While millions of people are watching on television, only about 200 are inside the massive college arena in Nashville where President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, are facing off in their second and final debate of the 2020 election.
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One of those 200 is controlling a mute button.
A representative of the Commission on Presidential Debates - not the moderator - is supposed to ensure each candidate has a two full minutes of uninterrupted time to deliver opening answers on six major topics, according to debate commission chair Frank Fahrenkopf.
A member of each of the the Trump and Biden campaigns was expected to monitor the person who controls the mute button backstage, Fahrenkopf told the Associated Press, noting the button would not be used beyond the first four minutes of each topic.
The mute button is among a handful of changes implemented by the nonpartisan debate commission to help ensure a more orderly debate following the raucous and widely-criticised opening debate 23 days ago. Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 two days after the event and he and the White House have refused to say whether he abided by commission rules and tested negative for the virus before that debate.
Trump was given a test aboard Air Force One on the way to Nashville on Thursday and tested negative, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said.
Organisers initially planned to separate the candidates with plexiglass barriers but removed them after Trump's test result.
Additionally, any audience member who refused to wear a mask would be removed, organisers said. Last month, several members of the Trump family removed their masks once seated in the debate hall but were allowed to stay.
The prime-time affair is playing out inside an arena at Belmont University. The university also hosted a town hall-style debate between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain in 2008.
There is a far smaller audience this time around.
The debate commission said that only about 200 people would be allowed inside, a mix of invited guests of the campaigns and the debate commission, students, the commission's production team, security, and health and safety personnel. Audience members were seated in accordance with social distancing recommendations.
All audience members and support staff were required to undergo coronavirus testing on site within three days of the event.
Australian Associated Press