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Election 2020 updates: Biden warns of 'dark winter,' pushes masks in pandemic plan

The president-elect emphasized how he would handle the pandemic response.

Joe Biden is set to become the 46th president of the United States, capping a tumultuous and tension-filled campaign during a historic pandemic against President Donald Trump. ABC News characterized Joe Biden as the apparent winner of his home state of Pennsylvania, putting him over the 270 vote threshold needed to capture the presidency.

The hard-fought battle against the president was set against the backdrop of racial unrest and the coronavirus pandemic and bitter divisions among the electorate.

Trump had falsely declared on election night, when he held a lead in several key states, that he won the contest and alleged without evidence, after the count started to swing the other way, that the election was being stolen from him and that fraud had been committed.

Painting the election as a "battle for the soul of the nation," Biden won on a message of unity over division, compassion over anger, and reality over what he called Trump's "wishful thinking" as the coronavirus pandemic cast a heavy shadow over the campaign.

The 2020 election has shattered voting records with votes totaling 147 million and counting, surpassing the 138 million who voted in 2016.

Top headlines:

Here's how election week unfolded. All times Eastern.
Nov 04, 2020, 8:19 AM EST

'Way too early' to call a winner in Pennsylvania, attorney general says

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said it's still "way too early" to know which presidential candidate will win the 20 electoral votes up for grabs in the Keystone State.

"There's still a lot of vote left," Shapiro told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview Wednesday on "Good Morning America."

"Counties are full steam ahead on counting every eligible vote," he added.

With 75% of expected vote reporting, ABC News projects Trump currently has the lead in Pennsylvania with 55% while Biden has 44%.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro appears on "Good Morning America," Nov. 4, 2020.
ABC News

When asked about Trump falsely and prematurely declaring victory, claiming he will go to the Supreme Court to stop vote counting nationwide, Shapiro said, "It doesn't work that way."

"The president doesn't count these votes. The clerks in our communities count these votes," he said. "We're not going to let anything interfere with that process."

"The bottom line is we're going to make sure here in Pennsylvania that we respect the will of the people," he added. "We're going to get an accurate count, it's the law."

Nov 04, 2020, 7:25 AM EST

'Hundreds of thousands of ballots' still uncounted in Michigan

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said election officials in her state were counting ballots through the night and they're not done yet.

"Hundreds of thousands of ballots in our largest jurisdictions are still being counted, including Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Warren & Sterling Heights," Benson wrote on her official Twitter account Wednesday morning. "Every vote will count."

Michigan is a key swing state in the race to 270 electoral votes. With 86% of expected vote reporting, ABC News projects Trump currently has a slim lead over Biden of less than 27,000 votes.

Nov 04, 2020, 6:39 AM EST

Nevada says no more results till Thursday

Nevada's elections division announced Wednesday morning that no more results will be released until Thursday at 9 a.m. PT (12 p.m. ET).

The division said in-person early votes, in-person Election Day votes and mail-in ballots through Nov. 2 have all been counted so far. That means mail-in ballots received on Election Day, any mail-in ballots that will be received over the next week and provisional ballots have not yet been counted.

All active registered voters in Nevada were mailed a ballot for the 2020 presidential election.

"Ballots outstanding is difficult to estimate in Nevada because every voter was sent a mail ballot," Nevada's elections division wrote on its official Twitter account. "Obviously, not all will vote."

With 86% of the expected vote reporting in Nevada, ABC News projects Biden currently has a very narrow lead in the Silver State, by less than 8,000 votes.

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan

Nov 04, 2020, 4:57 AM EST

Biden projected to win Hawaii

ABC News projects Biden will win Hawaii's four electoral votes, bringing his standing in the Electoral College to 225. Trump's count stands at 213.

A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

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