Biden eyes 270 as counts continue.

Democrat Joe Biden moved closer to victory in the U.S. presidential race on Thursday as election officials tallied votes in the handful of states that will determine the outcome and protesters took to the streets.

Vote counting continues in a handful of key battleground states which will determine the outcome of the US presidential election.

The final result hinges on the states of Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

The Trump campaign has launched legal bids to stop the counts in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and Michigan.

Protesters have taken to the streets of several cities to demand counting is allowed to continue, while others have called for counting to stop.

Donald Trump has alleged fraud, without offering evidence.

Democrat Joe Biden has racked up a record 71.5 million votes and has said he will win enough states to become president - but key results remain outstanding.

Incumbent President Donald Trump alleged fraud, filed lawsuits and called for recounts in a race yet to be decided two days after polls closed.
 
With tensions rising, about 200 of Trump’s supporters, some armed with rifles and handguns, gathered outside an election office in Phoenix, Arizona, following unsubstantiated rumors that votes were not being counted.

Anti-Trump protesters in other cities demanded that vote counting continue. Police arrested anti-Trump protesters in New York City and Portland, Oregon. Over 100 events are planned across the country between Wednesday and Saturday.

The presidential race was coming down to close contests in five states. Biden, 77, held narrow leads in Nevada and Arizona while Trump, 74, was watching his slim advantage fade in must-win states Pennsylvania and Georgia as mail-in and absentee votes were being counted. Trump clung to a narrow lead in North Carolina as well, another must-win for him.