Early voting begins Monday, and former President Donald Trump works at McDonald's as both candidates hit the swing states ahead of the election.
Supervisor of elections websites operating normally after struggles as Florida early voting began
The 2024 presidential race is well underway. The general election is coming soon, and voters in Tampa Bay and Central Florida counties can start voting Monday. They have until Sunday, Nov. 3 to cast their ballots ahead of Election Day.
Early Monday, VR Systems, Inc., a software company in Tallahassee that manages many of Florida's county elections websites, experienced heavy load times on the first day of early voting, but the websites were operating as expected by Monday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, many people trying to access many county Supervisor of Elections websites were sent to this page and could use the county drop-down menu to get redirected the correct site.
Election polling officials in Pinellas County said Thursday that 25 polling locations have been relocated after Helene and Milton.
Additionally, Manatee County voting officials said Friday that a number of voting locations have changed because of the recent hurricanes.
The locations were mostly in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Tarpon Springs and Treasure Island. The county posted all of the changes here.
The county's seven early voting sites were unaffected by the storms and will be available for early voting starting October 21.
Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus visited the sites in the county to make sure everything is ready for incoming voters.
“I want folks to know that at every step of the way, we’re doing everything that we can to make sure that the process is fair and secure,” she said.
From signs on the wall to the voting booths, Marcus checked for anything out of place.
This doesn’t happen at just one early voting location, but every one that’s available to early voters in the county.
“To know what we went through, Helene and Milton, and the impact that it has had on our community across Pinellas County, it really is amazing that we’ve been able to maintain our seven early voting locations,” she said.
Helene and Milton have not changed early voting plans in Pinellas County, but the impact of the storms is still felt by those working this election.
On Election Day, when all polling places open, the plans did change.
“Election staff had their homes lost, poll workers throughout the community had their homes lost, we lost polling places,” she said.
Originally, there were supposed to be 168 election day polling places in Pinellas County, but because of the damage to some of the spots, there will now be 156.
The seven early voting sites in Pinellas County will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Oct. 21 to Nov. 3.
Trump works the fry station and holds a drive-thru news conference at a Pennsylvania McDonald's
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump manned the fry station at a McDonalds in Pennsylvania on Sunday before staging an impromptu news conference, answering questions from reporters through the drive-thru window.
After an employee showed Trump how to dunk baskets of fries in the oil, the former president took his turn and even helped fill some takeout bags after a bit.
“It requires great expertise, actually, to do it right and to do it fast,” Trump said with a grin.
The visit came as he stepped up his criticism of Democrat Kamala Harris and dug into his claim — spread without offering evidence — that she never worked at the fast-food chain while in college — an experience she has cited during her campaign.
“I do appreciate it a little more. You say, ‘Give me french fries.’ I’ll never forget this experience.” Trump said.
In the exchange with reporters, he was asked about whether he would respect the results of the Nov. 5 election, among other topics. Trump, who still refuses to accept that he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, has said he wants a victory this year to be so overwhelming that the results are “too big to rig.”
Trump visited a McDonalds in Feasterville-Trevose, which is part of Bucks County, a swing area northeast of Philadelphia. Trump is a longtime aficionado, partial to Big Macs and Filet-o-Fish sandwiches; his staff often picks up McDonald’s and serves it on his plane.
Later Sunday, Trump is attending an evening town hall in Lancaster before catching the Pittsburgh Steelers home game against the New York Jets.
The McDonald's owner, Derek Giacomantonio said, “It is a fundamental value of my organization that we proudly open our doors to everyone who visits the Feasterville community.”