tonight, the contested united states. >> we're waiting for the outcome because we hope we can get someone in office who will handle things better. >> unemployment rate went down, so i thought four more years of the president is what i'd like to see. >> three swing states. hundreds of thousands of vital votes. >> this is about bringing back dignity to our democracy. and i know that we can do better than donald trump. >> he doesn't win, this will be the turning point for this country to start going downhill pretty fast. >> the president on the attack. outrageously claiming the whole election is a fraud. >> if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. >> his challenger seeing a path forward. >> democracy's sometimes messy. it sometimes requires a little patience as well.

>> this special edition of "nightline," "your voice, your vote," will be right back. h air. so, you can have open window freshness... even with all the windows up. enjoy fresh, any time, with febreze. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (beeping sound) ♪ ♪

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candidates defining the day with completely different messages. one urging calm, one alleging conspiracy, as more than 500,000 ballots still must be counted to determine a winner. battleground pennsylvania. a big prize. 20 electoral votes hanging in the balance. counting continues here for the third day. blue voters like lauren swann hoping the keystone state will deliver joe biden the white house. >> i voted for the biden/harris ticket. i pretty much voted straight democrat. and i had a lot of concerns about this election cycle, like a lot of people did. we need better health insurance coverage and better health care equity. >> reporter: just north of philadelphia, the people of bucks county have voted democrat in every election since 1992. but republican pat poprick still holds out a slim hope her state will remain in the president's

column. >> why did you vote for president trump? >> i think he had the best plan for the future. i like what he did the last four years. the stock market, the unemployment rate went down. i thought four more years of the president is what i'd like to see. >> reporter: in addition to pennsylvania, all eyes are focused on two other states -- georgia and arizona. the vote count remains neck and neck. but the path to the white house looking a little easier for the challenger today. >> 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 that's what we're going to see going through now. and that's how it should be. >> reporter: the president, after being camera shy for two days, appearing at the white house this evening to falsely claim there is fraud and corruption going on with the vote count. >> if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the

election from us. >> the president came into the briefing room and made a series of unfounded and wild accusations without presenting a shred of evidence, really disinformation coming from the president. in some ways an attack on the integrity of the american democratic system. >> reporter: in a rambling set of accusations, without any evidence, trump said every part of the election process had been rigged against him. apparently frustrated with most of the numbers going in joe biden's favor. >> we were winning in all the key locations, by a lot, actually. then our numbers started miraculously getting whittled away, in secret. >> the president is invoking this idea of illegal votes, of a stolen election. but there is no evidence of illegal votes. what is happening is the counting of votes, the counting of votes including absentee mail-in votes. this is a process that takes time, and there has been no

evidence presented that any of it is being done in a way that would be illegal or fraudulent. >> reporter: as the votes continue to be counted, joe biden seeing increased numbers due to mail-in and early voting. >> democracy's sometimes messy. it sometimes requires a little patience, as well. but that patience has been rewarded now for more than 240 years. the senator and i, we continue to feel very good about where things stand. >> reporter: one of the places the campaign is happy with where things stand is in georgia. once a conservative stronghold, now the surprise of the election. when the polls closed on tuesday, the president was ahead by more than 300,000 votes. two days later, the gap is razor thin. >> at this point we're trying to get all the legal votes counted accurately so we can get the right results and make sure that everybody's vote is reflected properly. >> reporter: thousands of votes now being counted from democratic hot spots, the suburbs surrounding atlanta and savannah. votes that have been breaking heavily for biden. >> we're reminded again of the severity of this pandemic.

cases are on the rise nationwide, and we're nearing 240,000 deaths due to covid. our hearts go out to each and every family that has lost a loved one. >> reporter: against the backdrop of it all, a country grappling with an ongoing pandemic and an unstable economy. coronavirus cases are still on the rise. the u.s. reporting a daily average of nearly 90,000 cases. in the state of arizona, and for many voters there, the heartache of the pandemic is still fresh in their mind. >> i lost my father to the pandemic. he passed away in -- september 14th on my birthday. >> reporter: francisco rivera considers himself an independent, but says in the end he voted for biden. he says he didn't agree with how the president talked. >> i don't like people being pc, but basically as the leader of the united states, i feel they should be a little bit more of a -- conscious of the way of -- like how they're speaking, words they're saying. words have meaning. >> reporter: rivera just one of

the more than 1 million latino eligible voters that are added to a potential reckoning in a state that hasn't voted blue since bill clinton won in 1996. >> historically, both parties have taken the latino vote for granted. right now the message is, if you keep ignoring the latino vote, you are going to lose the election. the latino vote is a powerful force that is defining elections in the states but also the national election. >> reporter: hector sanchez is the executive director of one of the largest get out the vote organizations in the country. for sanchez, it's an election he won't forget. >> i'm a mexican-american, been in the country 26 years. i became a citizen three years ago, and i just voted in my first presidential election. it was a very powerful experience. especially being able to vote after four years of the trump administration, literally starting his campaigns attacking mexicans. >> reporter: in arizona, the counting process has been tense. last night, dozens of trump supporters, some armed,

gathering outside the county recorder's office in maricopa county. >> hi, this is jorge rivas -- >> reporter: in tucson, restaurant owner jorge and wife betty are holding out hope for the president, the couple meeting with trump -- ♪ >> reporter: even recording ballads for him. >> i'm hopeful. i want him to win. because i think if he doesn't win, this will be the turning point for this country to start going downhill pretty fast. because i think he's like the savior of our country. >> reporter: rivas, who migrated from el salvador, drawn to trump's message of law and order. >> having come to the united states where you find the opportunity to live the american dream, that makes you care for this country. i feel very blessed having left the violence and come to a country where law and order and respect is something that you

cherish. >> reporter: back in pennsylvania, even though biden trails the president now, most of the uncounted votes are early votes and mail-in votes from the so-called collar counties, suburbs around philadelphia that overwhelmingly favor the democrats. the campaign expects to come out ahead and win the white house. >> we have no doubt that when the count is finished, senator harris and i will be declared the winners. so i ask everyone to stay calm, all people to stay calm. the process is working. >> reporter: the last election, when trump shockingly flipped this traditionally blue state red, we first met pat poprick and lauren swann. >> i think 2016 is is the worst campaign season i've ever experienced in my entire life. >> 2008, i wasn't happy when barack obama won, trust me, but i didn't go out picketing. >> there were angry things said during campaign 2016. very angry, hateful things.

>> both sides, i agree. >> reporter: now, four years later, is there a particular issue do you think that drove the big turnout in bucks county? >> in our discussions and polling and knocking on doors, surveys we took, the two biggest issues were covid and civil unrest. our people are very, very concerned with what they were seeing happening in other philadelphia cities. they don't want the police defunded. they want strong support. they want to be protected. they also want the covid to be treated appropriately. >> reporter: with covid-19 cases mounting every day, a deeply divided populace. the economy reeling. whoever wins the white house will step into an america struggling under a massive weight. >> what i've discovered is the few times i've tried to have conversations like this with people who support the current president, i can't get anywhere. i think it's a very small segment of this society that is hijacking our spirit. and buying into all this anger and this hatred. it's not the america that i knew in all the years i've lived, born and lived here.

>> reporter: tomorrow the counting continues. all sides looking for clarity in this season of crisis. up next, our powerhouse political team reacting to president trump's inflammatory charge of election fraud. just over a year ago, i was drowning in credit card debt. sofi helped me pay off twenty-three thousand dollars of credit card debt. they helped me consolidate all of that into one low monthly payment. they make you feel like it's an honor for them to help you out. i went from sleepless nights to getting my money right. so thank you. ♪ your happy place. so thank you. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients

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♪ tonight, president trump levied unfounded accusations about the the process we've used to count votes in this country. we're talking about those claims with yvette simpson, ceo of democracy for america.

sara fagen, ceo of deep root analytics. former chicago mayor rahm emanuel. and chris christie, former republican governor of new jersey. governor, president trump claimed without any evidence that the election is being stolen from them. what kind of message is he sending to people who follow his every word? >> listen, byron, you know -- he has every right to go and pursue whatever legal action he wants to pursue. if he feels like he's being wronged by this process. my point, though, is if you're going to make those charges, you've got to lay out the evidence at the same time. because the people, not only just his supporters, but all americans, look at the president of the united states and say, if you're going to make that statement from behind that podium in the white house, then lay out the evidence. it's like me when i was a prosecutor all those years. it's like bringing an indictment before i review the evidence. you've got to have the evidence there. the american people deserve to hear why you're saying what you're saying. not just what you're saying. but why you're saying it.

and depending upon who it is, if you're not a supporter of the president's, you're going to be upset about it but just blow it off because you don't like him anyway. if you're a supporter and it's true, you're going to be angry about it. if it's not true, you should be even angrier. so it just puts it in a bad situation. as i said, we shouldn't have inflammation without information. >> to that point, who will make the governor's argument to the president, and who in the republican party will say, hold up, if anyone? >> i think there's a process that has to go on here. first of all, you know, if the president wins arizona and the vote narrows and he overtakes it, it gets a whole lot more complicated. then the stakes get higher about pennsylvania. if, in fact, the president doesn't overtake biden, then there's -- then there becomes no path, or georgia is certified for biden, there's no path. then i think you start to see a conversation by leaders in congress who are close to the

president, perhaps some of his family members start to see the writing on the wall. we'll see. we haven't seen a lot of evidence of a lot of people ever standing up to trump in that white house and faring very well. so it's hard to say. >> yvette what do you think? why the silence, you think, from so many leaders in the republican party at this point? >> you know, we've seen that all along. i mean, we've seen throughout this presidency a lot of folks who you would believe would want to speak up. and unfortunately, they're not. i don't know what they lose now. i think maybe the small chance he comes back and wins, then has to feel the wrath. but they created this monster. and they've fed the beast. so now you've got to live with the guy you've got. i think that's a real hard realization. so i think it's actually going to hurt them going forward. if i'm joe biden, i'm also watching that and worried about what that means going into next year. who can you work with, who's going to actually be with you, who's going to stand against you?

>> rahm, you've had hard conversations with presidents. i would imagine difficult conversations, right? >> i started this job 6'5", 250 pounds, now i'm only 5'8". >> what to you make of these baseless claims by the president? and to the governor's point, everyone's point, who says what now to the president? >> i actually -- i would have a slightly different view on this. and that is the fact is, i think in the next 24 hours, not only has joe biden won the popular vote, he's going to win the electoral vote. i think the numbers are going to speak for themselves in the systems, forget the white house. georgia's going to certify. it's just going to happen. i think the force will happen. i think the other thing is, the president's going to try to do something, and he's trying to do something in the legal system. usually, we've all done this, you parallel system between your communications, your political strategy, your legal strategy. he's now got a divergent strategy. it will be very hard unless there's something there for a judge to want to go basically be part trump has just done.

i think throwing out thousands or hundreds, rather, of legal cases, then a rhetoric at decibel 12, is undermining him both in public opinion and with the court of public opinion, also in the court of law. >> chris, sara made the point at some point the votes will dictate what this president will have to do. from your perspective, when do you think republicans begin to say, as we said on the air earlier, have their goldwater moment with the president? >> i think two ways. once, as rahm said, when the votes are getting certified, especially in states like georgia, republican governor, republican secretary of state. that will be one domino. it won't be the only one. the second one are the courts. the president's got a right to avail himself of the courts. he's made it clear he's going to avail himself of the courts. and so then you have state governments saying, these things are certified. and the courts saying, you have no place else to go. i think everybody wants everybody to have the rights

they have. he has a right to go to court. my point is, that's going to be the moment. you can't just go up there and say whatever you want to say and the judge is going to go, all right, sounds reasonable, let's do it. they're going to say, where is your evidence, sir? so i think when he runs himself through both those processes, republicans will feel as if his rights have been fully acquitted. now if the result is the same, it's time to move on. >> one quick thing. we've always tallied absentee -- the vote tallies and everything like that. if you took a tally of the court cases, he's like 1 for 7 right now. and it's really not good for him. and he has a right, but he also has a -- he has a right as a candidate but a responsibility as president, and he's abandoned one for the other, and that's a problem. >> yvette, a famous coach in your part of the country once said, when you win, say nothing. when you lose, say less. today, talk about the difference between what the president was saying and what the vice president said to the nation today. >> i think that what you saw

from joe biden was, okay, i'm stepping away from candidate, into presidential mode. he started by talking about the coronavirus and how it's impacting people. i think he's already kind of showing people how he leads. i think that was really refreshing. while he was speaking, i even said i had a wusan moment because i can breathe. the first time in four years, somebody who's going to be the president, hopefully, the next four years, and it's not a press conference where it's divisive and angry and yelling and it's lies. and i was like, oh, i'm looking forward to this, and i think a lot of americans are. then donald trump comes on and we're like, oh, okay. this is what we've been working hard to combat. so i think -- nothing about the way donald trump has reacted has surprised me. he was very, very clear that he did not expect to have a peaceful transfer of power. he lined up the troops. so i'm not surprised. i think the challenge is, again, the fact that we are not seeing more people, more officials like lindsey graham and others, speaking out against him. i think they should be unified in that. >> sara, we're out of time, last word. 10 seconds. what happens tomorrow? how important is tomorrow?

>> it's hugely important. if georgia flips, if they don't make up ground in arizona, it gets harder and harder for the president to make this case. >> our powerhouse political team, thank you all so much. real be right back with "the final note." - [alex] and i stepped on the bomb. lost my legs and my left hand in the explosion. - [announcer] as american's veterans face challenges, dav is there. with the right support, more veterans can reach victories, great and small. dav helps veterans and their families get the benefits they've earned. - [kim] look at that smile, you did it. - [announcer] support more victories for veterans, go to dav.org. thisa window of time to help protect the ones you love. more victories your preteen benefits from staying up-to-date with their well visits. this is your window of protection. schedule their well visit now.

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♪ finally tonight, stay with abc news for the latest election developments throughout the night on "world news now," "america this morning," and "good morning america." and any time at abcnews.com. that's "nightline" for this evening. see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night.