Biden takes lead in Pennsylvania; a win would put Biden over the 270 electoral vote threshold for the presidency

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden took the lead in the Pennsylvania vote count early Friday morning, according to the New York Times. A win in Pennsylvania would put Biden over the threshold of 270 electoral votes needed to take the presidency.

Just after 9 a.m., the vote totals stood at 3,295,304 for Biden and 3,289,717 for President Trump. The Times said that the remaining ballots left to be counted are coming from heavily Democratic areas in the state.

What are the details?

Trump had enjoyed a lead of near 700,000 votes earlier in the week before batches of mail-in ballots from blue areas like Philadelphia and its surrounding counties started rolling in, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. Democratic voters have heavily favored voting via mail-in ballots throughout the country.

Indeed, the Times, in a separate story, reported early Wednesday that Biden was winning absentee ballots by an overwhelming margin, according to data from the secretary of state, and that he'd take the Keystone State — and its prized 20 electoral votes — if the trend continued.

As of about 9 a.m. Thursday, the Pennsylvania Department of State election returns site reported Trump with a lead of just over 176,000, showing Biden closed the gap considerably, as late Wednesday morning he had just under 2.5 million votes, while Trump at the time had just over 3 million.

The Trump camp on Wednesday afternoon saw things differently.

"We are declaring a victory in Pennsylvania," Trump's campaign manager Bill Stepien said during a media call, according to Time White House correspondent Tessa Berenson. "This is not based on gut or feel. This is based on math."

Anything else?

Members of Trump's campaign Thursday allegedly were not being permitted to observe ballot-counting in the Philadelphia Convention Center despite a court order issued earlier in the day allowing them to do so.

A Philadelphia court ruled Thursday morning that poll watchers were allowed to be within six feet of ballot-counting at the Pennsylvania Convention Center rather than the previous 20-foot perimeter, KYW-TV reported.

However, two videos posted to social media show Trump campaign representatives — including Corey Lewandowski — declaring that they were being blocked from observing the count.

The Associated Press reported late Wednesday that Trump's campaign sued to stop the Pennsylvania vote count over lack of "transparency" and was seeking to intervene in the Supreme Court case. Fox News said the lawsuit was meant to overturn a SCOTUS decision that allows Pennsylvania to continue counting mail-in ballots received after Tuesday until Friday, as long as they were postmarked by Nov. 3.