that the biden campaign is ready for it, whatever it might be, craig. >> it should also be noted here, again as ballots are still being counted. but heretofore, joe biden has amassed more votes for president than any candidate for the office in american history. do we know if the biden team has been in contact at all in a formal capacity with the trump team? >> reporter: we just learned they have not.

his campaign manager saying they're not having contact with the trump campaign at this point. i would also point out, if we're looking ahead to what we can expect to see today, the biden campaign is projecting they're going to see some key counties start reporting in all these important states we've been talking about. in addition to that, we also should expect to hear from joe biden himself at some point today here in wilmington, craig. >> all right. carol, what's the thinking in trump world right now? >> reporter: craig, like the biden campaign, the trump campaign is trying to set the public narrative about these election results. we saw the president move early this morning to falsely claim that he had won the election, even as votes are being counted. the trump campaign held a call with reporters that wrapped a little while ago where they, as you would expect, are projecting confidence, same as the biden campaign. i can give you a state-by-state breakdown of how they see things.

georgia and pennsylvania, they're optimistic. arizona, nevada, victory is possible according to the trump campaign. wisconsin, they're saying that's a tight race and, quote, recount territory. while the president is saying that this race is essentially wrapped up and he's declared himself falsely the victor of all of this, his campaign is telling a different story. they're saying this is still playing out. in their view, what they're saying is if all the legally cast ballots are counted, the president will win. that's the rhetoric that we're hearing around this. that's the spin and that's how they see things. that's different from the reality which is that millions of votes are still being counted and this could wind up in some sort of legal battle. the president saying he might take this all the way to the supreme court. we don't know exactly what that means. we do know his campaign as well as the biden campaign have been amassing a legal army, a team that can take this on.

they've been preparing for this for months. the president laying the groundwork for this for months with his supporters. this is something that could play out in days, potentially weeks to come. >> carol lee from the white house, carol thank you. ali vitali, thank you. as blayne mentioned, in a few minutes we expect an update from the secretary of state in georgia on where things stand with the vote count. when that happens, we'll bring it to you live. we are also keeping an eye on the podium here in michigan because we are expecting an update from the secretary of state in michigan as well on the vote count. when that happens, we'll take you there live. this is a live look -- this is actually georgia. president trump falsely claiming he won the election while millions of votes still need to be counted. i'm going to dig into that with a top cia official, former top cia official. we'll talk to jeremy bash about that as our special coverage of election week continues next.

at dell technologies, we started by making the cloud easier to manage. but we didn't stop there. we made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. no matter what it does, or how it changes. and we kept going. so you only pay for what you use. because at dell technologies, we stop...at nothing. ♪ we're all finding ways to keep moving. but how do we make sure the direction we're headed is forward? at fidelity, you'll get the planning and advice to prepare you for the future, without sacrificing the things that are important to you today. we'll help you plan for healthcare costs, taxes and any other uncertainties along the way.

because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only direction you're moving is forward. than rheumatoid arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz... a pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis when methotrexate has not helped enough. xeljanz can help relieve joint pain and swelling, stiffness, and helps stop further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. don't let another morning go by

without asking your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra more than seven years ago. xeljanz.

i got this mountain bike for only $11. dealdash.com, the fair and honest bidding site. an ipad worth $505, was sold for less than $24; a playstation 4 for less than $16; and a schultz 4k television for less than $2. i won these bluetooth headphones for $20. i got these three suitcases for less than $40. and shipping is always free. go to dealdash.com right now and see how much you can save. ♪

it is a scenario that we were warned could play out. this morning president trump is indeed falsely claiming he has won and vowing to take legal action to stop all voting. votes are still being counted right now. no one is still voting right now. that's the message that joe biden's campaign is reenforcing this morning. >> we're going to have to be patient until we -- the hard work of tallying votes is finished. it ain't over until every vote is counted, every ballot is counted. >> i want to bring in jeremy bash, a former chief of staff at the cia and department of defense of the obama administration, also an msnbc national security analyst. mr. bash, let's start there. we're not going to play the president's comments, but you know what the president said last night. president trump's comments in terms of red flags, what do they raises for you? >> first of all, craig, we need

to be calm, let all the votes come in and be counted. that's not only important for our democracy but a critical symbol for the entire world. there's no basis at this point for any frivolous or hyperaggressive lawsuit by the trump team, although they certainly are going to try that. remember in 2000 in the florida recount, nye first legal case i worked on was the florida recount on behalf of gore. the difference there, was the litigation was over the recount. the dispute was how the votes should be recounted, manually, by machine or otherwise. here, craig, we haven't had the first count in many places. i think once the vote is completely tabulated and it looks like biden is ahead in wisconsin, michigan, nevada, arizona, then essentially biden will have 270. if trump wants to take this to the court, i think he's going to fail miserably. >> jeremy, our allies,

adversaries are watching all this unfold around the world. the president's comments last night, his reaction so far, what does that do to our standing on the global stage and perceptions of our democratic process? >> well, it transmits chaos and weakness fundamentally. unfortunately it emboldens our adversaries because they look here and say, boy, the united states is in chaos when, in fact, we're not. we had a very orderly voting process and we're having a very orderly counting process. i got a text message from a person in an ally country who said trump sounded like a lunatic. the way he portrayed things is i've got to go to court, there was fraud, that's the rhetoric you hear from dictators, autocrats, people who try to undermine democracy, not champion it. the presidential election, craig, is the crown ed jewel of

this democracy and the president is taking us down a very dark path. >> there had been concerns, jeremy, as you know, going into last night, that there might be some sort of foreign interference, perhaps even a cyber attack. what more do we know about what happened and what did not happen? >> well, i don't think we know yet exactly whether or not there was any foreign interference at a scale that would be material. we do know that u.s. departments and agencies including u.s. cyber command undertook offensive cyber operations in the last several weeks against iranian actors, chinese actors. we know russia has been very active, basically to prevent a cyber attack on our election system. at this hour, craig, knowing everything we know from the public information, it does not appear there was any such cyber attack that would change the results. i think we have to let the votes come in, see where things stand in a couple hours and then we'll know exactly where things stand.

>> jeremy bash, thanks as always, sir, for your insight and analysis. thank you, thank you, jeremy. we are looking right now -- this is a live picture of mitch mcconnell who pulled out quite the victory last night in kentucky. it was a landslide. senator mitch mcconnell and his wife there's layne chow who has also served in a number of administrations, two administrations. senator mcconnell, currently the senate majority leader, just a few moments ago telling a group of assembled reporters there he does not know if he's going to be the offensive coordinator or the defensive coordinator. we're keeping a very close eye on pennsylvania as well, as you know. 20 electoral votes up for grabs there. ballots still being counted. just heard from the secretary of state last hour from pennsylvania, along with the governor there. now we turn to democratic senator bob casey. senator casey from pennsylvania.

what is your sense, senator, of where things stand right now in your state? >> craig, obviously we're still going to be counting for a while. we still have a lot of mail-in ballots to count as you heard in the last hour. the four suburban counties around philadelphia as well as in the city of philadelphia and allegheny county where pittsburgh is. there's still some mail-in ballots coming in to smaller counties, counties that president trump will win easily, but i think joe biden can pick up some of those votes as well. we'll be counting for a while, but i think joe biden is going to win the race, and i think some estimates are, some analysts i have confidence in say it will be 100,000 votes or more. >> let's talk about the upper chamber for a moment there. again, we just saw and heard from senator mitch mcconnell. democrats had hoped to pick up a number of seats. at this point it looks like they

will pick up that seat in arizona perhaps, but south carolina a disappointment, kentucky a disappointment. a number of other very close races, disappointments so far for democrats. it doesn't look like your party will pick up the number of seats it thought it might in the upper chamber. how surprised are you by that? >> well, look, these are all tough races and close. i think there was more volatility in some of the senate races than the presidential. i was surprised how stable the presidential race was. seemed like no matter what happened it didn't move the numbers very much. but a lot of tough races. obviously some still yet to be called. but having been through three senate races in pennsylvania, i know how difficult it can be. i'm not sure i can really draw a conclusion about what happened in other states yet. i'd have to spend some time looking at the data and listening to the colleagues who know more about their state.

>> a lot of the mail-in ballots remain uncounted. senator biden campaign officials telling nbc news they feel confident. we expect philadelphia vote by mail to drop tonight or tomorrow. do you share that assessment? >> if they say that, that's a good validation of what is likely to happen. i think what's interesting, craig, is even now -- even with two big suburban counties i just looked at, montgomery and delaware, who have big margins for joe biden, even with about 75% counted and 85 in the other, he already has the margins that secretary clinton had or more. so i think it's entirely possible that in suburban philadelphia his margins will be higher. >> senator casey, thank you. thank you so much. we've got to go to georgia now, because the secretary of state

in georgia is providing an update on the vote count. let's listen in. >> -- across the state, and we did that while experiencing record-breaking turnout handling unprecedented numbers of mail-in ballot requests than ever before, implementing a new voting system and adapting to the requirements of holding an election during a pandemic and recruiting new poll workers. elections matter. that was a total team effort. first i'd like to thank every early voter who heard our call and voted early. you are the reason why georgia had success. thank you to every election official who met every struggle and every challenge. in the middle of a pandemic, it was tough and we've overcome all the challenges. great job. thank you. your vote counts. as we also pointed out, it is counties in georgia that actually administer the

elections, and all georgians owe a debt of gratitude to the dedicated public servants across the state who executed their duties well and in most cases, flawlessly. over 50,000 georgians stepped forward to man the polls in their communities after many of our longtime workers had to step out because they were in a population that was vulnerable to covid. our job isn't done yet, though. i want to thank my deputy secretary of state jordan fusch for leading a great team, leading our public service announcements that helped change voting behavior from in-person. to gabriel sterling who implemented the state's new voting system, the largest of its kind in the history of this country. thank you to ryan germany for protecting our state law. judges are not legislators.

jordan, gabe and ryan, thank you. you are tireless professionals proudly serving georgia. lastly, i would like to thank my entire team in the secretary of state's office for their tireless work through out the entire year. elections matter. counties made sure that voters had access to many early voting locations including mega sites like the state farm arena over a three-week period. your vote counts. i'm happy to report that voters have responded favorably to using our new ballot marking devices. they found it easy to use, appreciated the security of a paper ballot and liked seeing their ballots tabulated by the scanner. this election puts to rest the debates inflamed by those in our stated, or not in our state, who have looked to sow doubt about our systems and those who have wrongly claimed there's a lack of access to voting.

elections matter. completing this general election is a huge hurdle crossed, but it's far from the end of our work. we will have immediately starting the day, working toward certifying this election and then preparing for state and local runoff elections on december 1st, and then the september senate runoff election between senator loeffler and raphael warnock on january 5th. this will require a monumental effort because we have a short window to gather absentee ballots to give voters time to return them. my team has sent reminders to counties to get all, let me repeat, all of our results counted today. every legal vote will count. i know that many of you probably have some questions. justin. >> you're a supporter of

president trump -- what do you say to people who hear the president speak and worry -- [ inaudible ]. >> i want everyone to know within the sound of my voice that every legal vote in georgia will count. right now we have about 200,000 left to be counted through the absentee ballot process, counties worked on scanning those, as many as they could. also about 40,000 to 50,000 early votes that need to be counted. >> so is the president incorrect there? >> we're saying every legal ballot will be counted in georgia. we follow state law. >> -- i don't know if they'll get it done today. i know you said you communicated with counties asking them to complete it today. is that possible? >> we're pushing that really hard for that. if we don't get it there but get

the numbers so small that there's no question of who actually the winner is, i think that will be helpful. remove a lot of questions that people might have. yes, ma'am. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> that will be something we'll get out as soon as we have that information. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> it will always be a concern. we want to make sure everything gets to us, don't have anything specific on that. that's why we also instituted the absentee ballot drop boxes. our concern was that voters would wait too long and be too late to mail. that's why we had the drop boxes which was very well received by voters in georgia. okay. we're going to continue to listen to the secretary of state

in atlanta providing the update on the status of the election there, pledging that every legal vote in the state of georgia will be counted. while that was happening, the secretary of state in michigan was also providing an update on the vote counting there in michigan, and we want to give you a snapshot of where things stand right now in michigan. one of the headlines from the secretary of state is that joe biden's share has increased there in michigan. tens of thousands of votes still have to be counted. but right now, as you can see statewide, mr. biden leads by roughly 35,000 votes. the secretary of state in michigan pleading for patience as they continue to count votes. she did say that they're on track for results to be confirmed by friday in michigan,

hoping that it happens sooner, but indicating it could be friday before we get some sort of call in michigan. let's turn to eddie glaude, chair of the department of african-american studies at princeton university, also an msnbc contributor. i know you were looking forward to a quick and decisive victory on tuesday. last night you tweeted something that got our attention. you said my anxiety levels are off the charts. where is your anxiety this morning, professor? >> well, i'm still anxious. i'm trying to repeat emerson's words and your own words, i'm breathing, but trying to be patient, patient, patient. look, i'm still trying -- i'm asking myself this question, craig. what are these people voting for when they vote for donald trump? what are they voting for? the evidence is in. there's incompetence, 230,000 dead. there's mendacity, lying every

day. there's corruption. there's hatred. there's grievance. there's resentment. what are they voting for? so part of what i'm trying to deal with is my anxiety and my anger that the contradictions in this country run deep, craig, and that we have, no matter who wins, even the pathway to the white house that may be open to joe biden, we have so much work to do in this country, my friend. so much work. >> professor glaude, again, it's early. but folks are starting to dissect the numbers a bit. it looks as if the president did markedly better with hispanic voters in florida, especially south florida, better with hispanic voters in texas as well. according to nbc news exit polls of early and election day voters -- again, exit polling here -- 91% of black women went for biden. 80% of black men went for biden.

what do you make of the disparity between black male voters and black female voters according to this exit poll data? >> i'm skeptical of the exit poll data, especially when millions of mail-in ballots have been cast. we want to read that for what it is. we need to understand sexism and patriarchy isn't a possession of white men, that sexism and patriarchy is, in fact, the possession of hispanic men and black men. we know that the real story here, craig, isn't about black men, isn't about latino voters. the real story here is about white voters. donald trump has overperformed among white voters. we said he's been governing just for his base. we've been saying that over and over again. what we saw is the strategy of the trump campaign was very clear, that what they wanted to do was to go out and recruit

those disaffected white voters, to get them who have opted out of the process, and get them to turn out. what have we seen? we've seen those numbers in droves. how did he appeal to them? he appealed to them with hate, with grievance, with resentment. so although we can tell the story about black men. although we can tell the story about latinos and we need to disaggregate that category, this is a story about white america. this is a story about how whiteness still an mates the core of this country along with selfishness, craig. we know who this man is. this race shouldn't be this tight, at least from my vantage point. >> professor eddie glaude, we always appreciate your vantage point. thanks as always. we need to go to michigan once again here because the secretary of state in michigan has started taking questions. so let's listen in for just a bit.

>> -- it could lead to quite a flip if there's some mistakes there. >> well, i'll let the pundits and the people looking closely at the data and different results of the elections make those analyses. i'm truly focused on myself, as i advise a lot of folks to do, blocking out the noise and focusing on the count, making sure we get the tabulations done, making sure they're secure, making sure the ballots are validated and we're following the process to the letter so people can have confidence that as the results come out, however they're analyzed, they're an accurate reflection of the will of the peop people. >> hi, secretary benson, thanks for doing this. >> hi, adam. sure. >> what was the number of absentee ballots received at the

tcf center last night? were there any ballots that showed up in detroit later on? >> so, a couple of things. at the 8:00 press conference in detroit, the detroit city clerk and the number of leaders in the absentee ballot counting process mentioned between 170,000 and 180,000, somewhere between there, were the number of ballots they were tabulating for the city of detroit. notably ballots had to be in by 8:00 p.m. to the city of detroit. after that point, there was still collection happening -- perhaps immediately alongside that moment. ballot drop boxes were being emptied. satellite clerk offices, 21 all around the city, were being shut down and any ballots dropped off there were secured. the 8:00 p.m. deadline for ballots to be in was stringtdly enforced, and at that point at the same time right around 8:00 p.m. when there was a press

conference happening at tcf, they were able to talk about the ballots that had been in at that point and noted there was still additional ballots coming in from those that were submitted close to the 8:00 p.m. deadline. again, that really underscores why we're talking in rough estimates right now. even once a ballot comes in, as you know, it has to be validated. the signature has to be checked with the signature we have on file before it can begin to be pre processed and prepared for tabulation. for ballots getting in, in detroit or anywhere else, at 7:45, those will count because they arrived on time. we're still in the process, and many clerks particularly in detroit and their absentee counting boards in the process of making sure all the procedures are followed prior to the tabulation. it's a long answer to your question. i want to clarify why we're talking in estimates here, 170 to 180, because we still haven't seen the full numbers of how many came in at that last minute in detroit.

>> okay. again, this is the secretary of state there in michigan, jocelyn benson. just a few headlines here to note in michigan. she did say that the first unofficial tabulation should happen within the next 24 hours, quote, hopefully by the end of the day, according to the secretary of state. she pointed out tens of thousands of ballots still need to be counted in the largest metropolitan areas. that includes detroit, grand rapids, flint and kalamazoo. that's coming from the secretary of state in michigan. meanwhile, the secretary of state in georgia said that there's about 250,000 ballots still left to be counted there in georgia. secretary of state there also saying he hopes to have a better picture of what georgia looks like by the end of business today as well.

that's the scene in georgia. let's go back to michigan because dasha burns is on the ground for us. she's in grand rapids where votes are being counted. what are you seeing and laerg? >> reporter: craig, as the world watches and waits on the state of michigan, one of the places to keep an eye on is in this room right here in the city of grand rapids. 58,000 absentee votes here. the election workers behind me have not gotten a wink of sleep. i've met people with band-aids on their fingers because of the paper cuts. they weren't able to start counting these ballots until yesterday morning. today they're here working hard. we talked about how this process, it is slow, it is methodic methodical. it is teed use. this groups of folks at the computer are doing a process called add jewett kating. this is the longest part of this process, looking at any ballots that have strain marks on them

from coffee stains to ink marks. there's a democratic and republican challenger watching over here. then we've got the tab laters here, people trying to get ballots through the tabulaters. last night they weren't working properly. another one of those election day bottlenecks that happens that could potentially delay results. i want to bring you to this corner of the room here where there are stacks of ballots here. these have all been counted. we're hearing from the grand rapids city clerk, he expects to have results today. we don't know when today, but he does think we'll get results today. that is a big deal. this is the second largest city in the state of michigan. 58,000 ballots. with this incredibly tight race, it will have an impact on the state of the race here in michigan. craig. >> all right. that's the scene there in michigan. dasha burns, keep us posted there. we're also following breaking news on the postal service. there's a hearing under way in

the next hour. a federal judge has ordered the postal service to sweep for undelivered ballots. we're going to get an update on where things stand right after this. we're headed is forward? at fidelity, you'll get the planning and advice to prepare you for the future, without sacrificing the things that are important to you today. we'll help you plan for healthcare costs, taxes and any other uncertainties along the way. because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only direction you're moving is forward.

some companies still have hr stuck betweeny, employeesentering data.a.ent changing data. more and more sensitive, personal data.

and it doesn't just drag hr down. it drags the entire business down -- with inefficiency, errors and waste. it's ridiculous. so ridiculous. with paycom, employees enter and manage their own data in a single, easy to use software. visit paycom.com, and schedule your demo today. let's get checked for those around us. let's get checked for a full range of conditions. introducing letsgetchecked a health testing you do at home. let's get round the clock support from a team of nurses. let's get fast, accurate results. know your health. know yourself. order now at letsgetchecked dot com

there has been a development in wisconsin. as you can see, according to our decision desk, with 97% of the precincts reporting here, it's still too close to call. the difference between mr. biden and president trump, 103,697 votes. however the administrator of wisconsin elections commission, megan wolf, has said that all the ballots have indeed been counted in wisconsin, all the ballots have been counted. it seems as if they are waiting for some of the counties to post those results on their websites. we should be getting some clarity out of wisconsin in the next few hours. but we've got some new reporting involving the u.s. postal service right now. nbc's tom costello is following this for us. tom, what have you learned?

>> reporter: in five minutes a federal judge will be holding a hearing specifically as it relates to how much and how well the postal service has been processing mail-in ballots. you may recall earlier in the week the postal service admitted that 300,000 ballots had been -- had gone through its system but had not yet been scanned for deliver delivery. the question was, where were those ballots. the judge ordered the postal service to sweep two dozen offices in districts throughout the country looking for those ballots. the postal service declined to do that, declined to, essentially, go along with the judge's order, insisting it was already sweeping for ballots under its own provisions. now the postal service has released new data on how well it delivered mail yesterday. this is very concerning if some ballots were not delivered. in atlanta yesterday, 82% of mail was processed.

61% in central p.a. these are critical battleground states. 66% rate in philadelphia. 78% rate in detroit. by the way, 72% in greensboro, north carolina. 76% in lakeland, wisconsin. these are critical battleground states and the post office concedes it was not processing the mail at the normal rate. back in june it was going at 95% processing rate. now we're down into the 60s and 70s in these battleground states. here is the problem, craig. in fact, in arizona, wisconsin, michigan, and georgia, ballots had to be received yesterday, not postmarked by yesterday, had to be received yesterday. if there are potentially tens of thousands or more ballots sitting in post offices that weren't delivered, the question is will they ever be counted. again, the federal judge holding a hearing right about now in georgia. >> all right, tom costello, keep us posted on that development,

disturbing development, keep us posted, as you always do, tom, thank you. in north carolina, they are auditing results, that's required by statute there, to check the vote now. the presidential race in north carolina also very, very tight. trymaine lee is in greensboro, north carolina. what are you hearing, trimaine, from voters on the ground? >> reporter: i'm in front of the civil rights museum, where in 1964 courageous young men staged a sit-in and sparked a movement. folks here today are asking the question professor eddie glaude asked on the program earlier, what are trump supporters actually voting for? the folks said it wasn't just donald trump's and joe biden's name on the ballot, it was a referendum on racism and racial

injustice. they're wondering why their neighbors aren't voting the way greensboro and raleigh-durham voted. state officials say they'll be accepting some absentee ballots until november 12. we asked a young lady at the election board when we might have an answer and she laughed at us, craig, she laughed. so here we are in north carolina, it's still tight. >> here we are. trymaine lee, thank you as always. that will do it for me today. see you back here same time tomorrow. andrea mitchell picks up our coverage after a short break. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ all otc pain relievers including volthave one thing in common none are proven stronger or more effective against pain than salonpas patch large there's surprising power in this patch salonpas dependable, powerful relief. hisamitsu.

irresistibly smooth chocolate. ♪ to put the world on pause. lindor. made to melt you. by the lindt master chocolatier. ♪ ♪ heart monitors that let your doctor watch over you, just like you watch over your best friend. another life-changing technology from abbott, so you don't wait for life. you live it.

and good day, i'm andrea mitchell at msnbc headquarters in new york. as the election remains undecided, the president is challenging established procedures for counting the remaining ballots on twitter today, which the social media company is flagging as false, building on his claims overnight. >> we were getting ready to win this election. frankly, we did win this election. so we'll be going to