Election 2020 live updates: Officials, advocates urge voters to cast mail-in ballots

yorkfoto/iStockBy LIBBY CATHEY, ABC News

(WASHINGTON) -- With 12 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 as the candidates head to Nashville for a final showdown.

Roughly 42 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.

The candidates will face off in the final presidential debate of the 2020 election cycle from Belmont University in Nashville this evening -- their last chance to pitch themselves to tens of millions of voters in primetime before Nov. 3.

In the final weeks of campaigning, the president remains on defense as polls shows him trailing nationally and in several battleground states key to his reelection hopes.

Biden, maintaining a lead in national polls -- his largest of the election, according to FiveThirtyEight's average -- stayed off the trail this week ahead of the debate, a pattern for the former vice president. The debate offers Biden a platform to solidify his lead so long as he avoids any major mistakes in the homestretch.

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.

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.

Here's how the news is developing Thursday. All times Eastern:

Oct 22, 5:21 pm
Record 23,000 volunteer lawyers now helping nation's largest voter protection effort

Officials with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said at least 23,000 lawyers are now volunteering to assist with its Election Protection Hotline, a massive increase from prior cycles and the most on record.

It's a 400% increase from prior cycles when roughly 5,000 volunteers were on-call, according to the committee. The hotline is the nation's largest and longest-running independent voter help hotline.

The increase comes amid growing public demand for voter support along with reports of voter suppression, Kristen Clarke, the committee's president and executive director,  said in a statement Thursday.

Some older Americans committed to voting in person despite COVID
“We have activated a growing network of over 23,000 legal volunteers to help confront the threats that voters and to empower voters with the information they need to ensure that their voices are heard," Clarke said. "By empowering voters, intervening where threats emerge and mounting litigation to address the unlawful barriers that voters have faced during the pandemic, we are fighting to create a level playing field where every voice is heard.”

-ABC News' Devin Dwyer

 Oct 22, 4:53 pm
Biden debate guests to include Black small business owners

Former Vice President Joe Biden said he invited Zweli and Leonardo Williams, a pair of Black entrepreneurs from North Carolina, to the debate Thursday night to bring attention to small businesses.

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The duo are the owners of Zweli’s Kitchen, which is self-described as the “only known Full-Service Authentic Zimbabwean Restaurant in the United States” in Durham.

The campaign was asked about the guests during a Tuesday call with reporters and said they were invited because they represent the struggles of American business owners across the nation.

Oct 22, 4:38 pm
Trump offers contradictory responses on status of long-promised health care plan

President Donald Trump offered contradictory explanations about the status of his long-promised health care plan in an interview with “60 Minutes” reporter Lesley Stahl, saying initially that it is "fully developed” and will be announced "very soon" only to later say “we will come up with a plan” if the Affordable Care Act is invalidated by the Supreme Court.

Over his nearly four years in office, Trump has repeatedly promised to present a comprehensive health care plan of his own in his quest to do away with his predecessor's landmark "Affordable Care Act."  He has yet to do so.

"It is developed. It is fully developed," Trump told Stahl when asked where his health care plan is and promised: “It's going to be announced very soon."

The president later contradicted his earlier statement, saying “we will come up with a plan" if the Supreme Court rules to nullify the law.

“Will,” Stahl interjected, calling the president on his use of the future tense after he previously said he already had a plan developed.

“We have large sections of it already done,” Trump then said.

The Trump administration currently has a case before the Supreme Court that could effectively strike down the ACA. President Trump told Stahl it is his “hope” that the case will do away with the law.

The president's expression of the law's total nullification contradicted the careful message that Senate Republicans have been delivering in trying to downplay the case's threat to the ACA, as Democrats have put the issue center stage in the Amy Coney Barrett confirmation.

Just prior to the president's tweet releasing a White House recording of his interview with “60 Minutes” prior to the interview's broadcast on CBS, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas stressed that "the issue before the Supreme Court is really one of severability. Just very technical doctrine. It doesn't have anything to do with the merits of the Affordable Care Act. It has to do whether you can sever the unconstitutional portion from the rest of the law and that it will survive."

The president, by contrast, told Stahl "it’ll be so good if they end it.”

The president also claimed his plan would be cheaper than Obamacare and cover people with preexisting conditions. But when Stahl tried to nail the president down on “how” he will cover people with preexisting conditions, the president did not offer any specifics and instead only insisted that people with preexisting conditions will be “totally protected.”

-ABC News' Jordyn Phelps

Oct 22, 3:24 pm
Biden departs for Nashville, says he hopes Trump plays by rules tonight

As he boarded his plane to Nashville for tonight’s final presidential campaign, former Vice President Joe Biden spoke briefly with reporters, telling them he’s looking forward to tonight and said he hope President Trump plays by the rules.

“There’s plenty of time to talk when this is over, okay? So hopefully he’s going to play by the rules. Hopefully everyone’s been tested. Hopefully it’s all worked out, the way the rules are. I’m looking forward to this,” Biden said before getting on the plane.

He also said he hopes everyone gets tested ahead of the event. Biden’s campaign announced he had tested negative for COVID-19 earlier today.

Oct 22, 2:05 pm
First couple departs for debate in Nashville

President Donald Trump and Melania Trump held hands as they departed Washington for Nashville to attend the final presidential debate, marking the first lady's first public appearance since she and the president announced they tested positive for COVID-19.

The first couple emerged from the White House residence and waved to supporters who gathered to see them off. They stood at some distance from the assembled crowd, but they did not wear face coverings.

Once at Joint Base Andrews, the first couple again held hands as they walked across the tarmac with mask-wearing escorts. The pair did not take any questions.

Melania Trump was supposed to join the president on the campaign trail on Tuesday but that appearance was canceled due to a "lingering cough."

The White House previously told ABC News that the president and first lady had both tested negative since falling ill but as of early Thursday afternoon hadn't released information verifying negative tests ahead of the debate.

-ABC News' Jordyn Phelps

Oct 22, 12:52 pm
Biden plans to focus on at-home viewers during debate

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s team has remained tight-lipped about preparation for the final debate, but allies and advisers to Biden said they aren’t expecting much of a change from either candidate ahead of tonight's crucial matchup.

“I think Joe Biden is prepared for a completely unconventional debate in which the President of the United States does not act presidential [for] one minute. And the challenge is to not be distracted by the Trump show, and to make sure that Joe effectively puts out his positive vision,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told ABC News.

An aide to Biden said the former vice president plans to again focus on his message to viewers at home, but would not be shy about standing up to Trump’s interjections when necessary, especially given reports of the president’s planned personal attacks on Biden and his family.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle

Oct 22, 12:07 pm
Biden tests negative for COVID-19 for 13th time since last debate

Campaign officials said Joe Biden tested negative for COVID-19 ahead of his final debate with President Donald Trump tonight.

“Vice President Biden underwent PCR testing for COVID-19 today and COVID-19 was not detected,” the campaign said in a statement.

It was his thirteenth negative test since the campaign began disclosing test results in the aftermath of the last debate, the campaign said.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle

Oct 22, 11:28 am
Election officials urge voters to cast mail-in ballots now

With an estimated 55 million requested absentee ballots not yet turned in, top election officials and voter advocates are urging voters to send in their ballots before it's too late.

Earlier this week, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said the recommended mail-by date for ballots in her state has already passed and encouraged voters "to return them as soon as possible" by hand delivering them to a local clerk’s office or a ballot drop box.

Officials in 29 states, including Michigan, say absentee ballots must be received by the end of Election Day in order to count. Twenty-one states say absentee ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 3 and can still count if they arrive in a limited window after.

"If you are using the mail, you want to get it in as early as possible -- like now," League of Women Voters CEO Virgnia Kase said in an interview with ABC News Thursday. "Otherwise, dropping it off at one of those secure ballot drop boxes really is probably the safest and easiest way to make sure that your ballot is counted in on time."

-ABC News' Devin Dwyer

Oct 22, 10:53 am
Biden plans commission to reform 'out of whack' court system

In a new clip of his "60 Minutes" interview taped earlier this week in Wilmington, Delaware, former Vice President Joe Biden announced he would put together a bipartisan commission to look into the possible options for reforming an "out of whack" court system, again declining to say specifically if he would expand the court at this point.

“If elected, what I will do is I'll put together a national commission of -- bipartisan commission of scholars, constitutional scholars, Democrats, Republicans, liberal/conservative. And I will -- ask them to over 180 days come back to me with recommendations as to how to reform the court system because it's getting out of whack -- the way in which it’s being handled and it's not about court-packing. There's a number of other things that our constitutional scholars have debated and I've looked to see what recommendations that commission might make,” Biden said.

When pressed on if the study would center solely on the issue of packing the court, Biden pushed back, saying there are “a number of alternatives that are -- go well beyond packing.”

Biden said discussions on how to deal with the court is very much a “live ball,” and warned he didn’t want to politicize the institution from president to president.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle

Oct 22, 10:44 am
Plexiglass partitions erected for presidential debate

Plexiglas partitions were placed on the debate stage next to each candidates' lectern as a precaution for the second and final presidential debate in Nashville on Thursday.

Plexiglass became an issue prior to the vice-presidential debate when the two campaigns squabbled over whether to have physical barriers separate the two candidates.

The insistence on barriers was initially met with resistance by Vice President Mike Pence's team, but they were ultimately used.

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