Joe Biden is leading the electoral vote tally over Donald Trump in the race to become the next President of United States of America. As of 12.00 pm IST, Biden had 224 electoral votes as compared to Trump’s 212, according to The New York Times.

A little over three hours into the US 2020 presidential election results night, splotches of red and blue are slowly lighting up the American electoral map, nudging voters in the general direction that closely fought elections go: Nail biting fights in high stakes states.

President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden opened their tally with a predictable string of victories while key prizes including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania remain too early to call.

Trump has picked up South Dakota, Missouri, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Wyoming and Indiana, while Biden has won California, Colorado, New Hampshire, District of Columbia, New York, Vermont, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Virginia, once a battleground and now a Democratic stronghold, has also been called for Biden.

New Hampshire, which went to former Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton by the slimmest of margins in 2016, Biden is expected to win by a comfortable margin. Delaware, on the Biden column, has been the former Vice President's hometown since he moved there as a young boy from Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Delaware went to Clinton in 2016. The state last voted for a Republican in 1988. Biden's victory in Vermont is on expected lines as Democrats have kept the state in their column since 1992. Clinton got a huge win here in 2016.

Trump won West Virginia by 42 points in 2016 and Kentucky by nearly 30 points. The last time a Democratic candidate carried West Virginia was Bill Clinton in 1996. All these are holds, no upsets. The results from the biggies are coming up during a long, long night.

While Trump is tracking results from the White House, where a new fence has been erected to throw an extra ring of security, Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris have chosen Delaware as their election night hub.

Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Joe Biden said he was optimistic of a win in the US presidential elections and appreciated his supporters for their patience.

(With inputs from IANS)