Live

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, 2:27 PM EDT

Miami police officer spotted in polling site wearing pro-Trump mask

A photo is circulating on Twitter depicting a City of Miami police officer wearing a pro-Trump mask inside a polling site. The chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, Steve Simeonidis, took the photo and posted it but ABC News could not confirm the officer's name.

The chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, Steve Simeonidis, shared this photo of a City of Miami police officer wearing a pro-Trump mask inside a polling site via Twitter on Oct. 20, 2020.
@stevesimeonidis/Twitter

Miami Police issued a statement referencing "the photograph being circulated," noting that "this behavior is unacceptable, a violation of departmental policy, and is being addressed immediately." A public information officer with the department, Mike Vega, told ABC News by phone that the chief of police will take "immediate action." 

Vega said that donning political clothing or accessories is "a violation of our departmental orders," and Simeonidis told the Miami Herald he considered the officer's behavior "voter intimidation."

A spokeswoman for the Miami-Dade County elections office told ABC News that a complaint about the incident was brought to her attention this morning. She then passed it on to Miami Police.

-ABC News' Will McDuffie

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