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Campaign door-knocking in a pandemic puts lives at risk and turns off voters. It’s also sort of useless. And anyone who said otherwise is needlessly panicking. That was the Joe Biden campaign’s position — until Thursday, when it abruptly reversed course and announced hundreds of volunteers would soon be hitting the doors in swing states with just 33 days to go in the campaign. (Thompson and Otterbein, 10/1)

Steve VanderLoop, 64, heard that several of his co-workers at a manufacturing plant in Wisconsin had fallen ill from Covid-19. Then there was his brother-in-law’s entire family in nearby Washington County. A good friend in Appleton, up the shore of Lake Winnebago. And last week, the gut punch: Mr. VanderLoop’s 96-year-old mother learned she had the virus. “It’s just crazy here now,” he said of his home state, standing on his porch on a block whose yards and fences were festooned with Biden signs, billowing Trump flags, hand-painted posters and bumper stickers with peace symbols. (Bosman, 10/1)

Philadelphia voters will soon hear a familiar election-year sound at their front door: the rap-rap-rap of a Democratic official canvassing for support. But the message they hear might take them by surprise. After a monthslong effort to get voters to embrace mail-in voting, Democrats in Philadelphia will push supporters to vote in person if they have not already requested a ballot. (Corasaniti and Epstein, 10/1)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Thursday said each of the state’s counties could provide only one mail-in ballot drop-off location for the November election, a proclamation that quickly spurred criticism and a legal threat from Democrats and election officials. The executive order, which amended a July 27 order by Abbott that expanded early voting and absentee ballot drop-offs, cites election security as the reason counties must close sites that were already collecting early ballots. Critics immediately seized on the news, threatening legal challenges and arguing the change does not prevent fraud but hurts populous cities that are Democratic strongholds. Texas Democrats called Abbott’s move “a blatant voter suppression tactic.” (Kornfield and Sonmez, 10/1)

South Carolina Republicans asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to reinstate the witness signature requirement for mail ballots ahead of the November election, extending the legal turmoil over the rule even as tens of thousands of ballots have been sent to voters across the state. The request to the high court comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit on Wednesday left in place an order blocking the requirement because of the risks associated with in-person voting during the coronavirus pandemic. (Marimow, 10/1)

Kaiser Health News: Biden’s In The Ballpark On How Many People Have Preexisting Conditions

The first minutes of Tuesday’s presidential debate immediately turned to how President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg could undo the Affordable Care Act and its protections for people with preexisting conditions. “There’s 100 million people that have preexisting conditions,” said former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, arguing that those patients could lose coverage protections if the federal health law were declared unconstitutional by the high court. (Knight, 10/1)

Kaiser Health News: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Election Preview: What’s Next For Health?

Voters say health issues — from the Affordable Care Act to COVID-19 to prescription drug prices — are important considerations in the November general election. But which issues are truly moving voters to participate in a year as politically polarized as 2020? Former Vice President Joe Biden says he wants to expand the Affordable Care Act if he’s elected and Democrats win the Senate. President Donald Trump says he will find a way to protect people with preexisting conditions if his Supreme Court nominee helps strike down the ACA. And both candidates insist they will successfully control the coronavirus pandemic. (10/1)