1st presidential debate between Trump and Biden spirals into chaotic clash

President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden struggled to break through their own noise on Tuesday night in the first presidential debate, which was filled with interruptions, arguing and incoherent pitches to American voters.

Pre-decided topics included the two candidates' records, the coronavirus response, the Supreme Court, the economy and voting issues -- though viewers only got a sense of each candidate's platform in brief moments, when they let each other answer.

"Fox News Sunday" anchor Chris Wallace, who had the trying task of keeping the squabbling under control, moderated the 90-minute debate from Case Western Reserve University in the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.

With just over 30 days until Nov. 3, it's the first of four presidential debates of the cycle. But because mail-in voting has become a popular, safe choice during the pandemic, on Tuesday night, voting was underway as Trump and Biden sparred on stage.

According to Michael McDonald, a professor of political science at the University of Florida, over 1.1 million Americans have already received an absentee ballot in the mail.

Here are five key takeaways from the first of three presidential debates

--ABC News' Meg Cunningham and Cheyenne Haslett

TRUMP'S CLAIM: "As far as the ballots are concerned, it's a disaster. A solicited ballot, OK? Solicited is OK. You're soliciting. You're asking, they send it back, you send it back. I did that. If you have an unsolicited -- they are sending millions of ballots all over the country. There is fraud."

FACT CHECK: Despite Trump claiming that states across the country are mailing out "unsolicited ballots," that is only true in nine states plus Washington, D.C.

In two states, Montana and Nebraska, most or some counties are mailing ballots to voters.

In fact, in 41 of 50 states, voters are required to request an absentee ballot before being mailed one by election officials. Of those 41, only nine are proactively mailing registered voters applications to request an absentee ballot.

Of those states mailing ballots to voters, five -- Colorado, Oregon, Utah, Hawaii and Washington -- were already holding all-mail elections before the coronavirus pandemic. Officials in those states have seen no evidence of widespread fraud, and those voters are likely used to receiving ballots without requesting one.

Also, in four of the nine states mailing ballots -- Oregon, Washington, Utah and Nevada -- Republicans currently run elections. Only Nevada is considered a battleground in the presidential race among the states mailing ballots.

-ABC News' Kendall Karson

TRUMP'S CLAIM: “He's talking about defunding the police.”

FACT CHECK: From the debate stage during an exchange on law enforcement, Trump implied that Biden wants to defund the police. Biden has said repeatedly that he doesn’t want to “defund the police.” 

"No, I don't support defunding the police," he said in a June interview with CBS News, adding he supports conditions on federal aid based on meeting "basic standards of decency."

Biden has in the past claimed that Trump has proposed cutting police funding by “half a billion dollars.” 

The former vice president is referencing a proposed $465.8 million cut to community police efforts through the Office of Justice Programs, which could lose funding under Trump’s proposed 2021 budget, like the COPS Hiring program, which offers grants to local law enforcement agencies to hire officers. 

Biden has been at odds with many activists for his role as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee co-writing and pushing the 1994 Crime Bill. Biden has defended his role in the bill’s passage and has supported putting more police officers on the streets in communities. After the killing of George Floyd, Biden has called for reforms like buying body cameras, de-escalation training for officers and adopting a national use-of-force standard.

-ABC News' Beatrice Peterson

TRUMP'S CLAIM: Can you imagine where they say you have to have your ballot in by Nov. 10? Nov. 10. That means that's seven days after the election, in theory, should have been announced. We have major states with that -- all run by Democrats, all run by Democrats. It's a fraud. It's a rigged election. 

FACT CHECK: It is true that mail ballots arriving after Nov. 3 will be counted in several states, but these ballots are not fraudulent.

For these mail ballots to be counted, they must be postmarked on or before Election Day, and in some states, they must be postmarked by the day before the election.

In a normal election year, 19 states accept ballots that arrive after the election, as long as they are properly postmarked and arrive within a state-specific timeline, between three and 14 days post-election, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. These states are not "all run by Democrats" either. Alaska, Iowa, Maryland, Mississippi and Ohio -- all states with Republican governors currently -- have postmark-by deadlines on the books, even when there isn't a pandemic causing widespread changes to voting. 

More states will have postmark-by deadlines for the November election, due to both court rulings and changes implemented by state officials. 

In Wisconsin on Tuesday, for example, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court's ruling, which ordered county election officials to accept ballots received up to six days post-election as long as those ballots were postmarked on or before Nov. 3. Other battleground states where court rulings have extended the deadline for mail ballots to arrive include Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia, but the extension is being challenged in all three states. 

In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams reached a bipartisan agreement in mid-August to accept ballots returned by mail through Nov. 6, as long as those ballots are postmarked on or before Nov. 3.

-- ABC News' Quinn Scanlan