Michigan Secretary Of State Urges Patience As Final Votes Tallied

MICHIGAN — Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on Wednesday called for patience as election officials across the state count the final votes in what has been a historic election for the state.

Benson said more than 100,000 ballots are still being counted in Michigan, in communities ranging from Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint and Kalamazoo. More than 5 million people voted in Michigan, including over 3.2 million absentee voters, Benson said.

"I also call on everyone who's watching this election and everyone who is on the ballot in this election to join us in respecting the work of our election workers here in the state of Michigan," Benson said in a news conference.

"We really want to respect the process and the validation of every ballot because we know how important it is to be meticulous and detail oriented at this moment," she added.

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Many votes counted overnight and in the early morning hours of Wednesday were absentee ballots, the majority of which were for Democratic candidates. According to the New York Times, absentee voters in Michigan overwhelmingly sided with Biden, with more than 968,000 votes going to him and more than 431,000 in favor of Trump.

The push has led to Michigan turning blue overnight, with Biden pulling ahead of Trump. As of about 10:50 a.m. Wednesday, and with about 96 percent of votes tallied in Michigan, Biden has a growing lead over Trump. Biden has pulled in 2,567,749 votes to Trump's 2,531,193, according to unofficial results provided by The Detroit News.

The Associated Press said it is too early to call the presidential race in Michigan because of the large number of absentee ballots that have yet to be counted.

But that didn't stop Trump from saying, perhaps prematurely, that he had won the key swing state.

“We’re winning Michigan by — I’ll tell you, I looked at the numbers,” Trump said during an appearance at the White House.

Benson said Wednesday that results on track to be in earlier than what she initially projected, which was that unofficial results would be finalized by Friday. On Tuesday, Benson said election results in Michigan could be known by Wednesday night.

"To me, the winner is democracy today," Benson said. "I don't mean to sound trite or cheesy, it's just it's true."

Information and reporting from The Associated Press contributed to this report.