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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.

ByCatherine Thorbecke, Morgan Winsor, Libby Cathey, Adia Robinson, Lauren King, Emily Shapiro, Ivan Pereira, and Marc Nathanson
Last Updated: November 10, 2020, 10:14 AM EST

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, 12:38 PM EST

Georgia Sec. of State says 'every legal vote will be counted'

Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that "every legal vote in Georgia will count" during a news conference Wednesday morning. 

Raffensperger said that his office has instructed the counties to finish tabulating results for this election today. 

"My team has sent reminders to counties to get all -- let me repeat all -- of our results counted today," he said. "Every legal vote will count." 

He added that the state has about 200,000 ballots that are left to be counted. 

Of those ballots left to be counted, Georgia officials said they do not know how many of them are coming from Fulton County, but a breakdown should be coming this afternoon.  

-ABC News’ Quinn Scanlan

Nov 04, 2020, 12:18 PM EST

Biden projected to win Maine

ABC News projects Biden will win three electoral votes in Maine. There is one electoral vote remaining in Maine. 

A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

Nov 04, 2020, 12:01 PM EST

Michigan may have 'unofficial result' Wednesday

In Michigan, there are "tens of thousands of ballots that still need to be counted," Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Wednesday.

"Ballots are still being counted in our largest jurisdictions including Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Kalamazoo, and numerous other Michigan cities and townships," she said.

Election workers sort absentee ballot envelopes at the Lansing City Clerk's office on Nov. 02, 2020, in Lansing, Michigan, while a ventilation duct helps to circulate air as a COVID-19 protection measure.
John Moore/Getty Images

"I'm optimistic that by the end of the day, the majority of our ballots will be tabulated and we’ll be much closer to having a full, if not a full and complete, unofficial result to announce," Benson said.

In Michigan, the voting tabulation staff is made up of 600 people -- 300 Democrats and 300 Republicans -- who work in bipartisan pairs to open the envelopes, verify names and ballot numbers, tally votes and scan ballots into the system, according to the Michigan Secretary of State's office. 

An election worker carries absentee ballots for counting at the Lansing city clerk's office on election night, Nov. 3, 2020, in Lansing, Mich.
John Moore/Getty Images

"Boards at the county and state level that are also comprised of people from both parties will then review the procedures and counts of the entire election before the results are certified as official," Benson said.

"Every single valid ballot in Michigan will be counted," Benson stressed.

Nov 04, 2020, 12:01 PM EST

Random selection of votes to be hand counted in North Carolina

The North Carolina State Board of Elections randomly selected a number of votes to be hand counted during a virtual meeting Wednesday morning.

The sample audit count is required by statute and helps ensure the reliability of election results tabulated by a machine.

Voters wait in line to enter a polling place and cast their ballots on the first day of the state's in-person early voting for the general elections in Durham, North Carolina, Oct. 15, 2020.
Jonathan Drake/Reuters

There are currently 117,000 outstanding absentee mail in ballots according to the NCSBE.

As of 7:30 a.m., Donald Trump was leading in North Carolina with 50% of the vote, while Joe Biden had 49%. About 95% of the expected vote has been counted.

ABC News has not yet made a projection on who will take the state, which has 15 electoral votes at stake.

-ABC News’ Tonya Simpson and Kelsey Walsh

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