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Trump’s Pennsylvania lead shrinks

Posted at 4:59 PM, Dec 02, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-02 16:59:45-05

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s margin of victory in Pennsylvania is shrinking as more counties finish tallying their votes.

An updated count Friday by state election officials shows Trump’s lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton has shrunk to 49,000, from 71,000.

That puts Trump’s lead at 0.8 percent, down from over 1 percent, out of 6 million votes cast. It’s still shy of Pennsylvania’s 0.5 percent trigger for an automatic statewide recount. Trump’s Pennsylvania victory was crucial to his capturing the White House.

The update comes as Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein spearheads recount efforts in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Trump narrowly beat Clinton in all three states.

Trump’s lead in Pennsylvania dropped as counties wrapped up the counting of overseas ballots and settled provisional ballot challenges.

Some counties are also fielding precinct recount requests, and final counts are outstanding in some places, including Philadelphia.