Voters in battleground states must register today | McClatchy Washington Bureau

Welcome to McClatchy’s Voter Survival Guide, an interactive presentation of daily events from one of the strangest presidential campaigns in modern history.

Election Day is four weeks away, which means today is the deadline to register to vote in a slew of states.

Voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania and nine other states must register to vote in-person, via mail or online four weeks before the election.

Hurricane Matthew affected voter registration in South Carolina, as online registration has passed but mailed ballots will be accepted if they are postmarked today. A judge ordered that Florida’s Tuesday deadline must be extended until at least Wednesday because of the hurricane, and could last until next week.

Check out the voter registration deadline for your state here.

The first poll conducted after a tape of Donald Trump’s lewd comments was released indicates a large nationwide lead for Hillary Clinton, and Paul Ryan is in the unenviable position of trying to lead Republicans in Congress who don’t want to support their party’s nominee.

WikiLeaks posted more emails from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. One referred to Clinton’s daughter Chelsea as a “spoiled brat.”

A Trump supporter from Kansas stunned a CNN anchor Monday with her comments that the recently released video tape should play no role in the Trump campaign.

The polls open nationally in 27 days. Let’s get started.

Make sure you are registered to vote

In addition to the battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, voters in Michigan, New Mexico, Texas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina and the District of Columbia must register or postmark their registration today.

Voters in Florida have an extra day to register after a judge ordered an extension Monday afternoon due to Hurricane Matthew. Wednesday is the new deadline in Florida. The Florida Democratic Party sued governor Rick Scott, a Trump supporter, over his refusal to extend the deadline.

There’s a chance that Florida voters could have another week to register if the Democratic Party wins the lawsuit.

Not sure if you are registered to vote? Check your status here.

Clinton opens up a big lead nationwide

The first nationwide poll released after Trump made lewd comments about women on a hot microphone in 2005 shows Hillary Clinton with a massive lead.

She leads Trump by 11 points in a four-way match up that includes Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein. Over half of the electorate says Trump’s audiotape should be a concern in the election.

If those numbers hold up, Trump could be in line for a historic loss in November.

“A month out, when you’re fighting to hold on to the base you already have, is not what you need for a winning campaign,” said Whit Ayres, a Virginia-based Republican strategist, said of Trump.

Paul Ryan feuds with Trump

On Monday morning, house speaker Paul Ryan urged congressional Republicans in a phone call to do whatever necessary to win in November, even if that means rebuking the Republican nominee.

“You all need to do what’s best for your district,” Ryan said, according to a person on the call.

Donald Trump was not pleased.

The tension within the Republican Party four weeks before the election could spell disaster for Trump and GOP efforts to control Congress. Prominent Republicans running for reelection like Marco Rubio who have not disavowed Trump are feeling the heat for sticking by the party nominee.

WikiLeaks dumps more Clinton emails

Julian Assange miffed Trump supporters when he declared last week that his emails would alter the Clinton campaign, but the past few days have seen a bevy of emails released that embarrass the Democratic nominee and her inner circle.

WikiLeaks released 2,000 emails from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, covering a range of policy issues and how to deal with the press.

In one email Clinton aide Doug Band refers to Clinton’s daughter Chelsea as a “spoiled brat.” Another email revealed that the Clinton campaign discussed opposing the Keystone XL pipeline in early 2015.

"It is absolutely disgraceful that the Trump campaign is cheering on a release today engineered by Vladimir Putin to interfere in this election, and this comes after Donald Trump encouraged more espionage over the summer and continued to deny the hack even happened at Sunday's debate," Clinton spokesman Glen Caplin said. "The timing shows you that even Putin knows Trump had a bad weekend and a bad debate."

A Trump supporter goes viral

Vicki Sciolaro, a Kansas GOP offical, sat down for a brief interview on CNN Monday about Trump’s lewd comments caught on tape. It was not your typical cable news segment.

“I hear you, I hear you, I hear you, he is bragging, but here’s the thing, why is it an issue now? It should not be an issue now,” Sciolaro said. “Hillary Clinton doesn’t care about murdering babies, dismembering abortions, that’s OK with her.”

Trump is “the kind of person that needs to lead our country,” she said. “God can use anybody. He used the harlots. And that’s the thing, it’s all about what God can do. God can do this. God can use this man.”

She also referred to the Oval Office as the “oral office” when Bill Clinton was president, mocking Clinton for multiple sex scandals.

The Kansas Republican Party quickly distanced themselves from Sciolaro’s comments.

Links of note

Why Hillary Clinton dodged Trump’s accusation about Bill Clinton (McClatchy)

Woman who has long criticized Hillary Clinton got paid by Trump ally (LA Times)

Donald Trump is starting to look like an independent candidate for president (Wall Street Journal)

Have a question about the candidates, the campaign, the process, the election itself? Ask us here.

• Map: How America votes
• Quiz: Pick a side
• Register to vote
• Deadlines by state
• Find your state’s election office
• Sample ballots by ZIP code