Popular Vote Update 2016: Hillary Clinton Still Leads Donald Trump As Last Results Trickle In

Republican Donald Trump will begin his transition to the White House and meet with current president Barack Obama Thursday, two days after triumphing over Democrat Hillary Clinton with 290 electoral votes to her 232.

But, as the billionaire and real estate mogul prepares to assume power in January, he’s likely to face questions of legitimacy as Clinton appears poised to win the popular vote in the 2016 election, according to the latest reported tallies. Of the 119,643,176 votes counted so far, Clinton earned 59,938,290 compared to Trump’s 59,704,886, a razor-thin difference of 233,404, or rather 47.7 percent for the former secretary of state to 47.5 percent for the new president-elect, CNN and CBS News show.

Trump, who will take the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2017, as well as the electoral college system will likely see a barrage of criticism and rekindle arguments for the popular vote to be the sole determining factor for selecting the commander-in-chief.

"It certainly is going to bring this back into the forefront of public discussion," founder of the National Popular Vote campaign John Koza told NBC News about the popular vote. "We think every vote should be equal throughout the United States. We think the candidate who gets the most votes should become president."

As of now, Trump stands to be the first president-elect since George W. Bush in 2000 to claim the Oval Office without the popular vote. It will be the second time in the last five elections such a discrepancy has occurred. It's happened only three other times, in the 1824, 1876 and 1888’s elections.

During the hours between Trump celebrating his victory early Wednesday morning and Clinton at long last delivering her concession speech much later in the day, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Minnesota had yet to be called.

However, with 100 percent of the precincts reporting, Michigan’s Department of State shows Trump won by 13,107 votes, or 47.6 percent compared to Clinton’s 47.33 percent. Clinton did eventually claim New Hampshire by 0.2 percent and Minnesota by 1.4 percent, according to CNN.

Michigan, though, proved to be a key part of Trump’s victory. When compared to 2012 Republican candidate Mitt Romney, Trump turned 12 counties that previously voted for Obama four years ago red, The Detroit News reported Wednesday, citing unofficial results.