Some local races remain undecided as votes still being counted

Voters across Washington state decided on dozens of federal and state races ranging from the next president to local propositions and state representatives.

Some races remain undecided. Here’s a rundown of where some key races stand.

You can find local and presidential election results at this link as we get them.

Key Washington state races

Governor

Gov. Jay Inslee has become the first incumbent elected to a third term in Washington state in more than 40 years, beating Republican challenger Loren Culp. Inslee, who briefly ran for president last year, has been a frequent critic of Republican President Donald Trump, especially his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Culp, police chief of the small town of Republic, campaigned in part against Inslee’s coronavirus restrictions like mandatory masks, saying they infringe on people’s constitutional rights.

Lieutenant Governor

Democratic U.S. Rep. Denny Heck, who is retiring from Congress, was leading fellow Democratic Sen. Marko Liias with 47% of the vote. They are vying to succeed current Democratic Lt. Gov. Cyrus Habib, who started unpaid leave in September as he started training in California to be a Jesuit priest.

Attorney General

The Associated Press reported that incumbent Attorney General Bob Ferguson was elected for a third term. Ferguson has been a part of a number of high-profile lawsuits against the Trump administration. His opponent, Republican Matt Larkin, is a former Pierce County Deputy Prosecutor and was endorsed by the Seattle Police Officers Guild.

Secretary of State

Secretary of State Kim Wyman has been reelected to a third term, continuing a more than five-decade trend of Republicans holding that office and becoming the lone statewide elected Republican on the West Coast, the Associated Press reported.

Referendum 90 – Sex education

Washington state voters approved a sex education referendum, allowing Democrats' wide-ranging mandate for public schools to stand and take effect later this school year. Referendum 90 was Washington’s only statewide ballot measure in the November election and the nation’s first sex ed fight to be decided at the ballot. The passing vote upholds a state senate bill approved in March by Democrats without any Republican support, which quickly triggered immense backlash.

3rd Congressional District

Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler won reelection to U.S. House in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District.

8th Congressional District

Democratic U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier held an early lead after tough reelection fights in Washington’s 8th Congressional Districts. Schrier was trying to retain her position as the only Democrat elected to represent the 8th District. She faced a challenge from Republican Army veteran Jesse Jensen.

10th Congressional District

Democrat Marilyn Strickland won election to the U.S. House in Washington’s 10th Congressional District, according to the Associated Press. The former Tacoma mayor was challenged by State Rep. and climate activist Beth Doglio. The district includes parts of Thurston, Pierce, and Mason counties. The seat was left open after incumbent U.S. Rep Denny Heck ran for Lieutenant Governor.

King County Charter Amendments 5 & 6

King County voters appear ready to end the 25-year experiment of having the sheriff be elected. Charter Amendment 5 is passing by 57%. That would make the Sheriff an appointed position.

Voters are also backing Charter Amendment 6 by a wider margin. It would give the county council the scope to reduce the sheriff’s duties and power.

Here are live updates:

8:45 a.m. Officials with President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and the Nevada Republican Party on Thursday announced plans to sue the state over alleged voter fraud.

Republicans claimed that about 10,000 people who no longer live in Nevada cast votes in the state, KLAS reported."

Ballots are not automatically legal votes until they’re checked," Trump campaign advisor Ric Grenell said at a news conference. “We are not being allowed to check.”

Campaign officials declined to elaborate on the allegations.

8:28 a.m. A judge in Georgia has dismissed a lawsuit by the state Republican Party and President Donald Trump’s campaign that asked him to ensure Chatham County was following state laws on processing absentee ballots.

The lawsuit alleged that a Republican observer watched a poll worker take unprocessed absentee ballots from a back room and mix them into processed absentee ballots waiting to be tabulated.

7:55 a.m. Officials in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, plan to resume counting mail-in ballots Friday, according to WPXI. About 35,000 ballots in the county need to be manually examined, WPXI reported, including 29,000 incorrect ballots that went out in Allegheny County and were later corrected.

“We have resolution bins for the ones that the declaration was incomplete or didn’t have a date and a signature,” Allegheny County Solicitor Andy Szefi said, according to WPXI. “Those are not part of the count. Those have been set aside. They’ll be determined by elections management staff and consultation by the law department whether those eventually do get counted. There will be ones that clearly don’t and there will be ones that will.”

7:25 a.m. Twitter hid a tweet sent Thursday morning by President Donald Trump with a label warning that information in the post “is disputed and might be misleading. ”In the tweet that prompted the measure, Trump wrote that “ANY VOTE THAT CAME IN AFTER ELECTION DAY WILL NOT BE COUNTED!”

Despite his claim, several states allow for ballots which arrive after polls close to be counted, so long as they were postmarked by Election Day.

5:55 a.m. About 116,000 absentee ballots remain to be counted in North Carolina, one of a handful of states where the results of Tuesday’s votes remains unclear, according to WSOC-TV.

As of Thursday morning, President Donald Trump led over his rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, by about 77,000 votes, according to a count from The Associated Press. North Carolina election officials will continue to process and count ballots postmarked by Election Day and delivered by the U.S. Postal Service through Nov. 12, WSOC-TV reported.

5:45 a.m. About 800,000 votes remain to be tallied in Pennsylvania, where President Donald Trump is leading former Vice President Joe Biden by about 164,000 votes, according to The Associated Press. Officials in Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, told WPXI they plan to reconvene at 9 a.m. (Eastern Time) Thursday to begin counting the about 35,500 ballots that still need to be manually examined.

4:32 a.m. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told WSB-TV that fewer than 25,000 ballots are left to be counted in the state, and results are expected “no later than noon (Eastern Time) today.” As of 3:20 a.m., President Donald Trump narrowly led former Vice President Joe Biden by about 18,540 votes in Georgia, according to the news outlet.

Updates from Nov. 4, 2020:

9:01 p.m.

Dozens of angry supporters of President Donald Trump converged on vote-counting centers in Detroit and Phoenix as returns went against the president Wednesday in the two key states, while thousands of anti-Trump protesters demanding a complete count of the ballots in the still-undecided election took to the streets in cities across the U.S.

The protests came as the president repeatedly insisted without evidence that there were major problems with the voting and the ballot counting, and Republicans filed suit in multiple states, preparing to contest election results.

7:00 p.m.

A group demanding all ballots in the presidential race be counted marched Wednesday evening through downtown Seattle. The group was part of the “County Every Vote” rally.

4:53 p.m.

Update: President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Georgia Republican Party have filed a lawsuit against the Chatham County Board of Elections asking a judge to order the county to secure and account for ballots received after 7 p.m. on Election Day.

3:03 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has carried Michigan and its 16 electoral votes, further dismantling Donald Trump’s Rust Belt wall of support that helped deliver him the presidency four years ago.

The flip from red back to blue was a huge blow to Trump, whose victories in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2016 sent him to the White House. Biden also carried Wisconsin, though Pennsylvania hasn’t been called yet.

Biden’s victory in Michigan pushes him to 264 Electoral College votes, six short of the 270 needed to win the White House. Trump is at 214 electoral votes. Nevada, which has six electoral votes, is among the states Democrat Hillary Clinton won in 2016 that hasn’t yet been called.

12:26 p.m.

President Donald Trump’s campaign says it’s suing to temporarily stop the vote count in Pennsylvania, claiming lack of “transparency.” Justin Clark, Trump’s deputy campaign manager, said in a statement Wednesday that the campaign is “suing to stop Democrat election officials from hiding the ballot counting and processing from our Republican poll observers.” He said the campaign wants “to temporarily halt counting until there is meaningful transparency and Republicans can ensure all counting is done above board and by the law.”

11:20 a.m.

Joe Biden has defeated President Donald Trump in battleground Wisconsin, securing the state’s 10 electoral votes and reclaiming a key part of the blue wall that slipped away from Democrats four years ago.

The Associated Press called Wisconsin for Biden after election officials in the state said all outstanding ballots had been counted, save for a few hundred in one township and an expected small number of provisional ballots.

11:06 a.m.

President Donald Trump’s campaign says it has filed a lawsuit trying to halt the vote count in battleground Michigan. The latest counts gives Trump’s Democratic challenger Joe Biden a small lead, but the race is still too early to call.

Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien says in a statement Wednesday that the campaign “has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law.”

He says a suit was filed Wednesday in the Michigan Court of Claims “to halt counting until meaningful access has been granted.”

10:33 a.m.

President Donald Trump has won one of Maine’s four electoral votes, just as he did in 2016. Trump carried the state’s 2nd Congressional District, the more rural and conservative of Maine’s congressional districts. While Democrat Joe Biden easily carried the state itself, Maine is one of only two states that divides its electoral votes.

9:53 a.m.

President Donald Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien says the president plans to “immediately” request a recount in the battleground state of Wisconsin, where the race remains close. In Wisconsin, if a race is within 1 percentage point, the trailing candidate can force a recount.

8:42 a.m.

Joe Biden remains in the lead in Wisconsin and Michigan with a 1 point lead in both states. President Trump is still ahead in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia and Alaska.

7:45 a.m.

Democrat Marilyn Strickland has won election to the U.S. House in Washington’s 10th Congressional District with 58% of the votes.

6:15 a.m.

Joe Biden has pulled ahead of President Trump in Michigan by a slim four-tenths of a point with 94% of expected votes counted. His lead later increased to 1 point. The state has 16 electoral votes.

2:00 a.m.

Seven states are still undecided: Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Alaska. Joe Biden has pulled ahead in Wisconsin by just three-tenths of a point. Wisconsin has 10 electoral votes up for grabs.

12:11 a.m.

Joe Biden has won Maine adding three electoral votes to his total of 238. President Trump has 213.

Updates from Nov. 3, 2020:

11:57 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has won Arizona and its 11 electoral votes, flipping a critical battleground state that Donald Trump won four years ago and that could help determine which candidate wins the presidency.

The victory by Biden was a huge blow to Trump’s chances for reelection. Arizona has backed a Democratic presidential candidate only once in the last 72 years.

10:26 p.m.

Referendum 90, which would mandate sexual health education, in Washington has passed.

10:12 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won Texas and its 38 electoral votes despite a furious, late push by Democrats to turn America’s biggest red state blue.

An avalanche of early votes fed Democrats' high hopes of ending decades of losses in Texas, where polls showed Joe Biden running unusually close. But Trump carried Texas for a second straight year.

9:42 p.m.

President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden are locked in tight races in battleground states across the country. Trump won Florida, Ohio and Iowa, important battlegrounds, but races were too early to call in other fiercely contested states, including North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania.

9:40 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won Iowa and Montana. The Republican nominee was awarded six electoral votes from Iowa and three electoral votes from Montana.

9:34 p.m.

Drivers are advised to take alternate routes as demonstration continues at Mercer Street and Fairview Avenue.

9:20 p.m.

Washington State Patrol Trooper Rick Johnson said both directions of I-5 to Mercer Street were closed due to protests on Mercer Street.

Two marches started and moved through the South Lake Union and Capitol Hill neighborhoods Tuesday night. Seattle police gave one group that was on Denny Way safety warnings.

9:02 p.m.

Democrat Pramila Jayapal wins reelection to U.S. House in Washington’s 7th Congressional District.

8:41 p.m.

Gov. Inslee spoke after he was elected to a third term.

He released this statement:

“Tonight, Washington state has chosen to continue on the path of progress -- to defeat COVID and to rebuild stronger than ever.

I am honored by the overwhelming support for my leadership. This election is not about me – it is about the strength and resilience of the people of Washington state.

When COVID hit us first, we took action, and we followed public health experts and science to battle this virus. We are still in the thick of this fight, but because of the heroic actions of our health care workers, essential employees, and Washingtonians masking up, we have fared better than nearly every other state.

Because of our response and the bold, progressive policies passed during my time as governor, we are more resilient and able to rebound once the COVID crisis is over.

We are still facing great challenges, but I have never been more optimistic about our capacity to meet them.

Our victory tonight is more than just a reflection of our successful past, this is about a mandate for governing into the future.

Together, through our shared determination and values, I look forward to fighting with you for a brighter future. Thank you."

8:20 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has won California, Oregon and Washington state, while President Donald Trump has won Idaho.

8:05 p.m.

Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee has been elected to a third term in Washington state, beating Republican challenger Loren Culp. Inslee is the first incumbent elected to a third term in the state in more than 40 years. Culp, police chief of the small town of Republic, campaigned in part against Inslee’s coronavirus restrictions like mandatory masks, saying they infringe on people’s constitutional rights. Governors in Washington state aren’t subject to term limits, though most haven’t served more than two terms.

7:06 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won the state of Kansas. The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its six electoral votes.

6:49 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has won the state of Colorado and was awarded its nine electoral votes on Tuesday.

6:27 p.m.

Democrat Joe Biden has won the District of Columbia. He was awarded its three electoral votes on Tuesday.

6:03 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won Louisiana, Nebraska, Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, while Democrat Joe Biden has won New Mexico and New York.

5:33 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won the state of Arkansas. The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its six electoral votes.

5:11 p.m.

Voters continued to drop off their ballots in King County.

5:07 p.m.

Polls closed across the East Coast Tuesday night as President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden were vying for votes. The night began with predictable victories for each candidate, with Trump taking Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma and Biden winning Massachusetts, his home state of Delaware and Virginia, a former battleground that has become a Democratic stronghold. It was too early to call the battlegrounds of Florida and Georgia.

4:40 p.m.

President Donald Trump has coasted to victory in West Virginia, taking its five electoral votes. Democrat Joe Biden has won the state of Virginia. He was awarded its 13 electoral votes.

4:05 p.m.

The Associated Press reported that President Donald Trump has won Kentucky and Joe Biden has won Vermont as polls start to close.

2:32 p.m.

Voters at the voting center at CenturyLink Field Event Center are welcomed with music as they wait in line.

1:37 p.m.

Lines are getting long in the North Sound - at the Snohomish County Courthouse drop box in Everett, the wait time is about 40 minutes to get your ballot in.

1:04 p.m.

A million ballots have officially been returned in King County.

11:10 a.m.

Make sure to get your ballot in on time! Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson reminds voters that the drop boxes and vote centers close at precisely 8 p.m.

9:52 a.m.

King County Elections says that the vast majority of ballots are already in.

The Associated Press is contributing to this story.

Cox Media Group