Updated 8:27 p.m.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is projected to win the state of Illinois. 

The Associated Press called the race at 7:00 p.m. CST. These results do not include many mail in ballots.

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Illinois has 20 electoral votes, the most of any midwestern state. The majority of these votes have gone to the Democratic party for the past 28 years and in 2016 all 20 electors cast their votes for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

In order to defeat president Trump, Biden will need to secure 270 electoral votes. As of publication, Biden had 122 electoral votes and Trump had 92, according to the AP. 

Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin are this election’s “battleground states.”

The AP called Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico and Rhode Island for Biden. It called Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Louisiana, Nebraska, Mississippi, Tennessee and Oklahoma for Trump, as of publication.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. has seen a record number of mail-in ballots. These ballots are expected to delay the ballot counting process.

Experts say the results of the 2020 election could remain uncertain for weeks. 

Follow the Daily Egyptian on Twitter for live updates through election night.

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Editor-in-Chief Kallie Cox can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @KallieECox.

To stay up to date with all your southern Illinois news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.

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