Election 2020: No mute button, but mics will be muted at debate
This is designed to prevent the kind of serial interruptions seen in Cleveland.
With 15 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, with long lines forming across Florida Monday as voting kicks off in that battleground state.
Roughly 28 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 Arizona, 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.
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.
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Pence to ramp up campaign travel in closing stretch, may link up with Trump on the trail
Vice President Mike Pence is getting set to ramp up his campaign schedule in the final days of the 2020 election with scheduled visits to Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Florida this week.
On a press call this morning, the vice president’s Chief of Staff, Marc Short, said Pence will maintain “a very aggressive schedule,” maintaining at least six days on the road with at least two rallies a day this week and they may do up to three rallies a day in the closing week.
Asked by ABC News if he will eventually link up with Trump for joint rallies, Short said that the campaign feels that "there’s a stronger benefit to them being in different markets," but that in the final days they could be doing more together.
“I think in the closing days, you will see them end up joining travel trips, and we actually do plan to do some of that a little bit beginning next week.”
Short added that the public could see them together as early as Monday during a trip to Pennsylvania and “certainly” in the “last couple of days.”
-ABC News' Justin Gomez
Georgia secretary of state predicts most results will be known Election Day
Monday marks the first day that county election officials in Georgia can begin processing returned absentee ballots, meaning they can open and scan them -- but not actually tabulate them.
During a news conference Monday morning, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger predicted the timeline for races to be called in Georgia may not be too far off what voters have become accustomed to previously. He said the results for races that are "really, really tight," may not be known until the Wednesday following Election Day, but the rest should be known that night.
Raffensperger also gave an update on early voting figures, which is now in its second week, and took a swipe at critics. He said that by the day's end, over 1.5 million Georgians will have voted.
"We're setting records, with every passing hour. There are those who attack and undermine our work through their disinformation efforts online and through the media, they're wrong and the numbers prove it," Raffensperger said. "It has never been easier to vote in the state of Georgia."
-ABC News’ Quinn Scanlan
Biden reacts to Trump taunting him over saying he will 'listen to the scientists'
The Biden campaign is latching on to Trump’s taunt over Biden listening to scientists, with the former vice president tweeting ”…yes,” in response to one report reading "Trump: Biden will 'listen to the scientists' if elected."
Trump, at a rally in Carson City, Nevada, Sunday night, mocked Biden for saying if elected he would “listen to the scientists” regarding the ongoing pandemic which has left nearly 220,000 Americans dead.
“If I listen totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression,” said Trump, who also continued to criticize Biden’s use of circles at campaign events for social distancing. Trump also claimed Biden would create lockdown measures that would lead to the "Christmas season" being canceled.
Biden spokesperson Andrew Bates, responding to the attack in a statement Monday, turned to the economy.
"Now new coronavirus cases are surging and layoffs are rising. If Donald Trump had listened to Joe Biden when he urged him not to trust the Chinese government over his own scientific advisers about this crisis, he wouldn't be the worst jobs president since 1929,” Bates said.
Biden’s rapid response spokesperson Rosemary Boeglin also took aim at the attack tweeting, “Closing message, 8 months into a pandemic he’s let spin out of control: “President Donald Trump sought to insult former Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday by saying that his Democratic opponent would listen to scientists if elected president."
Shortly afterward, the Biden campaign announced Biden’s 11th negative COVID-19 test since Trump tested positive earlier this month.
"Vice President Biden underwent PCR testing for COVID-19 today and COVID-19 was not detected,” the campaign said in a statement to reporters.
-ABC News' Will Steakin and Molly Nagle
Biden off the trail, meeting with advisers, prepping for Thursday's debate
While Trump is slated to hold a two rallies in Arizona Monday, Biden is off the trail and prepping for their final one-on-one match up in Nashville on Thursday.
A source familiar with Biden’s schedule tells ABC News that the former vice president is meeting with advisers and doing debate prep.
He broke from that debate prep and stopped by The Queen theater in Wilmington, Delaware, to tape an interview for an episode of the CBS News program "60 Minutes" that is slated to air Sunday.
Over the weekend, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced the topics the moderator, NBC News' Kristen Welker, has selected. Her list, subject to change: Fighting COVID-19; American Families; Race in America; Climate Change; National Security; Leadership.
The debate will start at 9 p.m. ET and run for 90 minutes without commercial interruption, the commission said.
-ABC News' Molly Nagle