The latest on the 2020 election

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at Miramar Regional Park in Miramar, Florida, on Tuesday October 13.

At his second Florida stop of the day, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden spoke at a drive-in voter mobilization event in Miramar against a tropical bright blue backdrop that read, “Florida for Biden Harris.”

Biden declared that if he wins Florida, “it’s all over.” 

The former vice president spoke about Trump’s leadership, arguing that he will be a different kind of leader, who heals and unites.

“We need American leadership to seek out, to de-escalate tensions, to open the lines of communication, to bring us together. Look ladies and gentlemen it’s time for a president to heal, heal, to hope, as president I’ll do precisely what I’ll do,” he said.

On the economy, Biden specifically spoke about women who have lost their jobs in the middle of the pandemic.

“It’s also about jobs, good paying jobs, financial stability. Families of color building wealth and passing it down, that’s how we deliver equality in inequity,” Biden said.

“For example, more and more women are dropping out of the workforce in this recession, whether in the city or out in the suburbs. We have a plan to deal with this pandemic responsibly,” he continued. “Tracing, testing, masking, not politicizing race or vaccines. Look, we have to get vaccines not politicize it, and we have to plan for safe and equitable distribution.”

“You elected me and Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, and I’m asking for your trust and support in 2020 with Kamala Harris,” he told the Floridians. “You are the American people and you will decide our future, not Trump.”

Sen. Cory Booker speaks during a confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Tuesday, October 13.

President Trump accused Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of making “false charges and statements about me in addressing Judge Barrett” in a tweet Tuesday evening. 

Booker asked Judge Amy Coney Barrett during her confirmation hearing today if she thought “every president should make a commitment, unequivocally and resolutely, to the peaceful transfer of power,” and if she believed Trump has the power to pardon himself.

Booker also questioned Barrett on if the President had a responsibility to disclose who his lenders are, citing the Emoluments Clause.

In the tweet, Trump attacked Booker saying he didn’t live in Newark while he was mayor, a claim that has been debunked, and went on to defend himself on health care, saying he wants “better Healthcare for far less money, always… protecting people with Pre-existing conditions.”

Trump also called Booker “an empty suit.” 

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that the state has not seen evidence of an uptick in Covid-19 cases as a result of President Trump’s Bedminster event.

“I can’t say that we have seen any evidence of that but we were quite concerned when the facts unfolded,” Murphy said. “You know, knowingly traveling to New Jersey, when there was known exposure to folks who were Covid positive is not part of that rule book that I just went through a minute ago. You got to take yourself off the field. And that was extremely disappointing.”

About the event:  Trump attended a fundraiser at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Oct. 1.

Sometime after he left the event and returned to the White House, Trump received a preliminary positive rapid test result. “He’s tested regularly and the first positive test he received was after his return from Bedminster,” McEnany told reporters.

Due to widespread voting issues, Fort Bend, Texas, County Judge KP George tells CNN that the county’s commissioner court just voted to extend voting hours for the rest of the week, starting tomorrow, until 7 p.m. local time. 

George said that they had been scheduled to close at 5 p.m. local time.  

Next week, polls will follow their normal schedule: open from Monday to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

CNN reported earlier today that a number of voters in the county, located in the Houston-metro area, said they sat in long voting lines that never moved.

Speaking to local media, the county’s election administrator John Oldham attributed the widespread voting issues in the county to human error. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today blamed Republicans and President Trump for the collapse in talks on another stimulus for Americans who continue to suffer financially from the coronavirus pandemic.

In a fiery exchange with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Pelosi argued that Republicans’ offer of a roughly $1.8 trillion stimulus proposal was not enough nor allocated properly to meet the growing needs of Americans.

“I hope you’ll ask the same question of the Republicans why they don’t want to meet the needs of the American people,” she said when asked by Blitzer why she had declined Republicans’ offer.

“When you say to me ‘Why don’t you accept theirs?’ Why don’t they accept ours?” she asked later in the exchange. 

Throughout the conversation, Pelosi challenged Blitzer, suggested he was defending the Republicans position, and at one point told him, “you really don’t know what you are talking about.”

At another point she dismissed the concerns of some members of her own party who’ve said they’d like to move forward on talks with the White House.

“They have no idea of the particulars,” she said, referencing former presidential candidate Andrew Yang and Rep. Ro Khanna, who has argued that Democrats have a “moral obligation” to seek a deal with the White House for economic relief.

“They have no idea of what the language is here,” she added.

Watch Speaker Pelosi and Wolf Blitzer:

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Former President Barack Obama intends to focus his efforts on early-voting states in the final two weeks of the race, officials tell CNN. He is not scheduled to appear this week, but is poised to start making solo campaign stops next week.

Obama will not be aggressively barnstorming swing states, but rather intends to visit a handful of critical battlegrounds where voting is underway.

His schedule has not been finalized, officials said, but states under consideration are Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin and more.

The Biden campaign believes Obama can help in three particular areas, officials say, including: Black men, Latinos and young voters.

The events will be socially-distant — like Biden stops are — but are designed to garner local media coverage in key areas.

The Trump campaign dispatches far more surrogates — along with the President’s own rallies — and the Obama visits are designed to help Biden draw more attention in places voting is happening.

Obama is set to make solo appearances. Michelle Obama is not planning any in-person campaign visits. The possibility of joint Obama-Biden appearances could come in the final days of the race.

A number of voters in Fort Bend County, Texas, located in the Houston-metro area, told CNN they sat in long voting lines that never moved on Tuesday, the first day of voting in Texas.

Speaking to local media, the county’s election administrator John Oldham attributed the widespread voting issues in the county to human error. 

One of those voters, Travis Johnson, spent over six hours waiting to vote in Missouri City, Texas. Johnson said at 7 a.m., he was one of the first voters in line.  

Despite that, it took him until 1:15 p.m. to vote.

Oldham, speaking to the Texas Tribune, said that staff did not fix the date in the voting system for the start of early voting. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott extended when early voting could take place from Oct. 19 to Oct. 13. 

Despite repeated attempts throughout the day, CNN has not been able to get comment from Oldham or the county elections office.

“It was right when we put it in, but when the governor extended the dates, we didn’t go back and change it,” Oldham told the paper.  “So that’s on us.” 

He went onto say that even though they tested the machines, they did not pick up on the impending error.

Even though the county district clerk’s office doesn’t run elections, they received so many complaints they were moved to issue a news release on the voting issue. 

Fort Bend County Judge KP George held an impromptu news conference with county Democratic officials outside of a voting super center.

“We just want to let everyone know that we are aware of some glitches in our voting system,” he said.  “Please be patient and I assure you, those who are responsible are going to be held accountable.”

Experiencing voting issues? Send us your stories here.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks at Southwest Focal Point Community Center on October 13 in Pembroke Pines, Florida

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden made an explicit pitch to senior citizens in Pembroke Pines, Florida, Tuesday afternoon as his campaign eyes the demographic as key to a victory in the Sunshine State. 

The former vice president tried to outline to the Florida seniors why he would better represent them than Trump, who won Florida in 2016 with a double-digit lead over Hillary Clinton among voters age 65 or older.  

He delivered a blistering condemnation of the President’s handling of the pandemic, saying that he’d “prayed for his recovery when he got Covid” and “had hoped at least he’d come out of it a little bit chastened.”

“But what has he done?” Biden asked. “He’s just doubled-down on the misinformation he did before and is making it worse.”

 “It’s become painfully clear as his careless arrogant reckless Covid response has caused one of the worst tragedies in American history, the only senior Donald Trump cares about — the only senior — is senior Donald Trump,” he said.

Biden, 77, made a personal appeal to the senior citizens asking them to remember the last time they hugged their family members during the pandemic.

“While he throws super spreader parties at the White House, Republicans hug each other without concern of the consequences,” Biden said. “How many of you have been unable to hug your grandkids the last seven months?”

He said that while he is lucky and gets to see his grandkids, “bribing them” with Haagen-Dazs, he hasn’t been able to hug them. 

The former vice president slammed the President’s plan to send $200 drug discount cards to 33 million Americans on Medicare, calling it a “political game.”

“He thinks he’s still on his game show. No really. He acts that way, for real. This is a political game he’s playing,” Biden said. “He thinks that he can take the money out of your pocket with one hand and put it back with his name stamped on the other hand and call it a gift. It’s dishonest and reckless. That doesn’t actually help anybody.”

A voter fills out his ballot while early voting on October 13 in San Jose, California.

More than 10.5 million Americans have already voted in the general election, according to an analysis of voting information in 41 states from CNN, Edison Research and Catalist.

More than six million of those ballots come from the 16 states rated most competitive by CNN this cycle.

This data does not predict the outcome of any race, as polling around the country shows Democrats prefer to vote early or by mail, and Republicans prefer to vote in-person on Election Day.

With three weeks until the Nov. 3 election, the ballot returns so far represent a small percentage of the expected number of ballots to be cast in 2020. President Trump and Hillary Clinton garnered about 130 million votes combined four years ago. 

Pre-Election Day ballots cast nationwide are expected to rise quickly as the country moves closer to November. By the end of the week, ballots will be available in all 50 states and Washington, DC.

Detailed pre-election voting information comes from Catalist, a company that provides data, analytics and other services to Democrats, academics and nonprofit issue-advocacy organizations and is giving new insights into who is voting before November.

Early voting wait times are down to three hours at the Gwinnett County elections office headquarters in Georgia, after reporting an eight-hour wait earlier today and yesterday, according to the county’s website, which tracks early voting wait times.

“On the first day of early voting yesterday here we had an eight plus hour wait here in this location,” county spokesperson Joe Sorenson told CNN.  

“To give you some contrast, and about three miles down the road, the longest that ever got it at that location is three hours. This is the headquarters I think a lot of people like to come to headquarters to vote with us,” he said. 

On its first day of early voting, Georgia saw record in-person turnout. In-person turnout for the November election surged more than 40% above the previous record set on the first day of in-person voting ahead of the 2016 November elections, according to a news release from Georgia’s Secretary of State.