US election 2020: more than 70m Americans have voted early – live

6.01am GMT

With six days remaining in the race – once upon a time plenty of time to get an envelope across town or even across a state – elections officials in some states are advising voters not to rely on the US postal service to get their mail-in ballots in on time.

Hand-deliver your ballots, voters are told. Democratic groups – and public figures like former attorney general Eric Holder – have been advising supporters to do the same.

It’s too late to use the mails. Given Supreme Court rulings I urge everyone to now vote in person; early vote or use drop boxes. Protect your health but don’t let the Court and the deliberately crippled Postal Service deprive you of your most precious civil right. Plan your vote.

NEWS: Sec. of State @JocelynBenson advises Michigan voters NOT to rely on USPS at this stage. "Citizens who already have an absentee ballot should sign the back of the envelope and hand-deliver it to their city or township clerk’s office or ballot drop box as soon as possible." pic.twitter.com/tQ2RueXsmW

US Postal Service on-time delivery times for First-Class Mail have dropped again — now nearly as bad as the worst period this summer. If you are voting absentee and haven’t returned your ballot, experts say drop it off in person. Do not rely on #USPS delivery at this point.

5.35am GMT

Attendees of a late-night Trump rally at the airport in Omaha, Nebraska, have been stranded for a time in the cold at the site because of limited traffic flow on the two-lane road that accesses the private east side of the airport where the rally was held.

A large portion of the crowd, estimated to be in the thousands, remained at the site waiting on buses hours after Trump’s plane had departed, according to reporters on the scene. Outside temps are about at the freezing point.

If you’re waiting on someone who attended the @realDonaldTrump rally in #Omaha, it may be a while until they get on a bus and get out. Traffic along the small roadway to the private side of Eppley Airfield is backed up and buses were having trouble getting through. We saw this: pic.twitter.com/DTRKnH5lkb

President Trump took off in Air Force One 1 hr 20 minutes ago, but thousands of his supporters remain stranded on a dark road outside the rally. “We need at least 30 more buses,” an Omaha police officer just said, shaking his head at the chaotic cluster that is unfolding.

They say they have no estimate for how long clearing the area might take, but to my eye, it could take into the early morning to get folks cleared out.