Presidential election results 2020

In-person Election Day voting is underway in America, and election officials throughout the country have put in place a wide variety of preparations to keep both the voters and the poll workers safe as the coronavirus pandemic continues  

Here's a look at how some places around the country are keeping voters and poll workers safe during the pandemic:

CNN's Devon Sayers, Erica Hill, Leslie Perrot, Sara Murray, Scott Glover, Sarah Jorgensen and Denise Royal contributed reporting.

Shortly after polls opened on Election Day, Republicans in Pennsylvania filed a fresh new lawsuit in federal court challenging the Montgomery County officials' process for handling absentee ballots that arrived before Nov. 3. 

The plaintiffs had previewed their concerns in a letter earlier this week, and they are now asking for a court order to stop alleged "pre-canvassing" of these ballots before 7 a.m. local time and stop contacting anyone whose mail-in ballot contains a perceived defect to change their ballot.

They want any ballots changed set aside. However, the number of ballots affected could be quite narrow since the complaint only identifies roughly 1,200 votes that might be defective. As of this morning, roughly 223,000 absentee ballots had been cast in Montgomery County.

Notably, the county, which is just outside Philadelphia, leans Democratic. Clinton won the county in 2016 by 58.9% to 37.4%.

In response, a Montgomery County spokesperson told CNN's Scott Glover:

As he did on Election Day morning 2016, President Trump is calling in for an interview with "Fox & Friends."

The interview was scheduled to start at 7 a.m. ET He began the interview at 7:46 a.m. ET.

Ellen Weintraub, with the Federal Election Commission, urged voters to be safe while voting during the coronavirus pandemic and get their voter information only from trusted sources.

“Be safe. Wear your mask. But by all means, if you haven't voted yet, please, do vote,” she said Tuesday. “We want to have a really strong and vibrant democracy where every citizen's voice and vote matters. So, please, if you haven't voted yet, stay safe, but please vote.”

When voters come across information on the internet, Weintraub says, “consider the source.”

“Just because some guy on the internet said something doesn't make it true. Make sure it's reputable source before you believe it and share it,” she said.

Here’s a list of trusted sources she recommends.

She also urged voters to check their polling station and what the hours are before heading out to cast their ballots.

“A lot of polling stations have moved this year. I know I've been voting in the same place for 30 years but this year my polling station moved. So just be careful,” she added. “Make sure that you have your information from the horses mouth, from the election officials.”

Watch more:

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, election officials will begin processing mail-in and absentee ballots this morning, according to Allegheny County Director of Communications Amie Downs.

This process is known as “pre-canvassing” and refers to the process of opening absentee and mail-in envelopes, checking them and getting the ballots ready to be counted. They are not counting absentee and mail-in ballot votes yet.

Downs also said that some polling locations will “be opening a few minutes late as poll workers set up equipment.” She said this happens every year.

“We have had a few reports, as we do each year, of polling places that will be opening a few minutes late as poll workers set up equipment, or because someone was late,” Downs said in an email.

Pittsburgh is in Allegheny County. 

Joe Biden, Jill Biden, and two of his grandchildren, Finnegan and Natalie Biden, walked into St. Joseph���s on the Brandywine in Delaware for one last church service on Election Day this morning.

Watch the moment:

Franklin County, Ohio, which includes the city of Columbus, will use paper poll books to check voters in today, Franklin County Board of Elections Public Information Officer Aaron Sellers told CNN.

The decision to use paper poll books instead of their electronic poll book system was made at 5:30 a.m. local time, he said, because there was trouble updating the electronic poll book system after yesterday’s early voting concluded, Sellers said.

Early voting ended in the county at 2 p.m. yesterday, but because of long lines, Sellers said they were not finished with voting until about 3:30 p.m. After voting concluded, there was trouble updating the electronic poll book file, Sellers said. “There was an issue where we couldn’t determine that 100 percent of it was downloaded onto poll pads. Because of that, we decided to go with paper poll books,” today, Sellers said.

This decision applies to all of the county’s polling locations, Sellers said.

Poll workers are trained on paper poll books, and contingency plans were made to be able to use paper poll books if needed, he said. Sellers does not anticipate that this will negatively impact voting today. He said it might “slow things down a bit,” but also noted that about 50 percent of registered voters in the county have already voted.

“Up until three or four years ago, that’s what we used to do, we used to have paper poll books,” Sellers said. “We’re going old school I guess.” 

The Ohio secretary of state said Franklin County will use paper poll books today “due to the large amount of early voting. This happens occasionally and is something the boards were directed to prepare for,” in a tweet.

More than 100 million Americans voted nationwide before the polls opened on Election Day, according to a survey of election officials by CNN, Edison Research, and Catalist.  

These votes represent more than 47% of registered voters nationwide. Twenty-one states and Washington, DC, have seen more than half of their registered voters cast ballots already.  

Pre-Election Day voting has skyrocketed nationwide during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. At least six states, including Texas, Hawaii, Nevada, Washington, Arizona and Montana have surpassed their total turnout from the 2016 general election in recent days. 

In an additional seven states, the pre-election vote represents at least 90% of their 2016 total vote – North Carolina, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee. 

Nationwide, the 100.2 million ballots already cast represents 73% of the more than 136.5 million ballots cast in the 2016 presidential election.  

At least 37 states and Washington, DC have crossed their halfway marks for total 2016 ballots cast, including 14 of CNN’s 16 most competitively-ranked states - Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, Maine, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska and Ohio 

A little less than half of the votes already cast this cycle comes from those 16 key states, which will play a crucial role in determining who wins the presidency this year.  

Some voter information comes from Catalist, a company that provides data, analytics and other services to Democrats, academics and nonprofit issue-advocacy organizations and is giving insights into who is voting before November.  

Nine out of 10 drive-thru polling locations will be closed in the Houston-area county on Election Day.

Some background: On Monday, a federal judge had rejected a GOP request to invalidate 127,000 ballots cast in drive-thru early voting. However, he said he would have ruled against allowing such voting on Election Day, adding that voting needed to take place in a "structure."

In announcing the decision to close most of the drive-thru locations, Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins said on Twitter that he "cannot in good faith encourage voters to cast their votes in tents if that puts their votes at risk." The location that will remain open is the Toyota Center, which has "walls and a roof" and would fit the judge's description as a building, a county clerk spokesperson told CNN.

CNN’s Brian Todd is at the only drive-thru polling place that's still open. He walked through the parking garage of this Toyota Center in Houston to explain what voters can expect.

Watch the moment: