Reality Check

Donald Trump repeated his criticism of postal voting, telling supporters at a Sunday rally that 50,000 ballots went “missing” in Ohio.

Previously, the president has suggested this is evidence of a “rigged election”, but there’s no evidence to support the claim.

Due to a technology malfunction, 50,000 inaccurate ballots were sent out to voters in Ohio earlier this month, which the local elections board called a “serious mistake”.

However, they say every voter affected now has the correct voter slip, and in a response to the president’s tweet on 9 October said: "Our board is bipartisan and our elections are fair. And every vote will be counted."

Elsewhere, photos have been shared on Facebook with claims they show election ballots “being dumped” in California. But Sonoma County has said the pictures are of “old empty envelopes from the November 2018 election that were disposed of as allowed by law”.

Here's the full round-up of US election claims

Image source, Getty Images

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday the was "not that confident" in the coronavirus vaccine approval process by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"My opinion doesn't matter, but I don't believe the American people are that confident," Cuomo said on ABC News. "I think it's going to be a very sceptical American public about taking the vaccine, and they should be."

President Donald Trump has for months suggested that an approved vaccine could be imminent, raising concerns that the timeline would be influenced by political pressure.

Last week, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said that the company would not seek approval for a vaccine before the third week of November - dashing the president's hopes of a jab before the 3 November presidential election.

As we reported a little earlier, a new poll suggests a significant fall in the numbers of Americans wanting to get vaccinated, external once it becomes available.

Ritu Prasad
BBC News, Florida

We’ve been asking our readers for their most pressing questions about the US election. Now it’s our turn to respond.

Click here if you want to know more about this project or send in a question of your own.

• Can you contrast each candidate’s policies on climate change? (Alan Ramage, 74, Plymouth UK)

With this, Trump’s record is clear: since taking office, he’s made dozens of changes and rollbacks to environmental protections, let alone his go-to call that climate change is a “hoax”. Trump’s bullet-pointed second-term agenda ignored the wider issue altogether in favour of promising the cleanest water and air. We took adetailed look at Trump’s record here but (spoiler alert) these are the big policies to know:

• Withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, which committed the US and 187 other countries to keep rising global temperatures below 2C
• Replacing Obama-era clean power rules that limited carbon emissions from coal and gas power plants with the weaker Affordable Clean Energy rule
• Attempting to freeze the fuel efficiency standards on new vehicles, and prevent California from setting its own emissions rules
• Changes to the National Environmental Policy Act including limiting 2 years for environmental infrastructure reviews, and ending a requirement for the government to look at the overall environmental impact of projects

With four more years, it’ll likely be more of the same.

But if voters put Biden in the Oval Office, we’re looking at rollbacks of the rollbacks. Biden has promised to recommit to the Paris accord, reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and turn the US into a 100% clean energy economy. He’s even gone further than the official Democratic National Committee platform by saying he’ll end subsidies to fossil fuel companies. This green vision will cost a cool couple trillion over four years.

Read more: Why US election could decide battle against climate change

Image source, Reuters

Donald Trump has been slated online for telling people not to vote for Joe Biden as he will “listen to the scientists” regarding Covid-19. That phrase is currently in the top ten Twitter trends in the US.

Speaking at a rally in Nevada, Mr Trump said, external: “If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression instead - we’re like a rocket ship. Take a look at the numbers.”

He also accused Democratic governors of keeping their states closed by enforcing measures to stop the spread of the virus.

Mr Biden tweeted a link to an article on Mr Trump’s comments with the single word…”yes”. Mr Biden has promoted mask wearing and has said he would “do whatever it takes” to combat the spread of the virus in the US., external

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

Image source, Reuters

With just over two weeks to go before election day in the US, Donald Trump is criss-crossing the country, holding what have now become his trademark airport hanger rallies in an attempt to stoke enthusiasm in his political base for his re-election bid.

Joe Biden, on the other hand, has no public events on his calendar.

This difference in schedules can be attributed to a difference in preparation strategies in the run-up to the final presidential debate scheduled for Thursday night.

Biden’s team prefers to prepare in seclusion, allowing their candidate to be rested and focused for what is the last remaining big set-piece event before Americans render their judgement at the ballot box. Trump, on the other hand, has opted to display his endurance on the campaign trail.

With a solid lead in the polls, Biden has the apparent luxury of keeping a more sedate campaign schedule – although that has opened him up to criticism from conservatives, who accuse him of hiding from the public and the press.

Tens of millions of Americans will be watching the debate on Thursday night, however. The performance of each candidate during those 90 minutes on the stage will almost certainly outweigh anything else that is said – or happens - this week.

Image source, Reuters

There's little doubt that the coronavirus pandemic is the defining feature of this year's presidential election, and so we interrupt our live coverage to bring you some interesting virus-related news.

According to a new poll, the number of people in America who say they are likely to get a coronavirus vaccine when it is ready has fallen.

The survey found that 58% of Americans would get the vaccine, down from 69% who said the same in August., external

Out of those polled, 59% of white Americans said they would get vaccinated, down from 70% in August. And 43% of black Americans said they would get a vaccine as soon as possible, down from 65%.

With Florida beginning in-person early voting today, and President Trump on day four of a whistlestop tour of key swing states, it's a good time to remind ourselves of where the US election is likely to be won and lost on 3 November.

It won't be in solidly Republican or Democrat strongholds, but in the areas below, states where either party candidate could feasibly emerge victorious.

US election 2020 polls: Who is ahead - Trump or Biden?

Katty Kay
World News America presenter, Miami

It always seems to come back to Florida doesn’t it? I went to an early voting station in Miami this morning and as it opened at 07:00 it was pouring with rain and a howling wind and there was still a line of people waiting to vote.

They all understand how tight Florida can be. I spoke to Republicans and Democrats, people voting for Trump and people voting for Biden. They don’t have much in common - but they do all believe Florida is on a knife edge.

And anyone who is old enough remembers this: in 2000 only 537 votes separated Al Gore and George W Bush in the whole state of Florida. One man became President, the other didn’t.

More white women voted for Donald Trump than for Hillary Clinton in 2016, according to research. But polls now suggest they're changing their minds about the president.

Our population reporter Stephanie Hegarty has been exploring the shift in attitudes, and what impact it could have on the election.

Continuing our theme of the day - Explaining the US Election - we are flagging one of our simplest and most effective guides, covering everything you need to know about the election.

We explain the US political system, how voting works and how the winner is decided. Hopefully using language we can all understand - but you be the judge!

US election 2020: A really simple guide

Image source, Getty Images

Images from Florida show people braving the rain to vote in person for the first time in this election.

Nationwide, more than 28 million ballots have been cast, a record fuelled by coronavirus concerns.

US media are reporting that registered Democrats have so far outvoted registered Republicans – casting more than double the number of ballots.

However Republicans, some of whom echo Trump's claims that postal voting is vulnerable to fraud, say Democrats may win the early vote but that Republicans will show up in large numbers on election day.

According to a 2017 study by the Brennan Center for Justice, the rate of voting fraud overall in the US is between 0.00004% and 0.0009%.

Read more: 'Rigged' votes, body doubles and other false claims

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

There are 15 days left until the election, but Joe Biden - leading in most national polls - is not courting crowds on the campaign trail like Trump. He's spending the next few days preparing for the final presidential debate in Nashville on Thursday.

His running mate Kamala Harris is out campaigning - today she is in Florida where early voting has just started. She will hold a drive-in rally in Orlando before heading to Jacksonville. It’s her first in person event since having to isolate over the weekend after an aide tested positive for the virus.

Florida, a crucial state in the race for the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the presidential election, was won by Donald Trump in 2016.

On Tuesday, Biden's wife Jill is set to speak in Michigan although the details of that are not yet known.

And on Wednesday, Barack Obama is set to hit the campaign trail on Wednesday with an appearance in Pennsylvania, external.

According to polls, Mr Obama remains one of the most popular figures in American politics. It will be the first time he has campaigned on behalf of Mr Biden in person this year.

Ritu Prasad
BBC News, Florida

We’ve been asking our readers for their most pressing questions about the US election. Now it’s our turn to respond.

Click here if you want to know more about this project or send in a question of your own.

• Where do Donald Trump and Joe Biden stand on the right to bear arms? (Steven Ridge, 32, Clinton Tennessee USA)

Let’s be clear, both candidates support the Second Amendment, which gives Americans the right to bear arms. Neither is trying to get rid of it. So where do they differ?

Trump’s second-term agenda simply states he’ll continue to support the exercise of those rights, so we’ve got to look at his record for more details. Though his administration did ban bump stocks after the Las Vegas shooting, throughout Trump’s first term, he’s been a staunch supporter of gun rights. Despite his talk about background checks or legislation to address mental health, we haven’t seen anything concrete.

As for challenger Joe Biden, his platform offers a lot more detail on gun control measures.

Biden wants universal background checks, “smart guns” that only fire when their owner uses them, restrictions on gun ownership for hate crime convicts and a ban on assault weapons.

Image source, Getty Images

As we said earlier, one of our themes today is "Explaining the Election" - so here's our first shot at that; a really clear guide to what Trump and Biden stand for, and how their policies compare on eight key issues.

We'll pull out some individual areas as we go through the day, but for now, here's the full piece to get your teeth into.

US election 2020: What are Trump's and Biden's policies?

Image source, Reuters

So after a busy weekend on the campaign trail, President Donald Trump is not letting up as he heads to the battleground state of Arizona on Monday for rallies in Tuscon and Prescot.

Trump won Arizona by three percent in the last election and Republicans have won the state in every presidential election since 1952, external – aside from 1996.

But today it's back in play. In the 2018 senate vote, Republican Martha McSally was beaten by Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. A recent poll by Monmouth University suggests Joe Biden is leading in the state.

Arizona is home to a large Mormon population and the New York Times is reporting that Mormons fed up with the president could be a crucial voting bloc that will help Mr Biden clinch Arizona., external

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has accused President Trump of "incredibly disturbing" and "dangerous" actions after he encouraged supporters to chant "lock her up" at his weekend rally in Michigan at the weekend, in the wake of an alleged plot to kidnap her uncovered by the FBI.

Whitmer told CBS News she had asked the White House to tone down the rhetoric against her, but it "falls on deaf ears".

Earlier she told NBC's Meet the Press: "It's incredibly disturbing that the president of the United States — 10 days after a plot to kidnap, put me on trial, and execute me...10 days after that plot was uncovered — the president is at it again, inspiring and incentivising and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism."

Catch up with what happened at the weekend with our newest, shiniest feature, The Countdown - a daily digest of what's going on in the US election. As a taster, here's the news in four sentences:

1. Donald Trump dashed across four states in two days over the weekend and on Monday he makes two more stops in Arizona, a state where he must win over Latino voters
2. Joe Biden had a quieter weekend travelling with his granddaughter Finnegan to North Carolina, a state he wants to flip because he knows what really counts are the polls in a few crucial states
3. After Taylor Swift, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Cardi B all spoke out for the Biden campaign, it was the turn of the Trump celebrity fan club of Kid Rock, Kirstie Alley and Jon Voigt to turn up, but not without a social media backlash, external - here's our piece on whether celebrity endorsements help or hurt
4. TikTok has removed videos in which President Trump is called an "angry Cheeto" and an "orange brussel sprout", after a BBC investigation revealed the influencers who posted them had been paid by a marketing company.

Read more: The Countdown: A prophecy, crowds and a TikTok takedown

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the US election as it enters what is sure to be a frantic final phase. We'll be bringing you all the news from the campaign trail ahead of the 3 November poll, plus reaction and comment from across the US and around the world.

Today, we're focusing on "Explaining the Election" too. So look forward to seeing some of our best background material popping up, plus regular "Your Questions Answered" slots (Click here if you want to know more about this project or send in a question of your own).

Later there'll be a chance to send in your bite-sized views on "What's at stake in five words" and we'll bring you coverage from the BBC's outside broadcast today in Miami, Florida, where BBC World News presenter Katty Kay will be meeting early voters and city officials.