Biden gains ground on Trump in Georgia, edges closer to White House

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden gained more ground on Donald Trump in the battleground states of Georgia and Pennsylvania on Friday, edging closer to the White House.

Biden has a 253 to 214 lead in the state-by-state Electoral College vote that determines the winner, according to most major television networks, and is inching towards securing the 270 votes needed to win the state-by-state Electoral College in four undecided swing states.

Biden would become the next president by winning Pennsylvania, or by winning two out of the trio of Georgia, Nevada and Arizona.

Trump's likeliest path appear narrow - he needs to hang onto both Pennsylvania and Georgia and also overtake Biden in either Nevada or Arizona.

In Pennsylvania, which has 20 electoral votes, Biden cut Trump's lead to just over 18,000 by the early hours of Friday, while his deficit in Georgia, which has 16 electoral votes, shrunk to about 650.

These numbers are expected to continue to move in Biden's favour, with many of the outstanding ballots from areas that typically vote Democratic, including the cities of Philadelphia and Atlanta.

Biden, meanwhile, saw his lead in Arizona shrink to around 47,000 early Friday; he was still ahead in Nevada by only 12,000 votes.

As the country held its breath three days after Tuesday's Election Day, Georgia and Pennsylvania officials expressed optimism they would finish counting on Friday, while Arizona and Nevada were still expected to take days to finalise their vote totals.

Biden's lead in the national popular vote broke 4 million on Thursday night, though that plays no role in deciding the winner. Trump lost the popular vote by about 3 million to Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, when he secured an upset victory by winning key states in the Electoral College.

He is trying to avoid becoming the first incumbent US president to lose a re-election bid since fellow Republican George H.W. Bush in 1992.