President Trump will vote early this weekend when he’s in Florida, the White House said Thursday.
The president intends to vote early in person when he is in West Palm Beach on Saturday, deputy press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement. Trump last year reclassified his home address from New York to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Early voting began Monday in Florida, which is one of a handful of states likely to shape the outcome of this year’s presidential race. More than 350,000 ballots were cast, breaking the previous record for the first day of early voting.
Vice President Pence is scheduled to vote early in person in his home state of Indiana on Friday after the trip to do so was initially postponed.
Trump and his campaign have been encouraging supporters to vote early in places like Florida in an effort to close the gap Democrats have enjoyed in early voting. But those efforts have been complicated by Trump’s own repeated attacks on mail-in ballots, which he has repeatedly described as subject to fraud.
Experts have repeatedly said there is no evidence of widespread fraud associated with mail ballots.
The president will be in West Palm Beach to cast his ballot on the same day that former President Obama travels to Miami to campaign for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
A CNBC poll and a CNN poll released earlier Wednesday showed Biden leading in Florida by 5 percentage points and 4 percentage points, respectively.
Trump won the state by roughly 113,000 votes in 2016, and the state is considered a must-win if the president is to win reelection this year.
Trump is expected to rally supporters in Florida on Friday. This weekend will mark his third trip to the state in roughly 10 days. He recently held events in Ocala and Sanford.