Pence votes early in Indiana

Vice President Pence voted early in his home state of Indiana on Friday, 11 days before Election Day.

Pence and his wife, second lady Karen Pence, cast their absentee ballots in a drop-off ballot box at the Indianapolis City-County Building Friday morning. They both wore face masks and gave thumbs-up to the cameras after voting.

“It’s a great honor and great to be back home again,” Pence told reporters.

A handful of protesters dressed as the titular handmaids from “The Handmaid’s Tail” were stationed outside of the City Council building to protest Pence’s visit and particularly the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

Pence also headlined a campaign rally in Fort Wayne on Thursday evening. Later Friday, he will travel to Ohio and Pennsylvania — both key battleground states where polls show the presidential race tight — to hold consecutive campaign rallies as part of a rapid push to energize voters ahead of Election Day.

Trump, who participated in the second and final presidential debate against Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Thursday evening, will similarly vote early in Florida on Saturday amid a campaign stop in the key swing state.

Trump used to be a resident of New York but changed his home address to his Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Palm Beach last year. Trump will cast his ballot in the state as former President Obama heads to Miami to campaign for Biden.

Trump and his campaign have encouraged Americans to vote early by absentee ballot or in-person in an effort to drive turnout, as polls show Trump trailing Biden nationally and in battlegrounds. The efforts, however, have been complicated by the president’s consistent attacks on mail-in voting, which has been expanded in a number of states due to the coronavirus pandemic.