Election 2020 updates: Biden warns of 'dark winter,' pushes masks in pandemic plan
The president-elect emphasized how he would handle the pandemic response.
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:
At least 100 million people voted early
At least 100 million people early voted in the 2020 general election, according to the United States Elections Project, which is spearheaded by University of Florida's political expert Michael McDonald.
In total, an unprecedented 100,298,838 voters have already voted this election.
Nationally, so far, voters have cast 72.8% of the total votes counted in the 2016 general election.
-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh.
Polls open in 2 states and American Samoa
The polls are opening in Hawaii, American Samoa and some areas of Alaska.
Milwaukee to livestream its absentee vote counting
Milwaukee election officials will livestream their tabulation of the county’s absentee ballots, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Local election officials estimate the process could take until 3 or 4 a.m.
Those interested can tune in on YouTube, where three cameras have been set up to live broadcast the whole process.
In Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Commissioners are similarly broadcasting tabulations.
Biden wraps up a visit to hometown of Scranton
Biden wrapped up an Election Day visit to his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday.
The former vice president visited his childhood home and church as well as a local carpenters' union and gave his granddaughters a tour of the place he grew up.
He signed the walls of his childhood home during this trip, writing, “From this house to the White House with the grace of God. Joe Biden 11-3-2020.”
He also stopped by the sandwich shop Hanks Hoagies, where supporters flocked Biden.
Earlier in the morning in Delaware, Biden attended church and visited the gravesite of his late son Beau Biden -- at the same cemetery that his first wife and baby daughter were buried in 1972.
After Scranton, Biden is heading to Philadelphia.
-ABC News' John Verhovek.