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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.

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Here's how election week unfolded. All times Eastern.
Nov 06, 2020, 9:48 PM EST

Biden set to address the nation Friday night

Biden is set to address the nation Friday night, his campaign advised to ABC News. 

If there isn't a call on a projected winner in the presidential election, the candidate will likely speak to the fact that he is closing in on 270 electoral votes and leads in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada, the campaign said.

The time of his address has yet to be officially announced. 

Speaking with reporters in Wilmington Friday night, Biden ally and fellow Delawarean Sen. Chris Coons told reporters he's not expecting a call Friday night on key battleground Pennsylvania, but he remains confident Biden will increase his margin and be projected to win the state.

U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., speaks during a news conference in front of the U.S. Capitol after a boycott of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 22, 2020.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

"We're getting to a point where, literally, everyone I'm talking to in Pennsylvania is saying ... there's nothing by which Donald Trump can reverse this, and Joe Biden's margin is simply going to keep growing," Coons said. "But there's not going to be some concrete -- a clear announcement tonight about Pennsylvania."

-ABC News' Molly Nagle

Nov 06, 2020, 9:27 PM EST

Biden leading Arizona by 29,861 votes

With Mariopa County releasing the totals of about 73,000 ballots, Biden is leading Arizona by 29,861 votes, with 49.6% of the vote compared to Trump's 48.7%.

About 171,000 ballots are outstanding statewide.

Supporters of President Donald Trump hold placards during a protest about the early results of the 2020 presidential election, in front of the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix, Nov. 5, 2020.
Cheney Orr/Reuters

Arizona has 11 electoral votes.

-ABC News' Meg Cunningham

Nov 06, 2020, 9:08 PM EST

Last of Georgia vote trickling in, Biden leads by 4,020

The vote in Georgia is trickling in little-by-little, county-by-county, with about 24,300 ballots outstanding, with the potential to be counted. Most were overseas/military and provisional ballots

Biden is leading by 4,020 votes and at about 49.4% (2,456,845 votes) to Trump's 49.3% (2,452,825 votes).

Protesters against President Donald Trump demonstrate at an intersection near downtown Atlanta, Nov. 6, 2020.
Dustin Chambers/Reuters

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan

Nov 06, 2020, 8:47 PM EST

SCOTUS orders all Pennsylvania counties to segregate late-arriving mail ballots

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued an order Friday night requiring that all Pennsylvania county boards of election segregate late-arriving mail ballots, which are being challenged by Pennsylvania Republicans.

The order enforces guidance previously issued by Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, which said that "all ballots received by mail after 8 p.m. on Nov. 3 be segregated and kept 'in a secure, safe and sealed container separate from other voted ballots,'" and that "all such ballots, if counted, be counted separately," according to Alito's order.

The justice noted that neither the Republican Party of Pennsylvania nor Boockvar "has been able to verify that all boards are complying with the Secretary’s guidance, which, it is alleged, is not legally binding on them."

While waiting for a result in the election, Scott Knuth of Woodbridge, Va., and Christy Pheagin, of Washington, stand outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Nov. 6, 2020.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP

The justice said he is going to urge his colleagues to conference on the pending petition and asked that responses be filed no later than 2 p.m. Saturday.

The Supreme Court has twice upheld a three-day extension of the filing deadline for mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania. 

On Friday, Pennsylvania Republicans sought an emergency order from the high court mandating that late-arriving ballots not be counted. In it, they claimed that 25 out of 67 Pennsylvania counties haven't indicated whether or not they are abiding by Boockvar's guidance.

-ABC News' Devin Dwyer and Meredith Deliso

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