Lawyers drop allegations that hundreds of thousands of mail-in and absentee ballots were illegally processed; top state election official asks court to reject case

Republican lawmakers in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin say they won't dismiss popular vote in their states, a scheme backed by some of the US president's allies

Court rejects effort to block 9,300 late ballots in Pennsylvania; Michigan judge refuses to stop certification of Detroit-area results and campaign withdraws Arizona challenge

Petition seeks injunction ordering local election officials to take no action on votes that arrived after Election Day, which the state Republican Party says should be disqualified

Winner of presidential elections to be decided by four key states, with Biden gaining ground

Democrat Josh Shapiro has been doing rounds of news shows, promising accuracy as public face of ballot counting; he's also watching results of his own re-election bid trickle in

In race to 270, former vice president at 253 electoral votes while president, with 213, would need to win all four remaining swing states as yet undeclared

A lack of certainty wears down on an American public exhausted by a seemingly endless election campaign

Victory boosts Democratic challenger's chances of taking White House, but key races remain to be decided with fate of presidency hanging in balance

Comments come hours after US president issued premature claims of victory and said he'd take election to Supreme Court; Democratic challenger pulls ahead in Michigan and Wisconsin