With one week until Election Day, and President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden racing toward Nov. 3, nearly 65 million have voted early so far -- a record.
The president continues an aggressive, defensive campaign as polls show him trailing nationally and in several battleground states key to his reelection hopes. He holds rallies in Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska. Vice President Mike Pence is in the Carolinas.
Biden is on offense, spending the day in Georgia to deliver a "closing argument" on national unity. While some Democrats argue the usually red state's electoral votes are in play, others warn against losing focus on key swing states like Wisconsin. His running mate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., is in Nevada.
The Texas Supreme Court this evening has now ordered Gov. Greg Abbott's proclamation limiting counties to one mail-in ballot drop-off location be put back into effect -- reversing an order last Friday from a state appeals court.
The court argues that the challenging parties did not overcome their burden to prove that Abbott was acting in bad faith in his decision to order the shutdown of drop-off locations in the state's counties.
Workers drop voters ballots into a secure box at a ballot drop off location on Oct. 13, 2020, in Austin, Texas.
Sergio Flores/Getty Images
"The Governor’s October Proclamation provides Texas voters more ways to vote in the November 3 election than does the Election Code," the court writes. "It does not disenfranchise anyone."
-ABC News' Alexander Mallin
Oct 27, 2020, 7:35 PM EDT
Breaking down how Trump, Biden are campaigning in the final days before the election
ABC News Political Director Rick Klein breaks down how Trump and Biden are campaigning on the final days before the election.
While the president has said he's tired of talking about COVID-19, his biggest problem one week from Election Day may be that voters he needs are living it – still, and especially now, Klein wrote in The Note on Tuesday.
Among the 13 most competitive battleground states, coronavirus positivity rates are going up in 11 of them -- including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Arizona, according to an ABC News analysis of COVID Tracking Project data.
Hospitalization rates are up in nine of the 13 top-targeted states, including the five top-tier battlegrounds just referenced. The number of daily deaths is up in six critical states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio and Minnesota.
Pence holds rally inside air hangar despite COVID-19 outbreak in his orbit
Following his stop in Greensboro, North Carolina, Pence held a campaign rally in Greenville, South Carolina, inside an air hangar packed with at least 2,000 people shoulder-to-shoulder -- just days after at least five people in his inner circle tested positive for COVID-19.
Pence's team said Monday that they'd be prioritizing outdoor events to have Pence go straight from Air Force Two to the stage and not use a motorcade. That wasn't the case for this stop as he rode in a motorcade to the airport location.
Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a campaign rally at an airplane hangar, Oct. 27, 2020, in Greenville, S.C.
As he did with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., earlier, Pence thanked Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who joined him on stage, for his work on the Senate Judiciary Committee and urged supporters to reelect Graham as their senator, calling him a "stalwart, courageous, principled leader" and adding, "I was for Lindsey Graham before it was cool."
"Lindsey Graham's gonna win because of the way he handled the Kavanaugh hearing. And he topped it off yesterday by leading the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett," Pence said, praising the senator for defending Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the wake of sexual assault allegations.
Supporters wait for Vice President Mike Pence at a campaign rally, Oct. 27, 2020, in Greenville, S.C.
Graham is in one of the most-watched Senate races against Democratic challenger Jamie Harrison.
-ABC News' Justin Gomez
Oct 27, 2020, 6:06 PM EDT
Pence, Harris react to Barrett's confirmation on the trail
The vice president kicked off a three-stop swing through the Carolinas with a campaign rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he made a big push for supporters to reelect Sen. Thom Tillis, thanking him for his work on the Senate Judiciary Committee which has confirmed 220 federal judges -- including now three Supreme Court justices -- nominated by Trump.
"Just about 17 hours ago I voted for Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court," Pence said to thundering applause. "We made sure that we fulfilled our promise of putting judges on the court who interpret the Constitution and the law and nothing else."
Vice President Mike Pence points to the crowd during a campaign event at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, N.C., Oct. 27, 2020.
Khadejeh Nikouyeh/News and Record via AP
Pence also slammed Biden for saying he would put together a bipartisan commission of scholars to examine the issue of court reform instead of giving American a clear answer ahead of Election Day on whether he would consider adding more justices to the high court.
"If you're running for the highest office in the land, you ought to tell the American people whether you're going to respect the highest court in the land," Pence said.
The Democratic vice-presidential nominee also addressed Barrett's confirmation to a crowd of socially distanced supporters in Reno, Nevada, after she voted no on Barrett's confirmation from the Senate floor Monday night.
Without mentioning the new justice by name, the California senator repeated her belief that her confirmation process was "illegitimate."
"It has been an illegitimate process from the beginning to push through and cram through a nomination of someone, while the American people are voting," Harris said, adding the majority of Americans favored waiting until after the election before appointing a replacement for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "And there's so much at stake."
Harris went on to say access to health care, birth control and abortion are all at risk with Barrett's confirmation and urged Nevadans to get out and vote early for the Democratic ticket.
