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It’s safe to say Donald Trump will not face the kind of problems, when he votes in person in Florida on Saturday, as many Americans have in their attempts to vote early and make sure they have their say in the election.
Clara McMichael has filed this report for us, on the Americans who are traveling miles during a pandemic, just to be able to vote:
In mid-October, Sade Onadiji boarded a flight from Chicago to Houston, Texas, to cast her vote for Joe Biden. She had quarantined ahead of time and gotten a Covid test. On the plane, she Clorox-wiped her seat, wore gloves, and doubled up with a N95 mask and a face shield. When she arrived at her mother’s house, she wore a mask inside and stayed upstairs for a few days before getting another test. Then she, her mom and her brother voted together at the Smart Financial Centre.
Onadiji was born and raised in Texas and had always voted in the Houston suburbs. But this year, though she was pursuing her MBA at the University of Chicago, she decided it wasn’t the time to experiment with absentee voting. Onadiji was concerned because the state Republicans have a record of voter suppression – she pointed to Governor Gregg Abbott’s executive order that each county was only allowed a single ballot drop-off location. She went home to vote, even though it meant staying with her mother, a 64-year-old cancer survivor.
Related: Americans traveling miles during pandemic to vote in person
First lady Melania Trump has announced plans for Halloween celebrations at the White House.
This isn’t really very notable other than for the fact that “all guests (ages 2 years and over) are required to wear a face covering and practice social distancing during their visit to the White House complex”, as part of what the White House says are “extra precautions put in place by the Trump administration to help ensure the health and safety of all guests wishing to participate in this year’s spooky celebration”.
Related: Melania Trump tapes reveal complaints on Christmas and migrant children row