US election briefing: Georgia shatters early voting record as more than 300,000 cast ballots

The first day of early voting in the battleground state of Georgia saw a record turnout, with 328,000 people casting a vote in person or by mail – more than doubling the previous record of 136,000 in 2020. In that year, Joe Biden became the first Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1992 to win the state – after scraping through with fewer than 12,000 votes.

Winning the state and its 16 electoral college votes gives either candidate a high chance of winning the election overall, according to polling analysis website FiveThirtyEight. The Guardian’s poll tracker as of 10 October has Trump ahead in the state by a point.

The record turnout came as a judge temporarily halted a new rule that requires Election Day ballots to be counted by hand after the close of voting. The hand-count rule was passed by a pro-Trump conservative majority of Georgia’s election board, who said they were attempting to make the election more secure and transparent. Democrats had said the change would sow chaos and delay results.

Here’s what else happened on Tuesday:

• Donald Trump held a campaign event in Atlanta where, after arriving 90 minutes late, he repeatedly mentioned Elon Musk’s support and the products made by his companies including Space X and Tesla. Elon Musk gave around $75m to his pro-Donald Trump spending group in the span of three months, federal disclosures showed on Tuesday, underscoring how the billionaire has become crucial to the Republican candidate’s efforts to win the election.

• Trump defended his protectionist trade policies and other fiscal proposals, dismissing suggestions that they could drive up the federal debt, antagonise allies and harm the US economy in an interview at the Economic Club of Chicago. “To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is ‘tariffs’,” Trump said in an often-combative conversation with John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News.

• Kamala Harris defended her record as a prosecutor, pledged to decriminalise marijuana and push for police reform as she aimed to shore up support among Black men in an interview with radio host Charlamagne tha God on Tuesday.

• The Harris Victory Fund, the Democratic candidate’s ‘big-dollar fundraising committee’, raised $633m in the three months from 1 July to 30 September, over a third higher than the amount raised by Biden in the same period in 2020, the New York Times reported

• Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, on Tuesday unveiled his ticket’s plans to improve the lives of rural voters, as the Harris campaign looked to cut into Trump’s support. The Harris-Walz plan includes a focus on improving rural health care, such as plans to recruit 10,000 new health care professionals in rural and tribal areas through scholarships, loan forgiveness and new grant programs, as well as economic and agricultural policy priorities.

• Robert F Kennedy Jr has suggested he will have significant influence on American agriculture policy if Trump is elected president, the latest in a series of roles he has envisioned for himself in a second Trump administration.

• A judge has rejected a request to require Arizona’s 15 counties to verify the citizenship of 42,000 voters registered only to vote in federal elections in the presidential battleground state, concluding those who sought the checks made their request too close to the election and didn’t have legal standing.

• President Joe Biden said Harris would “cut her own path” once she wins the 2024 election, as he hit the campaign trail to help win over sceptical voters three weeks before Election Day. “Kamala will take the country in her own direction, and that’s one of the most important differences in this election,” he said. “Kamala’s perspective on our problems will be fresh and new. Donald Trump’s perspective old and failed and quite frankly, thoroughly totally dishonest.”

• Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Democratic Representative Colin Allred met for their only debate, trading attacks over abortion and immigration in a closely watched race that could help determine which party wins control of the US Senate. Allred addressed the 6 January storming of the Capitol, at which he was present, saying “when that mob came” Cruz, who had said he would object to the certification of the results, “was hiding in a supply closet.”

• The estate of Leonard Cohen issued a cease and desist order to Trump, after a recording of Rufus Wainwright singing Cohen’s song Hallelujah was played at a bizarre campaign event. Wainwright also condemned Trump’s use of the song at the town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania. The song was one of a number Trump played during a Q&A session, in which numerous audience members needed medical attention amid high temperatures.