距离选举日还有15天，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)和前副总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)正奔向11月3日，选民们正以创纪录的人数提前投票，随着佛罗里达州的投票在这个战场州开始，周一整个佛罗里达州排起了长队。
大约有2800万美国人已经投票在2020年的选举中，尽管面临着前所未有的障碍，但选民的参与程度和兴趣却非常高冠状病毒流行病。
在竞选活动的最后几周，总统仍然坚持自己的立场批准评级拖动。他本周主要在他2016年赢得的州举办集会，包括亚利桑那州、宾夕法尼亚州、北卡罗来纳州和佐治亚州。
拜登在民调中保持全国领先，这是他在选举中的最大领先优势五点三十八分的平均值在周四与特朗普的最后一场总统辩论之前，他本周没有安排任何公共活动。
民意调查显示拜登在选举日之前有优势，特朗普在计划于11月3日投票的人中也有相当大的优势。几个月来，特朗普一直在邮寄投票过程中以及即将到来的选举结果中散布疑虑。
候选人之间的言辞预计将在纳什维尔的第二次也是最后一次摊牌前升温。
所有50个州加上华盛顿特区目前都在进行某种形式的提前投票。检验投票指南在新冠肺炎大流行期间。
10月19日，晚上10:10
最高法院驳回了共和党在宾夕法尼亚州的请求。介入邮件投票纠纷
周一晚上，最高法院在一个备受关注的选举案件中驳回了宾夕法尼亚州共和党人的一项请求，该请求旨在阻止一项州法院命令，该命令现在允许对11月3日之后三天内到达的邮寄选票进行计数。
首席大法官约翰·罗伯茨似乎已经加入了三名自由派大法官的行列，同意拒绝共和党的请求。克拉伦斯·托马斯法官、塞缪尔·阿利托法官、尼尔·戈萨奇法官和布雷特·卡瓦诺法官都表示，他们会批准紧急中止州法院的命令。
法院的分裂决定是民主党的一个重大胜利，他们认为该州的法定要求，即邮寄选票必须在选举日之前收到，违反了该州宪法。他们说，这种流行病，加上记录在案的邮政服务延误，将导致潜在的广泛剥夺权利。
共和党人一直在捍卫州法律，并希望保持选举日的最后期限，他们认为延长期限是“公开邀请在选举日之后投票”，并造成“混乱”和欺诈。
法律专家认为，该案是法院待审案件中大量其他投票相关案件的主要预兆。
宾夕法尼亚州民主党主席南希·巴顿·米尔斯(Nancy Patton Mills)表示，这是选民的“重大胜利”，而且“最高法院否决(哈里斯堡共和党人)最新的恶意破坏选举的努力是正确的。”
然而，宾夕法尼亚州共和党主席劳伦斯·塔巴斯表示，共和党人不同意这一决定，并表示这是一个4比4的决定，“这只是强调了尽快建立一个完整的最高法院的重要性。”
“明确地说，最高法院决定不批准暂缓执行——这并不意味着宾夕法尼亚最高法院的行为将经得起法律挑战，如果法院审理此案，他们的司法越权，”塔巴斯继续说道。
最高法院确认战两边的党派也参与进来。
“令人不安的是，4名法官会批准共和党寻求的延期。法律下公民权利律师委员会主席兼执行董事克里斯汀·克拉克(Kristen Clarke)在一份声明中说:“这突显了为什么艾米·科尼·巴雷特法官目前不应该得到最高法院的确认，因为她很有可能会在2020年选举相关事宜上投下决定性的一票。”
诚实选举项目的执行主任杰森·斯奈德(Jason Snead)在一份声明中引用了法院正在审理的其他案件，并表示:“这肯定会成为头条新闻，但这既不是其他法院修改选举截止日期的许可，也不是这个关键问题的解决方案。如果提交证书申请，法院显然有足够的票数审理此案。”
——美国广播公司高级记者德文·德怀尔和巴格斯·西格尔
10月19日，晚上8:58
没有静音按钮，但麦克风将在辩论中静音
在候选人必须回答问题的两分钟内，另一个候选人的麦克风将被关闭。这是为了防止出现连续中断来自总统在克利夫兰的第一场辩论中。
然而，在后续讨论中，两个麦克风都将打开，并且没有静音按钮。主持人将一如既往地努力保持同等时间。
特朗普竞选团队在一份声明中对这一声明作出了回应，称总统“致力于就乔·拜登进行辩论，无论最后一刻的规则变化如何”，但继续抨击委员会“他们最近试图为他们青睐的候选人提供优势”。
特朗普的一名竞选官员告诉美国广播公司新闻，他们最初是通过媒体报道得知这一变化的。
——美国广播公司首席白宫记者乔纳森·卡尔和威尔·斯拜金
10月19日，晚上7:58
特朗普和RNC宣布斥资5500万美元在太阳带、铁锈带各州进行广告收购
随着对特朗普竞选资金短缺的担忧在离选举日只有两周的时候加剧，竞选团队宣布在总统竞选的最后两周，在几个战场州进行5500万美元的广告闪电战。
竞选经理比尔·斯捷潘(Bill Stepien)周一在与记者的电话中说，这些广告由竞选团队和共和党全国委员会资助，将针对太阳带和铁锈带沿线的一系列关键州，包括亚利桑那州、爱荷华州、密歇根州、北卡罗来纳州、佛罗里达州、宾夕法尼亚州、佐治亚州、内华达州和威斯康星州，以及爱荷华州和俄亥俄州。
新的广告支出紧随其后内心越来越不安总统的连任竞选，因为它继续实施紧缩措施，包括在竞选的最后阶段削减电视广告支出。
RNC女主席罗纳·麦克丹尼尔(Ronna McDaniel)在电话中说，新广告将专注于吸引老年选民，其中一个广告将重点关注特朗普政府时期实现的“医疗保险储蓄”，她称之为“真正非凡的”。
最近的民意调查显示，年长的选民倾向于拜登。
竞选团队将新的广告闪电战描述为特朗普团队的广告支出增加了40%，尽管尚不清楚新的支出将使最后两周的总额达到多少。还不清楚新支出中有多少将分配给每个州。
广告研究公司Kantar/CMAG仍在汇总周一全天收到的新广告投放，但早些时候，CMAG的分析师Mitchell West告诉美国广播公司新闻，该公司的研究人员发现明尼苏达州、威斯康星州和俄亥俄州的一些广告被取消，佛罗里达州、亚利桑那州和佐治亚州的一些广告被追加。
截至周一早上- 不包括新支出-根据CMAG的数据，特朗普的竞选团队在最后两周总共保留了价值4500万美元的播出时间，包括佛罗里达州的1200万美元、北卡罗来纳州的560万美元、俄亥俄州的530万美元和明尼苏达州的430万美元。
Election 2020: No mute button, but mics will be muted at debate
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.
Oct 19, 10:10 pm
Supreme Court rejects GOP request in Pa. to intervene in mail ballot dispute
The Supreme Court Monday night -- in a closely watched election case -- rejected a request by Pennsylvania Republicans to block a state court order that now allows mail ballots arriving up to three days after Nov. 3 to be counted.
Chief Justice John Roberts appears to have joined the three liberal justices in agreeing to reject the GOP request. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh all said they would have granted an emergency stay of the state court order.
The split decision by the court is a major victory for Democrats who had argued that the state’s statutory requirement that mail-in ballots must be received by Election Day violates the state constitution. They said the pandemic, coupled with documented postal service delays, would have led to potential widespread disenfranchisement.
Republicans, who have been defending state law and wanted to preserve the Election Day deadline, argued the extension was an “open invitation to cast ballots after Election Day” and create “chaos” and fraud.
Legal experts have considered this case a major bellwether for a raft of other ballot related cases percolating on the court’s docket.
Nancy Patton Mills, chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, said it was a "significant victory" for voters and that the "Supreme Court was right to throw out (Harrisburg Republicans) latest bad faith effort to muddy this election."
However, Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Lawrence Tabas said Republicans disagree with the decision and said the fact that it was a 4-4 decision "only underscores the importance of having a full Supreme Court as soon as possible."
“To be clear, the Supreme Court decided not to grant a stay -- which does not mean the actions of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would withstand a legal challenge to their Judicial overreach should the Court hear the case,” Tabas continued.
Also weighing in were parties on either side of the Supreme Court confirmation fight.
"It is disturbing that 4 justices would have granted the stay sought by the Republican party. This underscores why Judge Amy Coney Barrett should not be confirmed to the Supreme Court at this moment because there is a good chance that she would be casting the deciding vote on matters related to the 2020 election," Kristen Clarke, president and executive director at the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said in a statement.
The Honest Elections Project’s executive director, Jason Snead, cited in a statement other cases moving through the courts and said, "It will certainly make headlines, but it is neither a license for other courts to modify election deadlines, nor a resolution of this crucial issue. There are clearly sufficient votes on the Court to hear this case should a cert petition be filed."
Oct 19, 8:58 pm
No mute button, but mics will be muted at debate
During the two minutes that a candidate has to answer a question, the other candidate's microphone will be turned off. This is designed to prevent the kind of serial interruptions seen from the president in Cleveland at the first debate.
During the follow-up discussions, however, both mics will be on and there will be no mute button. The moderator will attempt, as always, to keep equal time.
The Trump campaign responded to the announcement in a statement that said the president "is committed to debating Joe Biden regardless of last-minute rule changes," but continued to attack the commission for "their latest attempt to provide advantage to their favored candidate."
A Trump campaign official told ABC News that they first learned of the change through media reports.
-ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl and Will Steakin
Oct 19, 7:58 pm
Trump, RNC announce $55 million ad buy in Sun Belt, Rust Belt states
As concerns about Trump's campaign cash crunch mount with just two weeks to go until Election Day, the campaign announced a $55 million ad blitz in several battleground states for the two final weeks of the presidential contest.
The ads, funded by the campaign and the Republican National Committee, will target a string of key states along the Sun Belt and the Rust Belt, including Arizona, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada and Wisconsin, as well as in Iowa and Ohio, campaign manager Bill Stepien said on a call with reporters on Monday.
The new ad spending comes on the heels of a growing uneasiness within the president's reelection campaign as it continues to implement belt-tightening measures including cutting back on television ad spending in the final stretch of the campaign.
The new ads will zero in on appealing to older voters, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said on the call, including one ad that would focus on "Medicare savings" achieved under the Trump administration, which she described as "truly phenomenal."
Recent polls have shown older voters moving toward Biden.
Democratic Presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden participates in an ABC News town hall event at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Oct. 15, 2020.
The campaign described the new ad blitz as a 40% increase in Trump's team's ad spending, though it's not yet clear what the new spending will bring the total amount for the final two weeks to. It's also not clear how much of the new spending will be allocated to each state.
Ad research firm Kantar/CMAG was still aggregating new ad placements that were coming in throughout the day on Monday, but earlier, CMAG's analyst Mitchell West told ABC News that the firm's researchers had spotted some cancelations from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio and some additional placements in Florida, Arizona and Georgia.
As of Monday morning -- without the new spending included -- the Trump campaign had a total of $45 million worth of airtime reserved for the two final weeks, including $12 million in Florida, $5.6 million in North Carolina, $5.3 million in Ohio and $4.3 million in Minnesota, according to CMAG's data.
