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

Joe Biden spoke to the public Wednesday, saying, "it's clear that we're winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes."

Biden clarified, "I'm not here to declare that we've won, but I am here to report when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners."

"Of special significance to me is that we’ve won with the majority of the American people," Biden said. "And every indication is that the majority will grow. We have a popular vote lead of nearly 3 million votes, and every indication is that will grow."

Biden said it's important for the nation to unite once the election is finalized.

"To make progress we have to stop treating our opponents as enemies," he said.

"We the people will not be silenced. We the people will not be bullied. We the people will not surrender," Biden said. "My friends, I'm confident we'll emerge victorious. But this will not be my victory alone or our victory alone: it’ll be a victory for the American people."

The North Carolina State Board of Elections said during a Wednesday afternoon news conference that the number of outstanding absentee by mail ballots stands at 117,000.

The Board of Elections also said it hit a new state record with 74% voter participation.

With 95% of the expected vote reporting, Trump has a narrow 50% lead over Biden’s 49% in the state.

Local county boards will complete their canvass of votes on Nov. 13, and the state board will meet on Nov. 24 to certify the results, officials said.

-ABC News’ Tonya Simpson

With 93% of the expected vote reporting in Georgia, Trump's margin has tightened slightly. Trump is now leading by 79,509 votes -- the president has 2,391,871 votes (50%) and Joe Biden has 2,312,362 votes (49%). 

Earlier, Trump was leading by about 103,00 votes. 

In Fulton County -- Georgia's most populous county -- there are about 67,000 to 68,000 votes that still need to be reported, according to the county Director of Registration and Elections Rick Barron.

The outstanding votes are made up of about 25,000 that have already been scanned and are going through an adjudication process. Another roughly 42,000 absentee ballots need to be processed, scanned and adjudicated.

Barron estimated that the votes will be finished between 9 p.m. and midnight. 

There are no mandatory recounts in Georgia. The losing candidate must have lost by less than 0.5% of the total votes cast in the race in order to request a recount, according to the secretary of state's office.

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan

The Michigan attorney general’s office responded to the Trump campaign saying earlier today it had filed a lawsuit in the Michigan Court of Claims to halt ballot counting, claiming it had not been provided "access to numerous counting locations."

The office said it has not been notified about the suit yet in court but that the election process is transparent. 

"Michigan’s elections have been conducted transparently, with access provided for both political parties and the public, and using a robust system of checks and balances to ensure that all ballots are counted fairly and accurately,” Ryan Jarvi, a spokesperson for Attorney General Dana Nessel, said in a statement.

“Michigan will always continue to protect the rights of all voters to have their ballots counted," Jarvi added. 

-ABC News Kendall Karson