Election Update 5: First Anomaly?

Twitter asks: WTF Virginia?

Kamala Harris appears still on course in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and both Decision Desk and The Hill called the state of Virginia for her a little while back:

Then numbers kept rolling in and Trump not only took the lead, but maybe also enough of a cushion to survive late Harris returns from Fairfax County. So there is much online freakage. The video you see at the top of the screen is Pakistan’s Dawn TV, my go-to source for prayer times, which is listed as having called Virginia for Trump, though I think it’s West Virginia in fact. But they’re at least pleasing to listen to.

It would be a shock if the Virginia numbers held, but it’s something to keep an eye on, if only because early wig-outs are an important feature of elections. Note Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Chase Oliver currently combine for about 1.3% of the vote, so they will be blamed if the empire falls. Also Trump has picked up about 17,000 votes in the state since I started writing this entry. If you’re seeing calls of North Carolina for Trump, note that’s also an early Decision Desk call, though it looks like that state’s about to go red. More soon.