The latest on the 2020 election

Democratic nominee Joe Biden kicked off his swing through Florida Thursday in Coconut Creek in Broward County, where he implored Floridians to get out and vote.

Wearing his signature aviators as he delivered remarks in the Sunshine State, Biden told the voters, “I believe you’re going to change the course of this country for generations to come. This election is the most important one you’ve ever voted in.”  

The Democratic nominee slammed President Trump, who’s also campaigning in Florida today, for holding “super spreader events.”  

“President Trump's super spreader events – and he's spreading more virus around the country, and here in Florida today,” Biden said. “He's spreading division in addition to the virus," Biden added. "Division and discord. We need a president to bring us together, not pull us apart.”

Biden, who has been attacked repeatedly and without evidence by Republicans and Trump for being a socialist, spent a considerable amount of time in his speech appealing directly to Cuban and Venezuelan communities.  

“We have to vote for new Cuba policy as well,” Biden said. “This administration’s approach isn't working. Cuba is no closer to freedom and democracy today than it was four years ago.”  

He argued that he is the best president to fight for democracy in countries like Cuba and Venezuela, slamming Trump as being the “worst standard bearer” for democracy after he has so long embraced dictators like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un.   

“President Trump can’t advance democracy and human rights for the Cuban people, or the Venezuelan people, for that matter, when he has embraced so many autocrats around the world, starting with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un of North Korea,” Biden said. “Trump is the worst possible standard bearer for democracy in places like Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea. For my entire career, I stood for democracy, human rights for freedom of the press, assembly, freedom of religion and against dictators whether they're left or right.”

Watch the moment:

First lady Melania Trump gave remarks at her husband’s campaign rally in Tampa, Florida, today, touting some of the President’s accomplishments from his first term and echoing some of her husband's campaign themes. 

“In a time when hate, negativity, and fear are the messages the media streams into our homes and the large tech companies are protecting political censorship, we need to remember what’s really important. My husband’s administration is focused on the future,” she added, not noting the irony that her husband’s Twitter account is often filled with messages of hate, negativity and fear mongering. 

She praised her husband’s ability to “black out the noise and focus on you, the American people.” 

The first lady discussed border security, peace deals in the Middle East, moving the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and what she described as Trump's support for the men and women in uniform, all topics Trump routinely mentions in his campaign remarks. 

She also claimed, “health care for every citizen remains a priority for him, and as you have seen over these past years, he won’t stop until he gets it done."

However, the administration is currently fighting to strike down the Affordable Care Act in court and they have yet to release a comprehensive health care plan to replace it.

The first lady also criticized those who are playing politics with a coronavirus vaccine.

“A vaccine is not a partisan issue. If you are not supporting the safe production of a vaccine, you’re not supporting the health and safety of the American people,” she said. “There is no room to play politics on this topic in the midst of [a] pandemic.”

Her remarks come at a political rally with no social distancing and few masks, going against all guidelines on how best to mitigate the spread of coronavirus, in the name of politics.

“On Tuesday, the direction of our country will take is in your own hands. I ask that you join us in continuing to put America first,” she concluded. “Together we will overcome this pandemic and continue building the brightest future for generations to come.”

More than 56,000 poll workers have been trained in Ohio ahead of the election — a record for the state, Secretary of State Frank LaRose said in a news release today.

His office set a goal of 150% of the minimum numbers of workers needed for each county due to the pandemic The over-recruiting of workers will give counties flexibility with the workforce. 

Five counties, all that President Trump carried, have not reached the recruitment targets. The largest to fall short is Ashtabula County, near Cleveland with a population near 100,000. The other counties include slightly smaller Greene County near Dayton, and three small rural counties — Jackson, Pike and Vinton — in southeastern Ohio, near the West Virginia state line.  

Ohio has taken a number of measures to help protect voters and poll workers during the pandemic, including social distancing and higher cleaning standards. In a guidance note put out earlier this year, the secretary also prohibited communal eating by poll workers including the use of crockpots — a popular tradition for poll workers in some parts of the state. 

Learn more about poll watchers and what they do here.

In four key states — Florida, North Carolina, Nevada and Iowa — Republicans are beginning to narrow the Democratic advantage in pre-Election Day voting.

More than 12 million ballots have been cast in these four states, which could be crucial in determining the next president.

The candidates' schedules reflect the focus on these states. President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are both in Florida on Thursday campaigning for the state's 29 electoral votes. Later, Trump was set to travel to North Carolina, while Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled for campaign stops in Iowa and Nevada. Biden is due in Iowa on Friday.

With five days until Nov. 3, here's a 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

Correction: This post has been updated to reflect Trump’s 2016 defeat in Nevada.

Read the full story here.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s plane has landed at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Broward County, Florida.

He will hold a drive-in event in the county before moving on for an event in Tampa later today.

President Trump meanwhile has landed in Tampa. He will motorcade alongside the first lady to Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the site of his first rally of the day.

The rally will held in one of the parking lots of the stadium.

Read more about the candidates' dueling events today in the Sunshine State here.

Joe Biden will head to St. Paul, Minnesota, Friday for a drive-in event, his campaign announced. Biden is also scheduled to stop in Wisconsin and Des Moines, Iowa.

This marks his busiest travel day on the campaign trail since becoming the Democratic nominee. 

The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday night reinstated rules issued by Gov. Greg Abbott allowing voters and poll workers to forego masks at voting sites. The appeals court ruling means that as of now, mask-wearing at the polls cannot be enforced in Texas.

The appeals court issued a temporary stay, reinstating the rules, while it considers other appeals. A federal district judge previously invalidated that part of Abbott's statewide directive about masks and face-coverings. That lower court ruling paved the way for counties to start enforcing mask-wearing at the polls.

United States District Judge Jason Pulliam in the Western District of Texas, had previously ruled that Abbott’s exemption at polling locations violates the Voting Rights Act by imposing a "voting practice or procedure which results in a denial or abridgement of the right of Black and Latino citizens to vote on account of race or color." 

The suit was brought by liberal groups. Abbott and the state officials defending his directive are Republicans.

Like in many states, the number of Covid-19 cases in Texas is on the rise, with El Paso seeing an especially strong surge. The state is building tents and a makeshift hospital to house Covid-19 patients in the city.

Given the expectation of a stay, Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins said in a statement that while he applauded the initial ruling that supported mask-wearing policies, the county will not enforce it. Harris County, which includes Houston, is the largest county in Texas.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar is telling voters who still have ballots to hand-deliver them now following last night’s Supreme Court ruling that allows the state to count ballots received after Election Day.

She also reminded voters that in Pennsylvania their ballots must include a privacy envelope so that they aren’t rejected.

About the ruling: The court declined to take up a challenge from Pennsylvania Republicans over the state's mail-in ballot deadline, leaving in place — for now — a state Supreme Court decision that ballots can be received up to three days after the election, even if there is no legible postmark.

But that may not be the end of the mail-in ballot court fight.

The Supreme Court's decision in Pennsylvania, an important state in the presidential election, came one day after the court rejected an appeal from Democrats to allow mail-in ballots in Wisconsin to be received three days after Election Day, so long as they were postmarked by Nov. 3.

The Hispanic vote could be crucial for both candidates’ election victory, especially in the state of Florida. But they are an extremely diverse group.

Ahead of President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden's dueling campaign events in the Sunshine State today, CNN’s Rosa Flores explained some of the biggest policy issues that differentiate Hispanic voters and spoke to three voters at an early voting location at the Westchester Regional Library in Miami.

She also answered viewers' questions in both English and Spanish.

Watch here.