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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, 5:06 PM EST

Trump campaign says 'all options are on the table' as count continues in Arizona 

The Trump campaign held a news conference in Phoenix Thursday afternoon and said it won’t be announcing any legal challenges in Arizona yet as the count proceeds in the state but that “all options are on the table.”

"All of the litigation strategies are being thought about and contemplated. There's been no decisions on anything as of yet, but absolutely all options are on the table,” said campaign adviser David Bossie.

The campaign projected confidence that Trump will ultimately overcome Biden, who is currently leading in the state by nearly 70,000 votes. 

Security fences are put up around the Maricopa County Election Department in Phoenix, November 5, 2020.
Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images

Trump supporters interrupted the press conference with chants of "Count our votes!" after the president tweeted this morning, “STOP THE COUNT!”

Nov 05, 2020, 4:42 PM EST

Nevada has 190,000 ballots to count, mostly near Las Vegas

Note: Updated to correct outstanding number of ballots


About 190,150 ballots in Nevada have yet to be counted. Of those, 90% are in Clark County, home to Las Vegas, state officials said.

A tent for Trump supporters is set up near a polling station at Bob Ruud Community Center on election day, Nov. 3, 2020, in Pahrump, Nevada.
Ronda Churchill/AFP via Getty Images

Of the 190,000 ballots statewide, 123,554 are ballots that were either returned by mail or dropped of in person at a ballot drop-off location, and 66,596 are ballots that were cast in person at a polling place, either during early voting or on Election Day, by voters who took advantage of Nevada’s new same-day voter registration law.

Mail-in ballots will continue to be counted through Nov. 10 so long as they arrive postmarked by Nov. 3. "We cannot estimate with any degree of accuracy how many ballots might fall into this category," Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske said.

-ABC News' Kendall Karson and Cheyenne Haslett

Nov 05, 2020, 4:34 PM EST

Biden stresses calm, says 'each ballot must be counted'

Biden addressed the nation Thursday afternoon, saying, "Each ballot must be counted."

"Democracy is sometimes messy. It sometimes requires a little patience," Biden said.

Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks as Sen. and Vice-Presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, looks on at the Queen venue in Wilmington, Del., Nov. 5, 2020.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

"We have no doubt that when the count is finished, Senator [Kamala] Harris and I will be declared the winners," he said. "So I ask everyone to stay calm... The process is working. The count is being completed and we'll know very soon."

Before speaking about the election, Biden mentioned COVID-19, saying he and Harris just finished briefings on the pandemic and the economy.

"Cases are on the rise nationwide and we're nearing 240,000 deaths," Biden said. "Our hearts go out to each and every family that has lost a loved one to this terrible disease."

Nov 05, 2020, 4:10 PM EST

ABC News to broadcast prime-time special on election

ABC News will broadcast another one-hour prime-time special, "Election 2020 -- A Special Edition of '20/20'" at 10 p.m. Thursday on the ABC television network and on ABC News Live.

Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos will lead coverage from New York City joined by "World News Tonight" Anchor David Muir, "ABC News Live Prime" Anchor Linsey Davis and ABC News’ powerhouse political team reporting the newest developments on the race to the White House. ABC News correspondents will report from battleground states where the decision still hangs in the balance. 

ABC News Live will air a special edition of "ABC News Live Prime" anchored by Davis from 7 to 9:30 p.m. ET.

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