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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 06, 2020, 2:22 PM EST

Trump leading North Carolina by 76,701 votes

In North Carolina, where 95% of the expected vote is in, Trump is leading by 76,701 votes. Trump has 50% (2,732,084 votes) while Biden has 48.6% (2,655,383 votes).

Demonstrators hold signs as they march for voting rights on Election Day in Graham, N.C., Nov. 3, 2020.
Jonathan Drake/Reuters

About 99,000 of voters who requested an absentee ballot have not yet returned a ballot. The 99,000 number does not yet account for voters who requested an absentee ballot but voted in person on Election Day instead. 

Ten local county boards are meeting Friday night to review and approve mail-in ballots that arrived since Election Day. 

-ABC News' Tonya Simpson

Nov 06, 2020, 2:03 PM EST

Philadelphia has over 40K ballots to be counted, city commissioner says

Philadelphia City Commissioner Lisa Deeley said results from another 2,000 to 3,000 mail-in ballot are expected Friday afternoon.

Deeley estimates there are upwards of 40,000 ballots that remain to be counted and noted it may take “several days to complete."

PHOTO: People celebrate Joe Biden's lead outside of the Philadelphia Convention Center as the counting of ballots continues in the state on Nov. 06, 2020, in Philadelphia.
People celebrate Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden's lead outside of the Philadelphia Convention Center as the counting of ballots continues in the state on Nov. 06, 2020, in Philadelphia. Biden took the lead in the vote count in Pennsylvania on Friday morning from President Trump, as mail-in ballots continue to be counted in the battleground state.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney on Friday slammed Trump for spewing “baseless claims of fraud…for which his team has not produced one iota of evidence."

Kenney said he hopes for a peaceful transition of power, adding, "I think what the president needs to do is put his big boy pants on."

-ABC News' Armando Garcia

Nov 06, 2020, 12:54 PM EST

Biden expected to speak Friday night 

Biden is expected to speak during prime time Friday night, a Biden campaign official told ABC News.

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

The event is expected to be similar to Tuesday night's, when Biden addressed supporters outdoors in front of the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware, a senior adviser said.

Sen. Kamala Harris will also give remarks at Friday night’s event, according to two Harris aides.

Asked if Trump plans to make any remarks on Friday, White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere told ABC News there are "no scheduling updates at this time.”

-ABC News' Molly Nagle and John Verhovek 

Nov 06, 2020, 12:16 PM EST

Pennsylvania 'late-arriving' ballots not currently part of count

Pennsylvania has not started counting late-arriving ballots postmarked by Nov. 3, Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar initially confirmed Thursday.

That means Biden’s current lead over Trump does not include those ballots, which Republicans are seeking to challenge in the Supreme Court.

Officials in the state’s biggest counties -- Philadelphia, Allegheny and Montgomery -- all confirmed to ABC News that they have not started counting those ballots and have only segregated them and put them aside.

Allegheny and Montgomery officials said they have no plans to count them until 5 p.m. ET Friday at the earliest.

-ABC News' Eva Pilgrim, Benjamin Siegel, Adam Kelsey, Alex Hosenball, Lucien Bruggeman

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