Alaska election results: Why has state not been called yet?

Three Electoral College votes expected to go to Donald Trump

The critical battleground states Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania have yet to be decided in the 2020 US presidential election, but one other state also remains uncalled.

Alaska, a Republican-leaning state, has not been called by the Associated Press or any other news organisation.

It is assumed that the three Electoral College votes will go to Donald Trump, as the only time the state swung blue was in 1964 for Lyndon B Johnson.

The state counted its in-person votes on Election Day, which has put Mr Trump up 62.9 per cent to the 33 per cent for Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

Additionally, early voting was counted up to 29 October, which means 192,918 ballots have been counted thus far, or 50 per cent of the total vote.

But Alaska has absentee ballots outstanding for the rest of its votes, and the state does not allow for those to be counted until 10 November. This rule put forward by the state makes it the last state in the US that will be able to count its absentee ballots.

Even though it is anticipated that Mr Trump will gain the three Electoral Votes, it remains unlikely that the state will officially be called until it starts counting the rest of the outstanding ballots.

Division of Elections director Gail Fenumiai told local outlet KTOO the delay is so officials can “make sure that we have all of the in-person history that’s done” for the in-person votes on Election Day so no one can have a vote counted twice.

Alaska’s results are more delayed this presidential election compared to others due to Covid-19, but the state has consistently used a delayed counting system outside the 2016 and 2018 election.