U.S. Sen. Ed Markey on Wednesday criticized what he says are efforts by President Donald Trump to spawn skepticism around the United States' election process as the country continues to wait for final presidential election results.

Markey spoke at a press conference on Boston Common alongside NAACP Boston President Tanisha Sullivan, ACLU of Massachusetts Executive Director Carol Rose, and Indivisible Mass Coalition Chairperson Debbie Paul ahead of a rally to demand all votes be counted in the presidential election. The gathering drew hundreds to the Parkman Bandstand where attendees carried signs reading "Count Every Vote" and "Make Elections Fair Again."

"We know that Donald Trump is trying to perpetrate a lie," Markey said. "That lie is that ballots are still being cast. There are no votes being cast right now. The votes are being counted. That is what Donald Trump is afraid of. That is what all of those who support Donald Trump are afraid of, that the votes are going to be counted."

The rally came as local officials across the country continued to count votes after Election Day passed without a presidential candidate reaching the 270 electoral college votes required to secure the presidency. Speakers at the rally urged attendees to be patient and to keep their faith in the election process.

A separate rally was expected to start at 6 p.m. in Roxbury and make its way to downtown Boston later in the night. That event was organized by Boston Socialists Alternative, Freedom Fighters Coalition, and Sunrise Movement Boston to "demand an end to undemocratic attacks on our elections, in a grassroots effort to fight Trump and demand officials count every vote."

In Massachusetts, Secretary of State William Galvin called President Trump's rhetoric on mail-in ballots "deceitful." The state's top election official also asserted that voting by mail was a success in Massachusetts and said he would work to make the measure permanent.

Rose echoed Galvin, saying the election process in Massachusetts went smoothly. She said the Election Protection Coalition, which consists of election advocacy organizations such as the ACLU, received 400 calls from voters who encountered issues on Election Day.

Headquarters were set up at the law firm WilmerHale where the coalition members assisted in solving potential voter issues. Rose said most issues revolved around people who didn't understand rules associated with absentee ballots.

"The biggest issue that we had was in Hanson, they tried to stop somebody from wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt," Rose said. "So we went to the secretary of state's office, Bill Galvin's office, and they issued a clarification saying that, in fact, Black Lives Matter is not a partisan group and somebody can wear that T-shirt."

Rose said the number of calls received on Election Day was "on par" with previous years despite higher voter turnout.

Markey, who won his reelection bid Tuesday night against Republican Kevin O'Connor, said President Trump started a "concerted effort" months ago to "disable" the United States Post Office in an attempt to hang a "cloud" over mail-in ballots cast across the nation.

"This morning, when the president came out to say that he had won the election and he was going to take his case to the Supreme Court of the United States, it was all a part of a plan which the president and his advisors had constructed over the last several months," the Malden Democrat said. "We don't care how long it takes to win this battle but we will win this fight to make sure that every vote is counted in the United States."

At a press conference early Wednesday morning, after the polls had closed across the nation, President Trump, who has railed against mail-in voting reforms that grew in popularity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said he would turn to the Supreme Court. "We want all voting to stop," he said. "We don't want them to find any ballots at four o'clock in the morning and add them to the list."

In Massachusetts, polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday night and ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 could be delivered by mail until Friday at 5 p.m. and still be counted.

Counting continued Wednesday in states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. And as of Wednesday afternoon, The Associated Press reported that former Vice President Joe Biden had won Wisconsin.

"This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. We did win this election," Trump said at the White House on Wednesday. "So our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation. This is a very big moment. This is a major fraud in our nation."

Trump's campaign announced Wednesday that it was moving to intervene in existing litigation over the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's "unlawful extension of the mail-in ballot receipt deadline." The campaign also said it was suing "to stop Democrat election officials from hiding the ballot counting and processing from our Republican poll observers" in Pennsylvania and suing over Pennsylvania's moving of the deadline for absentee and mail-in voters to provide missing proof of identification.

"In Pennsylvania, every vote is going to count," Gov. Tom Wolf said Wednesday night.

The Trump campaign also said that it was within the threshold in Wisconsin to request a recount "and we will immediately do so," according to campaign manager Bill Stepien. "There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results," he said.

Sullivan, the NAACP Boston president, said Wednesday that counting ballots should not be a partisan issue.

"This is not about Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green Party or whatever, or no party. This is about our American democracy," she said. "It is incumbent upon all of us, regardless of our political affiliation, or no political affiliation, to work as hard as we can to fight as hard as we can to protect and preserve such a foundational aspect of our democracy -- and that is the right to cast a ballot, and for that ballot to be counted."

Michael P. Norton contributed reporting.