Election 2020 updates: Biden warns of 'dark winter,' pushes masks in pandemic plan

The RNC and Trump campaign filed a motion Thursday to intervene in an Arizona lawsuit that raises issues with the use of permanent markers on ballots in Maricopa County and other regions of the state.

The case is being brought by a woman in Arizona who claims that a ballot box failed to properly read her vote after she was provided a Sharpie to fill out her ballot at her polling place. 

The plaintiffs are requesting that ballots that could not be read by the voting machines due to the use of Sharpies be allowed to be cured, and that individuals who experienced errors with voting machines due to use of a Sharpie be allowed to observe the ongoing adjudication process. 

The plaintiffs said they'd like discovery to occur in the case and suggested a hearing a week from Thursday. RNC interveners suggested an even longer timeline. 

Tom Liddy, an attorney for Maricopa County, argued at a conference Thursday that the case ought to be dismissed -- and that it should be done quickly in order to prevent any potential delays in tabulation. 

"The voters have a right to know that the allegations flying around the internet about sharpies being dropped from black helicopters to trick people out of votes are fake," Liddy said. "They are not real but they are scaring people."

Liddy also noted that those interested in watching the ballot adjudication process can do so online right now. 

The judge said it was not immediately clear to her how allowing individuals to watch ballot tabulation and adjudication was an appropriate remedy for those concerned that their ballots were not counted correctly.

The judge ordered that parties in the case decide on a path forward and present it to her by 11:30 a.m. MT Friday. 

The Arizona secretary of state and Maricopa County elections officials have asserted that Sharpies are a safe -- and even preferred -- method for casting in-person ballots in the state. 

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Several moderate Republicans quickly responded to Trump's remarks Thursday night.

Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger called for the president to stop spreading misinformation, saying "this is getting insane."

Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who has said he did not vote for Trump, tweeted that there was "no defense for the President's comments tonight undermining our Democratic process."

Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, the only Senate Republican who voted to convict Trump during his impeachment trial, did not mention the president by name but said, "have faith in our Democracy, in our Constitution, and in the American people."  

Trump campaign surrogates Pam Bondi, former Florida Attorney General, and Corey Lewandowski appeared Thursday evening in the middle of dueling protests outside the Philadelphia Convention Center to say they had filed a lawsuit in federal court meant to immediately stop the Philadelphia vote count. 

The court, "in light of the Parties' agreement," denied without prejudice, the Trump campaign's request.

The federal lawsuit alleged that the Philadelphia County Board of Elections is "intentionally refusing to allow any representatives and poll watchers for President Trump and the Republican Party" from properly observing the vote, disobeying an earlier order. 

"They have refused to let us have meaningful -- a meaningful view of the vote count," Bondi said Thursday evening. "They are not letting us look at anything at all, nothing. So we have filed in federal court. We have just filed a motion in federal court for immediate injunctive relief to shut down the voting process until -- until we can get a resolution where we can look at these ballots."

-ABC News' Matthew Mosk and Alex Hosenball

ABC News Senior National Correspondent Terry Moran pushed back on some of Trump's remarks at the White House on ABC News Live Prime. 

"What he wants to demonstrate is that all these people are somehow engaged in a massive fraud," Moran said. "And to do that you need real evidence. This is not a reality TV show. This is an American election. You need evidence to back up those kinds of charges."

In his remarks, the president alleged widespread voter fraud without evidence and cast doubt on the votes that were still being counted.

Moran also discussed ballots that are still being counted, noting that most of the vote numbers we see now are votes that were cast on or before Election Day.

"We're talking about a reality that's in the past, that the counters are uncovering, like dirt off a fossil," he said. "The fossil is already there. They're scraping the dirt off it."