Trump Casts Early Ballot in West Palm Beach Before Georgia Campaign Rally

President Donald Trump cast his ballot in person on Saturday, Oct. 24, alongside first lady Melania Trump at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office in West Palm Beach, Florida, before heading to a campaign rally in Georgia in the final stretch before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

The couple arrived at the elections office at 3:58 p.m., according to pool reports. Trump told reporters “everything is good” as he walked inside, and when asked whether he voted along party lines, he replied, “Very much so,” according to The Associated Press. He wore an “I Voted” sticker after casting his ballot, USA Today reported.

His motorcade left the polling place at 4:36 p.m. and reached the airport three minutes later, according to reports cited by USA Today. Trump arrived in Palm Beach on Oct. 23 after a campaign appearance in Fort Myers, Florida, where he praised Republican candidates seeking office in the midterms.

A vote in person after voting by mail

Trump’s in-person vote came after he used mail-in ballots in Florida elections earlier this year, USA Today reported. He voted by mail in Florida’s March special election for a state House seat and in the state’s Republican primary in August, even as he has repeatedly criticized mail-in voting and pushed for limits on its use.

Early voting in Palm Beach County for the Nov. 3 general election began Oct. 19 and is scheduled to run through Nov. 1, according to the county’s Supervisor of Elections office. The Nov. 3 elections will decide whether Republicans keep control of Congress during the final two years of Trump’s presidency, USA Today reported.

On to Georgia, with a packed campaign schedule

Trump was expected to travel to Perry, Georgia, on Saturday to speak at a rally supporting Republican candidates, USA Today reported. Speaking to reporters after voting, he described the strain of his campaign schedule, the New York Post reported.

“It’s a strain on your voice. It’s a strain. You know, it’s not normal, what I’ve done,” Trump said, according to the Post. “It’s hard because I’m not campaigning for myself, I’m campaigning for other people, some of whom I don’t know.”

Asked about the historical difficulty facing the president’s party in midterm elections, Trump said his own campaigning could make a difference, according to the Post. “A sitting president always does badly in the midterms,” he said. “There’s no president that’s ever campaigned like I have.”

Trump is not on the ballot this year, but he has urged supporters to treat the midterms as a referendum on his presidency, the Post reported.

Reporting based on coverage by USA Today, The Associated Press and the New York Post.