September 27, 2020 10:36:23 pm
Preparations take place for the first presidential debate outside the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion, Cleveland, Ohio, on September 27 (Photo: AP).
With less than 40 days left before the US presidential election, President Donald Trump and his former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden have stepped up their efforts to reach as many voters as possible before Election Day.
President Trump and former Vice President Biden will go head-to-head in a total of three debates over the next few weeks, the first of which will be on Tuesday. The three televised events are likely to be the only times the two candidates will share the stage before Election Day on November 3.
The two vice presidential candidates, current Vice President Mike Pence and Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, will also face off in a debate scheduled for early next month.
These are the key dates on the 2020 U.S. election calendar
September 29: First Presidential Debate in Ohio
The first presidential debate between Trump and Biden will take place on September 29 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. The 90-minute debate will be moderated by Fox News host Chris Wallace and will be non-commercial.
The entire event will be divided into 15-minute mini-segments, each of which will focus on one of six key topics: Candidate Records, the Supreme Court, Covid-19, the Economy, Race, and Violence and , finally, integrity. of choice.
October 7: vice presidential debate in Utah
Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris and Trump’s vice president Mike Pence will meet in the only vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 7.
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The debate will take place in Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah and will be moderated by Susan Page, USA Today’s Washington Bureau Chief. According to a report by The New York Times, the candidates will debate nine topics, each of which will last about 10 minutes.
October 15: Second presidential debate in Florida
The second debate between the two presidential candidates will take place at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida, on October 15. The event will be moderated by Steve Scully, political editor of C-Span.
Previously, the town hall-style event was supposed to take place at the University of Michigan, but the university later canceled it over health and safety concerns about the Covid-19 pandemic.
The debate will take place before an audience of undecided voters from South Florida, the NYT reported. Members of the audience will be able to ask questions of the candidates.
While Biden and Trump will have two minutes to answer each question, Scully will have an extra minute per question for follow-up. The topics to be discussed during the debate will be announced a week before the event.
October 22: final presidential debate in Tennessee
The third and final presidential debate is scheduled for October 22 at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. The 90-minute event will be hosted by NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker.
Welker is the second black woman, after television journalist Carole Simpson, to be the sole moderator of a presidential debate in the United States. Like the first debate, this one will also be divided into 15-minute segments.
Candidates must cover six topics, which will be announced one week before the debate.
November 3: Election Day
On Tuesday, November 3, American voters will finally be able to decide who will be their next president. A record number of U.S. citizens are likely to opt for mail-in ballots due to the enormous Covid-19 risk of waiting in meandering lines to vote in person.
Yet in recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly threatened to withhold funds from the postal service to limit voting by mail, arguing that the method increases the likelihood of voter fraud. This claim has been widely refuted by experts.
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As large numbers of people are expected to cast their votes before November 3, election experts suggest that this could mean that the results will not be announced on election night, and instead could take a few days to appear.
January 20: Opening Day
The United States will welcome its new commander-in-chief on January 20 of next year. The President-elect and the Vice-President-elect will be sworn in, followed by an inaugural address.
After being sworn in, the president attends a ceremonial parade from the United States Capitol to his new residence – the White House.
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