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Election 2020 updates: Trump delivers shorter speech in chilly Pennsylvania

Trump holds a rally in Pennsylvania while Biden is prepping for their debate.

ByLibby Cathey
Last Updated: October 21, 2020, 9:09 AM EDT

With 14 days to go until Election Day, and President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden racing toward Nov. 3, voters are turning out in record numbers to cast their ballots early.

Roughly 35 million Americans have already voted in the 2020 election, reflecting an extraordinary level of participation and interest despite unprecedented barriers brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

In the final weeks of campaigning, the president remains on defense as his approval rating drags. He's hosting rallies this week mostly in states he won in 2016 including Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia.

Biden, maintaining a nationwide lead in polls -- his largest lead of the election, according to FiveThirtyEight's average -- has no public events on his schedule this week so far ahead of Thursday's final presidential debate with Trump. Staying off the trail ahead of debates is a pattern for the former vice president.

Polls indicate a huge pre-Election-Day edge for Biden and a sizable Trump advantage among those who plan to vote on Nov. 3 itself. Trump has sowed doubt in the mail-in ballot process -- and imminent election results -- for months.

The rhetoric between candidates is expected to heat up ahead of their second and final showdown in Nashville.

All 50 states plus Washington, D.C., currently have some form of early voting underway. Check out FiveThirtyEight’s guide to voting during the COVID-19 pandemic here.

Latest headlines

Here is how the day is unfolding. All times Eastern.
Oct 20, 2020, 1:41 PM EDT

More than 3 million voters requested ballots in Michigan, more than half have been returned

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is estimating record turnout in this year's election, as more than 3 million Michigan voters have requested their ballots and over half of those voters have already returned them -- surpassing expectations with still two weeks until Nov. 3.

A person votes in the upcoming presidential elections as early voting begins in Ann Arbor, Mich., Sept. 24, 2020.
Emily Elconin/Reuters

Looking ahead to the next two weeks, Benson told reporters Tuesday morning she is cautioning voters against using the mail due to potential postal delays, instead encouraging them to rely on drop boxes and hand delivering ballots to clerks offices to ensure their ballots meet the Election Day deadline.

There is currently a legal dispute in Michigan over the deadline for accepting mail ballots, with the Michigan Court of Appeals late last week blocking a lower court's order that extended the deadline for absentee ballots to arrive by two weeks.

-ABC News' Kendall Karson

Oct 20, 2020, 12:48 PM EDT

FLOTUS no longer traveling with POTUS to Pennsylvania, spokeswoman cites lingering cough

First lady Melania Trump is no longer traveling with the president to Pennsylvania Tuesday, with her office citing a "lingering cough." 

"Mrs. Trump continues to feel better every day following her recovery from COVID-19, but with a lingering cough, and out of an abundance of caution, she will not be traveling today," the first lady's chief of staff and spokesperson Stephanie Grisham said in a statement. 

Tuesday's campaign visit to Pennsylvania was supposed to have been the first lady's first public appearance after contracting COVID-19.

Tuesday's event would have been the first lady's first rally appearance in over a year. She last joined Trump on stage at his reelection kickoff in Orlando in June 2019.

-ABC News' Jordyn Phelps and Will Steakin

Oct 20, 2020, 12:29 PM EDT

USPS concerned about safety of personnel

The United States Postal Inspection Service, the law-enforcement arm of the Postal Service, this month issued a bulletin to local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies around the country warning them to be mindful of threats to postal workers and the mail because of the controversy surrounding mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 election.

Jim Slowikowski oversees the unloading of pallets filled with Washington and Oregon mail-in ballots at a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) processing and distribution center on Oct. 14, 2020 in Portland.
Nathan Howard/Getty Images

“The intense media focus and public awareness surrounding these mail-in ballots could potentially make USPS employees and vehicle a tempting target for criminal activities,” the one-page Oct. 7 bulletin said. It goes on to list a series of possible threats including assaults of USPS personnel and general mail theft, among other concerns.

The bulletin comes as the president continues to sow doubt in the integrity of the mail-in ballot process.

-ABC News' Josh Margolin

Oct 20, 2020, 12:16 PM EDT

Harris' connection to Caribbean voters could make difference in Florida

When Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., took part in an interview on a South Florida radio show called "Caribbean Riddims," she sprinkled the Jamaican phrase "ya mon" throughout the interview with a heavy hand.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris speaks to supporters at a campaign event, Oct. 19, 2020, in Orlando, Fla.
John Raoux/AP

The Democratic vice presidential nominee is the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants and playing up her Jamaican heritage is a huge part of the Biden-Harris campaign's outreach to Afro-Caribbean voters in the Sunshine State.

The voting bloc is significant in Florida, especially in South Florida and along the critical I-4 corridor, a bellwether in this battleground state. According to the Migration Policy Institute, 41% of the nation's 4.4 million Caribbean immigrants live in Florida, and Miami-Dade County has the highest number of Caribbean immigrants in the U.S. with 862,000 Caribbean immigrants calling it home. If the campaign's outreach to this community is successful, it could help turn the state into an electoral victory for Biden and Harris.

-ABC News’ Averi Harper