100,000 new coronavirus cases in just one day as the head of an iowa Hospital System says theyre in danger of losing control of the pandemic. And democracy at work. Well pay tribute tonight to the Unsung Heroes of this election, those hardworking americans counting up your votes and serving our country. This is the cbs evening news with Norah Odonnell, reporting tonight from cbs news election headquarters in times square. Odonnell good evening to our viewers in the west. And thank you for joining us. We are going to begin tonight with breaking news. President trump spoke a short time ago from the white house and made some bold claims about the election without facts to back them up. He said he would win reelection easily if only the legal votes are counted. Of course, all of the votes being counted right now are legal. And he blamed big media and big tech for what he called historic interference, accusing them of knowingly putting out false polls to limit turnout by his supporters. Now, by contrast today, joe biden urged americans to stay calm, assuring them the process is working. Here are the facts cbs news has not projected a winner. By our projections, joe biden leads in the race to 270 electoral votes, 253 to 213. The race has tightened in the hand full of states that could decide who will become the next president of the United States. The margins are now razorthin, and tensions remain high, with noisy demonstrations outside buildings whre votes are being counted. Adding to the tension, another sobering milestone in the coronavirus pandemic 100,000 new cases were confirmed on wednesday. That is the highest oneday total since the beginning of the pandemic. So theres a lot of news to cover tonight. Weve got weve got our team of correspondents standing by across america to cover it all. Were going to get to the president s comments in just a moment, but first, cbs Major Garrett is going to lead us off tonight with the state of the race. Good evening, major. Timelines in just a second. But lets begin with one of the few things that the trump and Biden Campaign agreed on before election date. And what w was that . The only poll that mattered was the voters who cast their ballots. The Election Officials are tabulating those legally cast ballots. The story for trump in a path to election is he must win pennsylvania. The trend lines in pennsylvania all day have been working against the president. And we are told the uncounted ballots in pennsylvania, predominantly come from philadelphia and pittsburgh, areas generally favorable to joe biden. Lets go to north carolina. 3 the president has a lead, and theyre still counting ballots. We dont expect results until some time early next week. Georgia is incredibly close. The trend lines in georgia have been working against the president s interest. Today vote counting continues there. Whatever the margin in georgia, it will be very, very close. In nevada, former Vice President joe biden retains the lead. Outstanding votes come from washo county in the north, clark county in the south. Arizona, joe bidens lead grew a little bit there today. We expect more updates from arizona later on tonight. We rate that here at cbs news as a likely biden victory. Any combination of arizona, nevada, joe biden is elected. Nevada and georgia, he is elected. Arizona and georgia, he is elected. But we are waiting for votes. Pennsylvania is key tonight. That reporting tonight could be definitive. Odonnell all odonnell all right, Major Garrett, thank you for all of that. More now on the president s remarks tonight. He made unfounded claims of victories, and accused officials in states where ballots are being legally counted of trying to steal the election away from him. Cbs weijia jiang is at the white house. Good evening, weijia. Reporter good evening, norah. That was just one of several false claims the president made. He also said it was amazing that all the mailin ballots coming in seemed to be in favor of joe biden, even though it is the president who spent weeks urging his supporters to vote in person. The president also promised that upcoming litigation could shake people up. Staying out of the public eye since the Early Morning hours of election day, declaring falsehoods about ballots still being counted. President trump the officials overseeing the counting in pennsylvania and other key states are all part of a corrupt democratic machine. Reporter the president suggested that the Supreme Court would intervene, even though it has so far refused to take on cases related to the election. President trump we think there is going to be a lot of litigation because we have so much evidence, so much proof, and it is going to end up, perhaps, at the highest court in the land. Well see. But we think there will be a lot of litigation because we cant have an election stolen like this. Reporter the Trump Campaign has filed lawsuits in almost every battleground state they hoped would keep mr. Trump in the race. Pennsylvania, michigan, and georgia, while planning to request a recount in wisconsin. Today the today, the campaign also threatened to file a lawsuits in nevada, claiming the state is counting improper votes. We believe that there are dead voters that have been counted. Reporter but legal experts say the campaign has not produced proof of the fraud it is alleging, and so far, at least two courts agree. In georgia, a judge dismissed a lawsuits alleging Election Officials in Cherokee County officials in Chatham County counted absentee ballots that were received after the states deadline, citing no evidence. And in michigan, a judge denied the campaigns request to stop counting votes until more poll watchers could participate. She described an affidavit claiming poll workers in detroit were told to change dates on ballots, hearsay at best. Election law expert Justin Levitt said casting doubt without evidence is dangerous to democracy. This may be an attempt to show, to provide some weird evidence to his followers that, yes, the election is rigged because were filing lawsuits everywhere. I want to be clear theres nothing, really nothing, in any of the lawsuits that have been filed so far that in any way suggests any wide improprieties in the election process. Reporter cbs news has learned if joe biden declares a victory in the coming days, President Trump does not plan to concede, instead focusing on challenging the results in court. Tonight, his son, donald trump jr. , said the best thing for this country is to go to war over the election. Norah. Odonnell weijia jiang at the white house. Thank you, weijia. Now over to the Biden Campaign for the second day in a row, we heard the former Vice President call for calm as votes are counted. Heres cbs ed okeefe. Reporter with the election in limbo and some key states continuing to report results through the weekend, joe biden told supporters they will have to wait a little bit longer. Democracy is sometimes messy. It sometimes requires a little patience as well. We have no doubt that when the count is finished, senator harris and i will be declared the winners. You will never understand where i am coming from thats not true, thats not true reporter bidens comments came amid heated arguments amongst some anxious trump and biden supporters across the country. I ask everyone to stay calm, all the people to stay calm. The process is working. The count is being completed. Reporter biden aides say their internal data shows a win in pennsylvania as soon as tonight, which would give him the presidency. Both there and in georgia, the president s advantage is slowly eroding as mailin ballots continue to be counted. While the president has tried to stop the count with lawsuits in some states, biden said the election should be left up to voters. It is the will of the voters. No one, not anything else, that chooses the president of the United States of america. So each ballot must be counted. And thats what were going to see going through now, and thats how it should be. Odonnell and ed okeefe joins us now. Ed, what else do we know about how biden and Kamala Harris are spending their time . Reporter i mean, look, when theyre not getting a briefing on the coronavirus and the economy as they were today at a downtown theater in wilmington, we know biden is spending time with his family. And there is an ongoing debate among his aides how he might address the nation if at some point tonight he gets called the winner. Would he do it tonight, hold off until tomorrow or wait until the weekend . Odonnell tonight, pennsylvanias secretary of state says the race there is very close and the winner is still not clear. President trumps lead in the keystone states is steadily dwindling. Cbs Jericka Duncan is in philadelphia for us tonight. Good evening, jericka. Norah, the gap between these two candidates continues to shrink with every passingminute. But one thing that is growing is the intensity on the ground here in philadelphia. Earlier today, we witnessed this outside of the convention center. President trumps supporters echoing his earlier calls to stop the count, while waving trumppence 2020 flags. Demonstrators chanted count every vote as they held up signs and banners. It shows President Trump leading biden by a very slim margin, something that is clearly frustrating the president , who was up nearly 500,000 votes on tuesday. The new votes are coming from hundreds of thousands of mailin ballots from across the states 67 counties, with most coming from historically democratic parts of the state. At one point today, there was about an hourlong pause in the count to negotiate a judges poll observation order, but the s order, but the secretary of state, kathy boockvar, says the vast majority of pennsylvanias outstanding ballots could be finished tonight. We actually already have counted the overwhelming majority of ballots, but because its a close race, its not quite clear yet who the winner is. Reporter pennsylvania is still accepting mailin ballots until friday that were postmarked by november 3. Boockvar says so far they have not received a large amount of those ballots. Norah. Odonnell Jericka Duncan in philadelphia, thank you, jericka. Tonight theyre still counting ballots in georgia, where President Trumps lead is dwindling as well. Today, one georgia official said because the result will be so close, the state is more than likely heading to a recount. Cbs Mark Strassmann is in atlanta. Good evening, mark. Reporter good evening, norah. This just in Chatham County, the savannah area, has just finished counting all of its absentee ballots. President trumps lead here in georgia is down to 3,600 votes and dropping fast. The state still has 40,000 ballots still left to count. And joe biden needs to win 64 of them, thats two out of three, roughly, to pull ahead. Youre antiamerican. No, youre antiamerican. Reporter Trump Supporters and opponents jeered each other outside atlantas state farm arena. Inside, election workers processed up to 3,000 absentee ballots an hour. They started with around 145,000 of them in heavily democratic fulton county. By midafternoon, county democraticaid there were 1,000 left. In this warehouse, those Election Officials are trying to evaluate ballots that have issues. With each one, theyre trying to decide whether the voters intent is clear enough to count in this election. Heres why georgias this close biden overwhelmingly won the states black vote. He lost to trump here overall with white voters, 70 to 29. But he outperformed Hillary Clinton four years ago, who won 21 of white voters. Georgia Elections Officials say theyre close to a result. I said i was prayerful we would be done this morning. But if it has to go to tomorrow to make sure we get it accurately done, so be it. Reporter again, to repeat, President Trumps lead down to 3600 votes with 40,000 votes here left to count. Whoever decides wins this tough election here, Metro Atlanta is going to have the final say. Almost half the states uncounted ballots come from this tough election here, Metro Atlanta is going to have the area. Odonnell all right, mark strassman, thank you. Two western states could give joe biden his path to victory. If he were to win arizona and nevada, he would win the election. Hes leading narrowly in arizona, same in nevada, where the count goes on. As it continues, the tension is hitting the breaking point for many. Cbs jamie yuccas is in phoenix for us tonight. Good evening, jamie. Reporter good evening, norah. As you can see behind me, workers are trying to get that ballot counted as quickly as possible, but they also want to be accurate. Thats why the secretary of state there says it could be tomorrow before we have a clear picture as to who won arizona. Arizona supporters of President Trump are angry over the delay and demanding to see the ballot count to its finish. We need to have oversight. We want to see the ballots. We want to make sure there arent mystery ballots showing up. Were not trying to break in we would just like to watch you count the ballots reporter protesters, many armed, gathered outside the Maricopa County recording site, shouting that the election is being stolen, booing officials and blocking the exit. Police in riot gear were called in to walk employees to their cars. They literally are trying to steal this from us. Reporter this fenced in freedom of speech zone was put up today so demonstrators can express themselves on one side and ballot counters can work on the other. Inside the building, bipartisan teams, many making minimum wage, are feverishly and carefully counting ballots, up to 8,000 an teams, many making minimum wage are, feverishly and hour. In nevada, Election Officials have gotten threats. They, too, have added security guards to protect the staff. We will not allow anyone to stop us from doing what our duty is in counting ballots. Reporter tonight, Election Officials here in arizona tell me that they are busing workers from an offsite parking area to this location so that they can focus on the thousands of ballots that still need to be counted instead of worrying about their safety. Norah. Odonnell wow, jamie yuccas, thank you. Now to americas alarming surge in coronavirus. For two days in a row, new cases have topped 100,000. Today, a Philadelphia Eagles player tested positive. Covid forced the air forcearmy Football Game to be postponed this weekend, and shut down the u. Calwashington game. Cbs Nikki Battiste now on this troubling trend. Reporter tonight, americans arent just getting infected at record levels. At least 16 states have just broken hospitalization records. In minneapolis, health Officials Say only 23 i. C. U. Beds are available. In iowa, where the sevenday Positivity Rate has soared to nearly 40 , the head of the university of Iowa Health System says we are in danger of losing control of this pandemic. Clearly, we are not in total control right now. Reporter that was dr. Anthony fauci four months ago in june, when daily covid cases were a record at 40,000. He also made this dire prediction i would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around. Reporter in hardhit wisconsin, this ominous warning from the White House Coronavirus task force, in a private memo obtained by cbs news. Wisconsin is seeing an unrelenting rise in cases and test positivity. A more comprehensive Mitigation Strategy is needed. Sources close to the White House Coronavirus task force tell cbs news tonight very little it being done to address the recent spike in cases, but the group is expected to meet tomorrow. Norah. Odonnell Nikki Battiste, thank you. 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