With Donald Trump's encouragement, Republicans are joining Democrats at the polls to cast their ballots early this year. The surge of GOP voters has helped break records for early voting in certain swing states such as Georgia and Nevada. At least 17 million early votes had been cast as of Tuesday. Campaigns typically try to get their voters to cast ballots early, either in person of by mail, so they can focus on turning out marginal voters on Election Day. But when Trump condemned early voting in 2020 and 2022, many Republicans stopped doing it. It's unclear what the early turnout means for the presidential election because it only factors in a voter's registration, not their actual vote.

Former President Donald Trump is blasting federal emergency responders whose work in North Carolina has been stymied by armed harassment and a deluge of misinformation. But Trump said Monday that he was not concerned that the aftermath of Hurricane Helene would affect election results in the battleground state. Trump was asked whether it was helpful to criticize hurricane relief workers after the Federal Emergency Management Agency recently paused its work in the area because of reports they could be targeted by militia. He responded by again attacking the agency and repeating the falsehood that the response was hampered because FEMA spent its budget helping people who crossed the border illegally.

The number of people casting ballots on the first day of early in-person voting in presidential battleground North Carolina exceeded the first-day total four years ago — even as Hurricane Helene recovery continued in the mountains. The State Board of Elections said Friday that a record 353,166 people cast ballots statewide on Thursday. That's about 4,600 votes more than the number cast on the first day of early voting in October 2020. Election officials say the numbers are preliminary and are expected to rise even further. Nearly all early voting sites in the counties hardest hit by the storm were able to open Thursday. Early voting continues through Nov. 2.