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What you need to know about the 2020 elections across the greater Tampa Bay region.

Trump Votes Early In Florida 'For A Guy Named Trump'

President Trump talks with reporters after casting his ballot Saturday in West Palm Beach, Fla.
President Trump talks with reporters after casting his ballot Saturday in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The president cast his ballot from his adopted home state before departing for rallies on Saturday in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin. More than 50 million Americans have already voted.

Before embarking on a packed day of campaign rallies, President Trump stopped at a library in Florida's Palm Beach County on Saturday to cast his ballot.

"I voted for a guy named Trump," he told reporters.

While the president has voted by mail in the past, in recent months, he has decried the integrity of voting by mail, falsely asserting that it results in rampant fraud.

"It was a very secure vote, much more secure than when you send in a ballot," Trump said on Saturday, without evidence.

While many have states rushed to expand voting by mail this spring because of the pandemic, Democrats have started encouraging voters to cast ballots early and in person if possible as the prospect of delayed tabulations and Postal Service slowdowns loom.

More than 50 million people have already voted in the election either by mail or in person, according to the U.S. Elections Project, a turnout-tracking database run by University of Florida political scientist Michael McDonald.

Trump's running mate, Vice President Pence, voted early on Friday in Indianapolis.

After voting, Trump was scheduled to depart Florida for rallies Saturday in North Carolina and Ohio. The president will also hold a rally in Wisconsin, which is currently experiencing one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the country.

Trump told reporters that the rallies will be "big ones" and boasted about the crowds he has been attracting.

His Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, is holding a pair of rallies in Pennsylvania on Saturday, including a drive-in rally in Luzerne County with Jon Bon Jovi.

NPR's Franco Ordoñez contributed reporting.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Sam Gringlas
Sam Gringlas is a journalist at NPR's All Things Considered. In 2020, he helped cover the presidential election with NPR's Washington Desk and has also reported for NPR's business desk covering the workforce. He's produced and reported with NPR from across the country, as well as China and Mexico, covering topics like politics, trade, the environment, immigration and breaking news. He started as an intern at All Things Considered after graduating with a public policy degree from the University of Michigan, where he was the managing news editor at The Michigan Daily. He's a native Michigander.
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