Image source, EPA

Donald Trump has long criticised postal voting in the presidential election, saying it leads to widespread fraud - but what evidence is there for this?

Numerous national and state-level studies in the US have shown that although there have been isolated cases, electoral fraud is very rare.

According to one study, external, the rate of voting fraud overall in the US is less than 0.0009%.

There are provisions in place to make postal ballots safe and secure.

These include measures to prevent people from impersonating voters or stealing ballots - such as authorities checking that ballots have come from voters' registered addresses and requiring signatures on envelopes.

These safeguards have been applied to all postal votes.

With many millions of legitimate votes still to be counted in this election, there is no evidence at all of any fraud.

• Read more: Do postal ballots lead to voting fraud?

Donald Trump has declared an unsupported victory in a speech from the ceremonial East Room of the White House - with millions of ballots yet to be counted.

Several top Republicans and conservative commentators are expressing alarm at Trump's unsubstantiated comments.

Speaking on ABC News, former New Jersey Governor and Trump adviser Chris Christie called the president's speech the wrong move - both strategically, and as president.

"It's a bad strategic decision," he said. "It's a bad political decision."

Rick Santorum, former Republican Senator from Pennsylvania, said he was "very distressed" by Trump's comments. "Using the word fraud... I think is wrong," he said on CNN.

And Ben Shapiro, a conservative commentator and critic of Trump, tweeted calling the comments "deeply irresponsible".

James Clayton
North America technology reporter

Twitter and Facebook said they would label tweets from candidates that spread disinformation about voting, and sure enough that has happened.

Donald Trump's tweet saying "votes cannot be cast after the polls are closed" has been labelled with a warning.

Interestingly though, Twitter hasn't labelled a tweet from Trump saying the election was a "A big WIN!", while Facebook has. Twitter had previously said that it would label tweets from candidates claiming victory before a declared result.

Both social media companies will now face big pressure from the Trump campaign – which has already accused Twitter of being on a "mission to censor and silence the president".

Image source, Reuters

As night fell on election day, with polls closing and votes being tallied, protests against President Trump were held on the streets of Washington DC, leading to tense scenes.

Hundreds marched through parts of the Capitol, sometimes blocking traffic and setting off fireworks. Some chanted: “If we don’t get no justice, they don’t get no peace!”

The demonstrations were largely peaceful, but there were reports of skirmishes and confrontations outside the White House. Three people were arrested after scuffles, NBC Washington reported, external.

CBS News reporter Christina Ruffini tweeted that "some sort of smoke bomb" appeared to have been used.

Elsewhere, there were reports of scattered protests in Los Angeles, California; Raleigh, North Carolina; Portland, Oregon and New York City.

Ahead of the election, hundreds of businesses in cities across the US boarded up their doors and windows, fearing unrest over the result.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

With millions of legitimate ballots left to count, Donald Trump has declared an unsupported victory.

"Frankly we did win this election," he claims, speaking in subdued tone. He suggests - without evidence - that election "fraud" has occurred.

"This is an embarrassment to our country," he says, adding that he plans to go to the Supreme Court to fight election results.

Millions of votes in the 2020 election are yet to be counted and the president has no credibility in claiming a victory.

Image source, Getty Images

Trump has taken the podium in the White House's East Room.

He starts by thanking his family, and the millions of supporters who turned out for him tonight.

"We were getting ready for a big celebration," he says. "We were winning everything."

Taking a triumphant tone, Trump celebrates his big win of the night in Florida.

"We didn't win it, we won it by a lot," he says.

He also claims a lead in Pennsylvania - just like rival Joe Biden did earlier on election night. It is still too early to determine a winner in the state.

Results are still coming in and both candidates are predicting a win. So for now, here's the story of the night in one simple line:

Donald Trump is doing better than expected, and Joe Biden has failed to win those battleground states that count votes quickly, which means more uncertainty as we wait for a few key states.

Looking for more? Read The Countdown for a snapshot of the race so far.

Donald Trump's campaign has responded to Twitter flagging a tweet from the president as "misleading", after he suggested rivals were trying to "steal" the election.

Trump tweeted: "We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election," shortly after his rival Joe Biden told supporters he expected to win.

Trump 2020 Communications Director Tim Murtaugh said: "Silicon Valley continues on its mission to censor and silence the president of the United States."

Trump, who has repeatedly questioned the integrity of the US electoral process in this cycle, offered no evidence for his claim.

Any minute now, Donald Trump will address voters from the White House.

It's unclear so far what he'll say, though he's already taken to Twitter to declare a "big WIN".

Trump has previously raised scepticism over the integrity of the election by suggesting, without evidence, that postal ballots are more susceptible to fraud than in-person votes.

The tweet he issued on election night was labelled as "misleading" for making an unsubstantiated claim about ballot integrity.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

Conservative Nebraska would seem to be an unlikely electoral battleground. There is a scenario, however, where the state - or at least part of it - could decide who becomes the next US president.

Donald Trump is projected to win here - but in a surprise, Joe Biden was able to pick up one of its five electoral college votes.

This is because Nebraska is one of two states that allots some of their electoral college votes to the winners of individual congressional districts, in addition to the victor in the overall popular vote.

Biden is projected to carry one of these districts, District 2, which includes the largest city in the state, Omaha.

If the presidential race is close – if, for instance, Biden flips Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan from 2016 but loses Pennsylvania – having won Omaha could be the key in determining whether the Democrat becomes president.

The year 2020, full of surprises and turmoil, may have a few tricks left up its sleeve still.

Image source, Getty Images

Minnesota is projected to vote for Joe Biden.

The Midwestern state is historically a blue stronghold. Democrats have secured it in every presidential election in the last 60 years, except in 1972, when Minnesotans backed incumbent President Richard Nixon.

Trump is projected to win the majority of the electoral votes in Nebraska, but in a surprise, Biden is also projected to pick up one of its five votes.

Nebraska is one of two states that splits its electoral college count, and the Democrat is projected to have seized the vote in Nebraska's 2nd congressional district.

It's the first flip from 2016 on the map. Last election, all five of Nebraska's electoral votes went to Trump.

Welcome if you're just joining our live coverage of the US election 2020. The short story is that we don't yet know who has won the election.

A number of states have been projected, including the prized battleground state of Florida. After hours of watching the race on a knife's edge, the state has been projected to be a win for Donald Trump.

But there are more key states yet to be called and both sides are repeating that all votes must be counted.

• In the race to get the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the White House, Joe Biden is currently projected to win 220. Trump is predicted to win 213. But there are more state projections to come
• There have been no major upsets so far - none of the projected states have changed hands since 2016
• Biden has urged patience and wants all votes to be counted. The president, meanwhile, said he is going to "win big" and accused the Democrats of trying to "steal the election" - a tweet Twitter labeled as "misleading"
• Trump is projected to perform better in southern states than pollsters predicted, including Florida. Now eyes are turning to the Mid-western states where Democrats used to do well, but Hillary Clinton lost in 2016. They include Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania
• Fox News earlier called the state of Arizona for Biden (which would be a flip to the Democrats), but faced a backlash from the White House, which said it was far too early to call
• Former Nasa astronaut Mark Kelly has declared victory in Tucson, Arizona over Republican senator and former Air Force officer Martha McSally
• Key Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham has told supporters he is going back to the Senate "with a purpose" after holding on to his seat in South Carolina
• And in New Jersey, voters overwhelmingly turned out in support of legalised recreational cannabis, according to AP results

Image source, Getty Images

With 50 states, two candidates and millions upon millions of voters, the US election can be a lot. So here are three states to get you started.

Florida: Projected for Donald Trump, where many are pointing to Cuban-American support in Miami-Dade county.

Arizona: The state has not voted Democrat since 1996 but looks like a potential gain for Biden, who went after young progressive Latinos living there.

Wisconsin and Pennsylvania: These states haven't even started counting postal votes and that could take days.

Looking for more? Read The Countdown for a snapshot of the race so far.

Montana is projected to vote for Donald Trump.

The Treasure State has been a stronghold of the Grand Old Party since 1968, except for a single victory for Bill Clinton in 1992.

Liliet Heredero
BBC Mundo and Miami bureau chief

Image source, Getty Images

Trump’s appeal to the large Cuban-American population in Miami-Dade county was palpable, judging by the loud and colourful "Trump trains" that have been going through for weeks. The ones for Biden were always smaller.

As a Cuban myself, I've seen the majority of my friends and family members turn to Trump, as the message that Democrats are "socialists" really hit home.

Cubans and Venezuelans, the other large diaspora here, have a kind of PTSD with the S-word, socialism.

They both had to flee their countries after socialist governments ran the countries to the ground.

The division has got so bad here that a Cuban friend recently told me he couldn’t say he supported Biden because of fears of being fired from his job for being "a socialist".

"I can’t believe I ran away from communism to be labelled as one," he said.

Texas is projected to vote for Donald Trump. It's the second largest prize in the electoral college with 38 votes.

Republicans have held on to this state for the last 10 elections.Trump won the state comfortably in 2016.

Karishma Vaswani
Asia business correspondent

Traders here at the IG trading floor in Singapore tell me the mood has definitely changed in the last few hours.

When the Asian trading day started, there was a clear consensus that the markets had priced in a "blue wave".

But the results so far suggest the race for key battleground states is going to be tight.

"Prior to this morning, the market was leaning more towards a Biden victory," says Alvin Lee, a premium client manager at IG.

"But as the results came in the US dollar started strengthening across the board."

A stronger dollar is an indication that traders believe President Trump is likely to be re-elected, because he is expected to pass a smaller stimulus package than a Biden administration would.

"What this tells you is that traders are betting on Trump opening the economy (rather than spend money on handouts)," said one Asian-based fund manager.

But it’s early days yet, and as one trader here has told me, if the last election in 2016 is anything to go by, nothing is certain until all the votes are in.

Rhode Island is projected to vote for Joe Biden. The geographically smallest state in the US is safely Democratic – it’s voted for the blue party at every election since 1988.

Iowa is projected to vote for Donald Trump.

The battleground state was held largely by the Democrats from 1988, until Trump secured it for the Republicans four years ago.