MADISON, Wis. (AP) — President Donald Trump and Joe Biden were locked early Wednesday in a tight race in Wisconsin as vote-counting stretched into the predawn hours and the nation’s eyes turned to the same Midwestern battlegrounds that decided the election four years ago.

Trump and Biden were running close as counties around the state coped with a flood of absentee ballots prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. More than 1.9 million people resorted to mail-in voting or voted early in person. The counting of those ballots, which takes longer than a regular ballot, could not begin until the polls opened Tuesday, delaying the reporting of results.

In the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County, election officials expected to finish the count around 4 a.m. Wednesday. But there were also votes outstanding in other communities across the state seven hours after polls closed.

Trump led the whole night, fueled by in-person voting results, but the 169,000 outstanding ballots from Milwaukee and ballots from other cities were expected to break heavily for Biden.

“Based on everything we’ve seen, those ballots will decisively favor Biden. Green Bay hasn’t reported any results yet. When all votes are counted, we’re confident that Joe Biden will win Wisconsin," tweeted Ben Winkler, chairman of the state Democratic Party.

Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker acknowledged the intensely competitive nature of the race.

“When the absentee ballots are counted in remaining areas of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin is likely to be where I said all year it would be — razor thin margin,” Walker tweeted.

Biden outperformed Hillary Clinton's totals from 2016 in urban areas while Trump did better in small towns and rural areas than he did four years ago.

It was not the first time absentee ballots from Milwaukee could be a difference maker in a high-profile race. Absentee ballots in Milwaukee delivered the 2018 race for governor to Democrat Tony Evers over Republican Scott Walker late in the night that year.

No matter who wins Wisconsin, the 10 electoral votes will not be enough to put either Biden or Trump over the 270 electoral votes needed to win.

Trump carried Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016, and the race figured to be just as close this year. There are no automatic recounts in Wisconsin. Only a candidate who is within 1% of the winner can request a recount.

Three of the past five presidential elections in Wisconsin were decided by less than a percentage point. Trump, in 2016, was the first Republican presidential candidate to win the state since 1984. Polls leading up to the election had shown Biden with a larger lead, just as they had for Hillary Clinton four years earlier.

The Milwaukee absentee votes were among a record-high 1.9 million cast before Election Day. More than 1 million more ballots came in Tuesday, despite surging coronavirus cases in Wisconsin that also drove the absentee voting. The total votes were expected to break the record high turnout of the 2012 election.

Wisconsin decided the 2016 presidential election and both campaigns made it a focus this year. Trump made four stops to Wisconsin in the final 10 days of the race, while Biden came once.