The latest on the 2020 election

By Meg Wagner, Melissa Macaya and Mike Hayes, CNN

Updated 8:07 p.m. ET, October 27, 2020
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11:15 a.m. ET, October 27, 2020

Chief Justice Roberts has sworn in Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett

From CNN's Ariane de Vogue

Fred Schilling/Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States
Fred Schilling/Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administered the Judicial Oath with Amy Coney Barrett Tuesday morning. 

After the Senate voted 52-48 to confirm Barrett, she was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice at a ceremony on the south lawn of the White House Monday night.

11:09 a.m. ET, October 27, 2020

Here are the latest voting numbers in Cincinnati, Ohio

From CNN’s Devon M. Sayers

The Hamilton County Board of elections reports record levels of early and absentee voting the board said. The County includes the Ohio’s third largest city, Cincinnati.  

More than 50,000 people in the county have cast early in-person votes so far this cycle. This total includes the first weekend of in-person voting. In 2016, 27,248 people voted during the entire early voting period. 

Early voting in the state will continue every day until Election Day. Historically, the largest levels of in-person voting occur the weekend before election day, Sherry L. Poland Director of the Board tells CNN 

The county has also mailed 179,000 absentee to voters and more than 138,000 have been returned. This is also a record level. 

“We are energized, even after working 12-hour days, by the outpouring of positivity from voters and encourage everyone to make a plan on how they will vote this year,” Sally Krisel, Deputy Director of the Board of elections said in a press release. 

The county has 600,401 voters registered to vote during this election, Poland told CNN. 

The Ohio Secretary of State is expected to release statewide early voting and absentee numbers later today. 

 

11:04 a.m. ET, October 27, 2020

Pence did not attend Barrett's swearing in last night because of CDC guidelines, official says

From CNN's Jim Acosta and Betsy Klein

President Donald Trump, center, speaks flanked by US Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, right, before the swearing in of Judge Amy Coney Barrett as an US Supreme Court Associate Justice during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House October 26 in Washington, DC.
President Donald Trump, center, speaks flanked by US Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, right, before the swearing in of Judge Amy Coney Barrett as an US Supreme Court Associate Justice during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House October 26 in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Asked by CNN why Vice President Mike Pence did not attend Monday night’s White House ceremony for Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, an administration official suggested that Pence did not do so because he was adhering to guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“As has been the case, the Vice President has been adhering to the CDC guidelines for essential personnel,” the official said in a statement. 

The official added that Pence “has been wearing a mask on the helicopter, airplane, off the plane and onto the stage, in his cabin.”

The official also noted that Pence’s regional media interviews have been canceled and during rallies.

“When he removes his mask on stage he is greater than 20 feet from the audience," the statement said.

Though he has been heeding the guidelines at the events himself, Pence continues to host campaign rally events that actively ignore CDC guidelines on mask usage and social distancing among his supporters.

10:59 a.m. ET, October 27, 2020

20 former Republican US Attorneys endorse Biden campaign

From CNN's Christina Carrega

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden takes off his face mask to speak during a drive-in campaign rally at Bucks County Community College on October 24 in Bristol, Pennsylvania.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden takes off his face mask to speak during a drive-in campaign rally at Bucks County Community College on October 24 in Bristol, Pennsylvania. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Former US Attorneys, who were appointed and served under Republican presidents as far back as Dwight Eisenhower, announced on Tuesday their endorsement for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. 

"We firmly believe that Vice President Joe Biden is the candidate who can – and will – provide the leadership we need to refocus the Justice Department on the cause of impartial justice and to address the deep-seated societal issues that are roiling our country today," according to a statement from 20 former US Attorneys. "We give him our strongest endorsement, and we hereby announce that we will each be voting for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to serve as the next President and Vice President of the United States."

The former chief law enforcement leaders of the Justice Department co-signed a statement not only to endorse Biden, but to voice their concerns that the "foundational principles of the Department of Justice" have been a "threat to the rule of law" under President Trump's leadership. 

Attorney General William Barr was not named in the statement. 

 The statement was endorsed with signatures of Republican leaders that span six decades including, William Webster who served under Eisenhower for the Eastern District of Missouri to former US Attorney for the District of Nevada Donald Ayer who serviced under George W. Bush and Trump.

 

10:38 a.m. ET, October 27, 2020

Almost 47% of all registered North Carolina voters have already cast a ballot

From CNN's Dianne Gallagher

Early voters line up to cast their ballots at the South Regional Library polling location in Durham, North Carolina, on October 15.
Early voters line up to cast their ballots at the South Regional Library polling location in Durham, North Carolina, on October 15. Gerry Broome/AP

As of 9:30 a.m. today, 3,429,459 ballots have been cast in North Carolina, according to data provided by the North Carolina State Board of Elections. 

That means almost 47% of the 7,327,029 currently registered voters in North Carolina have already voted in the 2020 election. 

In North Carolina, a resident can register to vote and cast a ballot on the same day during the early in-person voting period at a “One Stop Absentee” Early Voting location. The early voting period runs through Saturday in North Carolina. 

Today is the final day a voter can request an absentee by mail ballot in North Carolina. 

The NCSBE also recommends voters who want to send their ballot by mail, do so by today.

Some more context: North Carolina law requires ballots be postmarked before or on Election Day by 5 p.m. The deadline for when an Election Day postmarked ballot can be accepted has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. There is no SCOTUS opinion on the NC deadline yet, but lower courts have upheld the extended deadline. The deadline is currently set at November 12, but Republicans have asked for it to be rolled back to the legislature-set deadline of November 6. 

An absentee ballot can be returned in person at an early voting site through October 31. It can also be returned in person to the voter’s county board of elections office by 5 p.m. on Election Day.

North Carolina does not have ballot drop boxes. 

10:55 a.m. ET, October 27, 2020

Harris tested negative for Covid-19 today ahead of final stretch campaigning

From CNN’s Jasmine Wright

Sen. Kamala Harris underwent PCR testing for coronavirus on Tuesday and Covid-19 was not detected, according to a Harris aide.

Harris is set to start her final days of campaigning before the election, traveling to Nevada today and Arizona on Wednesday, rounding out the week in Texas on Friday.

10:08 a.m. ET, October 27, 2020

Biden's campaign packages closing argument in two new ads

From CNN’s Sarah Mucha and Arlette Saenz 

Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is launching a pair of ads to make his closing message with one week until Election Day that sound much like his opening argument as he contends that we are in a “battle for the soul of the nation” and that “character is on the ballot." 

In the first minute-long spot, Joe Biden speaks directly to the camera.

“I started this campaign saying we’re in the battle for the soul of the nation. I believe that even more deeply today. Who we are, what we stand for, maybe most importantly, who we are going to be. It’s all at stake. Character is on the ballot. The character of the country,” he says. 

He makes his long held argument that this is the time to unite the country and to "choose hope over fear," ending the ad just as he ends most of his campaign trail speeches, by reminding Americans that "this is the United States of America and there’s never been anything we’ve been unable to do when we’ve done it together.”  

In the second 60-second spot, Jill Biden makes a pitch for her husband’s character reminiscent of her speech at the Democratic National Convention, that just like he brought his family together after experiencing tragedy, he can bring the American people together during the multiple crises facing the nation.  

“My name is Jill Biden, and I want to tell you about my husband Joe,” she begins. “I first met Joe two years after a car accident injured his sons, and killed his wife and his baby daughter. His life had been shattered. But as one of Joe's favorite quotes reminds us, faith sees best in the dark. Joe's faith helped him channel his grief into purpose. It gave him the strength to fight hard for other people's families in the Senate and then take a two hour train ride home every day to be there for him,” she says.  

Jill finishes by making the pitch. “Right now, a lot of families are hurting. And I know in my heart that if we entrust this nation to Joe, he will do for these families what he did for ours: bring us together, help us find light in the darkness, keep hope for the future alive in all of us.”  

Per the campaign, these closing messages ads will air on digital platforms and national cable and broadcast stations between now and Election Day, including running key markets across 16 states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. 

10:13 a.m. ET, October 27, 2020

The Pences test negative for coronavirus

From CNN's Betsy Klein and Daniella Diaz

Second lady Karen Pence and Vice President Mike Pence leave the stage to greet supporters after speaking at a rally at the Boulder City Airport on October 8 in Boulder City, Nevada.
Second lady Karen Pence and Vice President Mike Pence leave the stage to greet supporters after speaking at a rally at the Boulder City Airport on October 8 in Boulder City, Nevada. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Vice President Mike Pence and the Second Lady tested negative for Covid-19 this morning, the vice president's office said Tuesday. 

10:10 a.m. ET, October 27, 2020

How the Pennsylvania and Wisconsin cases on mail-in voting deadlines compare

From CNN's Ariane de Vogue

A voter casts her early voting ballot at the A. B. Day School polling location on October 17 in Philadelphia.
A voter casts her early voting ballot at the A. B. Day School polling location on October 17 in Philadelphia. Mark Makela/Getty Images

A divided Supreme Court said Monday that mail-in ballots in Wisconsin could be counted only if they are received by Election Day.

Democrats in the state had asked the court to allow the counting of ballots that arrive up to six days after Election Day if they were postmarked by Nov. 3.

The ruling was 5-3, coming just before the Senate voted to add Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Justice Elena Kagan, joined by her liberal colleagues, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer, dissented from the court's order.

Monday's order is the latest sign that the justices do not want federal courts to change voting rules too close to the election.

Unlike the Pennsylvania order last week, the Wisconsin order Monday concerned a ruling from a lower federal court, not a state court, and Chief Justice John Roberts said that made a difference.

A federal district court in Wisconsin had sided with the Democrats to allow mail-in ballots to be received up to six days after Election Day, but an appeals court blocked that order and the Supreme Court upheld the block.

The federal district court, Roberts wrote in a concurring opinion, "intervened in the thick of election season" to block a state law. He said the case represented "federal intrusion on state lawmaking processes."

The Pennsylvania case, on the other hand, concerned a decision by the state's highest court. Roberts said that decision "implicated the authority of state courts to apply their own constitutions to election regulations."

"Different bodies of law and different precedents govern these two situations and require, in these particular circumstances, that we allow the modification of election rules in Pennsylvania but not Wisconsin," Roberts wrote.

It's unclear how long the court will make that distinction now that Barrett is joining as the ninth member, said Steve Vladeck, CNN legal analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law.

"The only justice to view these cases differently than the ones from Pennsylvania was the Chief Justice, for whom there's apparently a categorical difference between a state Supreme Dourt extending election deadlines, which he refused to upend, and a federal district court doing the same," Vladeck said. "But the central role of the Chief Justice may well be short-lived with Justice Barrett presumably able to vote on the next set of election cases.