Joe Biden makes history with total votes received, beating Barack Obama's record

While votes were still being counted, former Vice President Joe Biden broke the record for most votes received by a presidential candidate, amassing more than 70 million.

The record was held by Barack Obama, who received 69,498,516 votes in the 2008 election when he beat John McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona.

Biden eclipsed that mark at 1:30 p.m. EST Wednesday, according to The New York Times, and he later broke the 70 million-vote threshold.

President Donald Trump also had a chance to break Obama's record for the popular vote. Thursday morning, Trump had more than 68.5 million votes, according to CBS News.

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Breaking the record is no guarantee of victory. The winner of the presidential race is decided not by the popular vote but the Electoral College.

In 2016, Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by almost 3 million votes but won the Electoral College and, as a result, the presidency.

When George Washington was elected in 1789 as the first U.S. president, he received 43,782 votes – 100% of those cast.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Election results: Biden broke record for presidential candidate votes