Election night 2020: 5 things you need to know

CNA Staff, Nov 3, 2020 / 23:10 pm

Late into election night, well after midnight in Washington, DC, here are 5 things you need to know:

- There is not yet a winner in the presidential election, and it might be a while.

Shortly after midnight on election night, both President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden had won states key to their election. Trump won swing states Florida and Ohio, and was expected to win North Carolina. Biden was expected to win Arizona, which Trump won in 2016.

Trump led in Georgia, and in swing states Wisconsin and Michigan, but there were still votes to count, and no winner was expected to be announced until Tuesday. Trump led by more than 15 points in Pennsylvania, but urban areas, expected to go toward Biden, had not yet been fully counted. State officials said it could be days until a winner was declared, because mail-in votes still needed to be tallied.

The race is expected to come down to Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. If Pennsylvania is the final piece of either candidate's path to 270 electoral votes, it could be days before the election was decided, and some expect that litigation could become an issue.

- Louisiana passed a pro-life state constitutional amendment.

Louisiana voters approved a constitutional amendment to prevent the state's courts from finding a "right to abortion," or to public abortion funding, in the state's constitution.

More than 60% of Louisiana's voters voted to amend the state constitution to say that "nothing in this constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion."

"Amendment 1 is not a ban on abortion. It simply keeps abortion policy in the hands of our legislators rather than state judges," state Senator Katrina Jackson, who authored the amendment, explained.

- Colorado voters did not approve a late term abortion ban.

Colorado voters considered a ban on abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy. The state is one of just seven that allows abortion to take place until birth. Each year, about 200 to 300 babies are aborted after 21-weeks gestation in the state.

While pro-life advocates urged support for a ban on late-term abortion, nearly 60% of voters rejected the proposal.

-  Democrats were projected to retain control of the House of Representatives.

Late Tuesday night, Democrats were projected to retain control of the House of Representatives. Democrats have pledged to push for federal funding of abortion if they retained control of the House after the 2020 election.

- As election day began, the U.S. bishops urged prayer.