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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 05, 2020, 12:53 PM EST

Judge to order twice-daily sweeps in mail facilities

A federal judge is preparing to order twice-daily sweeps at mail facilities in states with extended ballot-receipt deadlines after the U.S. Postal Service submitted data indicating that thousands of ballots postmarked over the weekend were not returned by Election Day.

New Postal Service data released Thursday showed that as many as 9,000 ballots postmarked over the weekend did not arrive at their destination until Wednesday, including in states with no ballot extension deadlines. In the Atlanta area, for example, 68 such ballots arrived late.

-ABC News' Lucien Bruggeman

Nov 05, 2020, 12:43 PM EST

Biden lead tightens in Nevada

With 88% of Nevada's expected vote in, Biden's lead over Trump has tightened to over 11,000 votes.

A protester interrupts a news conference by Clark County Registrar Joe Gloria discussing ballot counting at the Clark County Election Department on Nov. 4, 2020, in North Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images

In Clark County, home to Las Vegas, Biden is ahead 53.1%-45.2%, with 85% of the expected vote in.

President Donald Trump supporter Loretta Oakes reacts while watching returns in favor of Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, at a Republican election-night watch party, Nov. 3, 2020, in Las Vegas.
John Locher/AP

-ABC News' Kendall Karson

Nov 05, 2020, 12:35 PM EST

Judge permits campaign observers up-close view of ballot count after Trump complaint

A Pennsylvania judge has granted the Trump campaign’s request to observe -- up-close -- Philadelphia poll workers as they process the remaining mail-in ballots, overturning earlier rules that kept them farther back out of concern about the coronavirus.

PHOTO: President Donald Trump's campaign advisor Corey Lewandowski, center, speaks about a court order obtained to grant more access to vote counting operations at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Nov. 5, 2020, in Philadelphia.
President Donald Trump's campaign advisor Corey Lewandowski, center, speaks about a court order obtained to grant more access to vote counting operations at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Nov. 5, 2020, in Philadelphia. At right is former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Matt Slocum/AP

Supporters of President Donald Trump demonstrate outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center where votes are being counted, Nov. 5, 2020, in Philadelphia, following Tuesday's election.
Matt Slocum/AP

The city of Philadelphia has filed an appeal to the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court. The court has not yet acted.

-ABC News' Alex Hosenball, Ben Siegel and Matt Mosk

Nov 05, 2020, 12:17 PM EST

Trump campaign's Georgia lawsuit dismissed

A judge in Chatham County, Georgia, home to the Democrat-leaning city of Savannah, dismissed the Trump campaign's lawsuit during a Thursday morning hearing, according an official in the judge's office. 

The suit alleged that the county may be mishandling ballots and therefore inadvertently mixing up ballots that arrived on time with ones that arrived late. The suit was based on one allegation from an out-of-state Republican poll observer and involved less than 60 ballots.

The suit, filed alongside the Georgia Republican Party, sought to order the county to compile, store and account for all ballots received after 7 p.m. on Election Day (the receipt deadline).

-ABC News' Olivia Rubin

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