Our live coverage has ended. Read more about the 2020 election here.
The President opened his scheduled event in Rochester, Minnesota, by criticizing Democratic state leaders for attempting to limit capacity at his rally.
Trump added: “As you know, there are at least 25,000 people who wanted to be here tonight. We just saw a lot of ‘em. Pay our respects. They were here for a long time. They waited and waited, then the governor did bad things. Your far-left Democrat attorney general Keith Ellison and your Democrat governor tried to shut down our rally, silence the people of Minnesota and take away your freedom and your rights.”
In a Friday night advisory, the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency announced that an Iranian cyber actor targeted a number of states’ websites – including election sites – and was successful in at least one case.
This was the actor responsible for the threatening e-mails and video sent out earlier this month that the Director of National Intelligence and FBI director convened a press conference about last week.
DNI Director John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Christopher Wray had previously said Iran had “obtained” voters’ data, this advisory explains the Iranian actor engaged in “scanning” and then exploiting the websites in late September into mid-October.
“A review of the records that were copied and obtained reveals the information was used in the propaganda video,” the advisory read.
However, it doesn’t sound like Iran was alone. The activity “cannot all be fully attributed to this Iranian APT actor,” the FBI and CISA write.
Joe Biden has released a statement on the US hitting 9 million Covid-19 cases, using the opportunity to condemn President Trump for his handling of the pandemic, calling it “as severe an indictment of a president’s record as one can possibly imagine.”
Biden said that the situation could still get “markedly worse” as the president and Republicans “move within striking distance of destroying the Affordable Care Act once and for all.”
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold held a news conference today to discuss the status of the state’s early voting.
Griswold reported that 2.2 million Coloradans have already cast a ballot, pointing out that is 80% of the total 2016 turnout.
“Colorado leads the nation in voter access. The Colorado election model is very straightforward, you register to vote, then every voter is mailed a ballot and you can, at that point, drop it off to one of the hundreds of drop boxes or voting centers across the state, or even go register and vote in person until 7 p.m. on Election Day. And we always look to increase accessibility, especially during a pandemic,” Griswold said.
At least 789,595 Democrats, 634,839 Republicans and 826,203 unaffiliated voters have cast a ballot, Griswold said.
Griswold said under Colorado law, county clerks may but are not required to open voting centers on the Sunday before Election Day. Adams County will open on Sunday and drop boxes are available to receive ballots until Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. local time.
Florida elections and law enforcement officials detected a scheme that sought to register dozens of dead people to vote in Broward County, though the motive is not clear, according to the county elections office.
The county received about 50 voter registration applications sent in envelopes postmarked from Columbia, South Carolina, with no return address, documents show.
Broward County elections spokesperson Steven Vancore said the majority of the people named in the applications – who were listed as Democrats – were verified to be deceased and no votes were cast under their names.
Vancore said that Florida allows people to register to vote by mail but he said the county receives state data about people who have died and marks those individuals in its files as ineligible to vote. He said the state requires a valid government ID to actually show up and vote, so he said this scheme “only got half the equation” necessary to vote.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel was first to report the applications.
Timothy Donnelly, an assistant state attorney, wrote in an August letter to Broward’s supervisor of elections, Peter Antonacci, that he had launched an investigation into the applications and that there were “several potential criminal violations.”
Another employee of the state attorney’s office wrote in an Oct. 22 email to Antonacci that the applications appeared to be filled out by one person but said, “Due to the fact that they were mailed from out of state with no return address I’m unable to identify the person who submitted these applications,” according to correspondence shared with CNN.
Only five of the names in the applications were actively registered in the county at that time, according to that email.
Some of the applications were submitted under the names of people born more than a century ago – one person’s birthdate was listed as 1917, documents show.
President Trump was wheels down in Green Bay, Wisconsin, at 3:46 p.m. ET, according to the pool. Trump is set to speak soon at a rally.
The normal pre-rally playlist was interrupted several times by campaign messages playing on two large big screens. Most accused Biden of wanting to raise taxes, “destroy the suburbs” and defund the police.
While CNN is seeing many masks in the crowd, it still looks like the majority of people at the rally are maskless. It’s about 37 degrees and sunny out right now.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden returned to Iowa Friday afternoon, a state he last left in February with a fourth-place caucus finish.
Introduced by Democratic Senate candidate Theresa Greenfield, Biden delivered his standard stump speech, but devoted a significant portion of his remarks to her race as he campaigns not only to beat President Trump, but also as he hopes to flip the Senate blue.
Biden trolled Republican Sen. Joni Ernst after the moment in the Iowa Senate debate where she couldn’t name the break-even price of soybeans. “And as we saw in a debate where a farmer’s daughter knows a breakeven point for price of corn — crops. You’d think that’d be fairly basic,” he said. “That’s like my not knowing where the Delaware River was back home.”
Biden shared a point of similarity between himself and Greenfield – they both lost their first spouse. “Theresa and I both lost our first spouses,” he said. “We’ve both been single parents to young kids. We both found a way back from broken places. We know that’s why you should elect this woman, Theresa, to the United States Senate. She sees, she understands, she believes. When she talks to you and you talk to her, you know, and I’m not just saying this, you know she understands, she gets it.”
Biden slammed President Trump for trying to discourage people from voting and told the Iowans, “he will not be able to stop us at all.”
He added that “despite Trump’s efforts,” “We will not be silenced. 85 million people have already voted so far.”
Biden concentrated much of his speech on the pandemic, and as he ticked through a list of grievances and statistics, he made its impact local. “The Iowa State fair was canceled for the first time since World War II,” he said. “And Donald Trump has given up.”
After slamming the President for bragging that he didn’t pay his fair share of taxes, claiming it was “because I’m smarter, I know how to game the system,” Biden stated: “Well he ain’t gonna be gaming the system anymore in a Biden administration. They’re gonna start paying.”
Biden ended his speech, “So in these final days, stay empowered, stay united, stay optimistic. Make a plan to vote, vote early. Vote on Election Day. Help get out the vote.”
The US Postal Service released a fact sheet on Friday detailing several “extraordinary measures” that the agency says it is undertaking to make sure mail-in ballots are delivered in time to get counted.
USPS says it will:
Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris gave her usual stump speech in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday. She addressed a crowd seated in white chairs that were set far apart and appear to have been provided by the campaign.
Harris reminded voters to continue their enthusiasm through Election Day. “Now we know this is no time to let up on the pedal though, right?”
Harris continued, saying, “people are committed, and so today is the last day of early voting in Texas, we want to make sure that we see it through, and then let’s make sure that on election day, everybody we know has made sure that their voice, their powerful voice, is represented in this election through their vote”
Toward the end of her remarks, the senator gave voters another reason to consider the Biden-Harris ticket.
“Everything is at stake. Like let’s think about where we are, we talked about it in terms of these crises, let’s talk about it in terms of these 545 babies who right now have been orphaned because of a failure of the United States government to reunify them with their parents! Let’s talk about a nation under this administration that had a policy of separating children from their parents at the border!”
Earlier today: Texas surpassed the state’s total turnout from the 2016 general election with one more day of in-person early voting remaining Friday ahead of Election Day. Over 9 million people have voted early in the state.
Texans cast 8.96 million ballots in the 2016 presidential election, according to the Texas secretary of state’s website.
The high turnout this election so far accounts for more than half — about 53% — of registered voters in the Lone Star State. The number of total registered voters has grown 12% since 2016 — almost 1.9 million people.
President Trump wrapped his first rally of the day in Waterford Township, Michigan, after 67 minutes, sticking largely to his standard stump speech.
The President will now fly from Michigan to Green Bay, Wisconsin, for rally number two set to take place at 3:30 p.m. ET. His final rally of the day will be held in Rochester, Minnesota, at 6 p.m. ET.
Democratic challenger Joe Biden is also campaigning in Midwest states today. Biden delivered remarks at a campaign event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines.
He will then hold a drive-in event at 4:45 p.m. ET in St. Paul, Minnesota, and deliver remarks at 7:30 p.m. ET in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
More than 6 million ballots have already been cast in four pivotal Midwest states: Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will both appear in Minnesota and Wisconsin on Friday. In addition, Trump will stop in Michigan and Biden will appear in Iowa. All four states are among CNN’s most competitively rated.
With four days until Nov. 3, here’s a deeper look at who’s already voted in these key states, with data from Catalist, a company that provides data, analytics and other services to Democrats, academics and nonprofit issue-advocacy organizations:
Read the full story here
As of Friday morning, seven Pennsylvania counties aren’t going to count mail-in ballots on Election Day, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said at a news conference, noting that Cumberland County, near Harrisburg, is the largest of them.
“Even if you can only do part to get started as early as humanly possible on Election Day matters, for every single county of any size. But certainly the more mail-in and absentee ballots they have, the more it matters,” said Boockvar.
As CNN previously reported, there are counties in the Keystone State that don’t plan on counting mail-in ballots on Election Day instead choosing to start on Wednesday, Nov. 4, leading to the potential for counting delays.
CNN has confirmed that two counties waiting are Beaver County, located outside of Pittsburg, and Cumberland County, located near Harrisburg.
Boockvar also pushed back on reported claims that some counties say they didn’t get the resources they needed to count earlier, noting that the state still has federal funds available and that the Center for Tech and Civic Life, an organization focused on improving the voting process, is still providing last minute grants to counties in need.
The secretary of state pointed out that the Republican-led legislature could have eased the current situation had they passed legislation that would have allowed for pre-canvassing in the days leading up to the Election.
A newly-released video by the Biden campaign highlights the story of a man who immigrated to the United States and then died from Covid-19 this year, underscoring the toll the pandemic has taken on Latinos while also showcasing the “American Dream.”
In a series of photos and audio, the video chronicles the life of Alfonso Cardenas, who came to the US from Colombia and eventually became a US citizen. The three-minute clip draws a nexus between immigration and the coronavirus pandemic, two key issues.
Cardenas died in August. His death certificate, shown in the video, lists coronavirus as a cause of death.
“Alfonso was robbed of his future. But not his dream,” the video concludes.
Vice President Mike Pence tested negative for coronavirus, according to a statement on background provided to pool reporters traveling with him.
The statement does not make clear whether Pence was tested today. It simply says “the VP is negative. White House Medical has medically cleared him to keep traveling.”
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will deliver remarks soon at a campaign event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines.
Biden and President Trump are making three-state swings in the Midwest today.
After departing Iowa, Biden will hold a drive-in event at 4:45 p.m. ET in St. Paul, Minnesota, and deliver remarks at 7:30 p.m. ET in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Trump will also be holding events in Minnesota and Wisconsin later today.
It’s the Friday before the 2020 presidential election, and many states are entering their final days of early voting.
Across the country, more than 80 million ballots have already been cast, with four days to go before Election Day. Here’s a look at where some of the ballot totals stand in key states:
President Trump is planning to hold rallies in seven states in the final stretch before Election Day Tuesday.
He’s holding rallies in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Wisconsin — all key battleground states.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris will travel to Georgia and Goldsboro and Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Sunday, according to the campaign.
Earlier today, CNN reported that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, Harris and their spouses are scheduled to campaign in all four corners of Pennsylvania Monday ahead of Election Day.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger expressed confidence in the state’s voting process despite complications posed by Hurricane Zeta earlier in the week. Though the storm left over 1 million Georgians without power, Raffensperger said only one polling place remains without power.
In June, the state rolled out a new $100 million touchscreen voting system to much confusion. Primary voters reported waiting for hours as poll workers tried to grasp the system’s components. But Raffensperger said during this election, the system has only provided voters with more confidence.
“We’re not having any challenges with the system,” he said.
Raffensperger also contended that voter rejection has not been a problem in the state. The scanning of mail-in ballots has already started, and each ballot is looked over by an adjudication committee composed of a Republican, Democrat and an election official.
So far, he said, the rejection rate has been less than 1%, a historic low for the state and a relative low compared to other states in the region.
The secretary also touched on what he sees as the strength of decentralized election systems, saying the localized elections enhance election security and are better positioned to meet local needs. He said he will be announcing an election reform package that will be “voter centric.”
“Those advocating for a nationwide standard do not understand how elections work,” Raffensperger said.
At least 3.6 million Georgians have cast ballots so far. Though over 350,000 mail-in ballots remain unreturned, Raffensperger said he expects the highest turnout ever in an American election.
“We have more available options to vote than nearly any other state in America — it’s a plain fact,” he said.
President Trump lamented the 250-person limit his campaign announced for his Friday rally in Rochester, Minnesota, which is in accordance with guidance from the state’s health department. He claimed that 100 times that amount of people wanted to attend.
The campaign blamed “the free-speech stifling dictates” of the Minnesota governor and attorney general for the cap in a statement on Thursday. Guidance from the Minnesota Department of Health calls for no more than 250 people at events, as long as social distancing can be maintained.
“25,000, people want to be there, and they say you can only have 250 people, so they thought I’d cancel. But I’m not canceling,” Trump said, adding that these supporters in Minnesota want to come to his rally because they’re “angry at the riots” and Rep. Ilhan Omar, a frequent target of the President.
On the protests that turned violent following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in late May, Trump claimed the people of Minnesota “know that I stopped [the riots,] but I stopped after them was requested…it was very late. They should have requested it two weeks earlier,” repeating an attack on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
However, Walz — not Trump — was the one who deployed the Minnesota National Guard to quell the violence. The governor first activated the guard on May 28, more than seven hours before Trump publicly threatened to deploy the guard himself.
The President predicted that Minnesota would “flip” for the first time since 1972. Hillary Clinton defeated Trump in the state by less than two points in 2016.
Some background: Minnesota reported three Covid-19 outbreaks related to Trump campaign events held in September. One of those events, a Trump rally in Bemidji, had at least 2,000 people in attendance according to a CNN producer who was there.
