Election eve has arrived with the race for the White House still very tight — with the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll out Sunday showing Kamala Harris slightly ahead nationally but Donald Trump ahead in some key swing states — and the two candidates deadlocked in Pennsylvania.
Harris is spending her last full day campaigning in battleground Pennsylvania while Trump is hitting the trail in North Carolina and Pennsylvania before ending the day in Michigan.
IN PHOTOS: The road to Election Day 2024 across the US
Latest DevelopmentsNov 4, 2:42 PMHarris emphasizes unity while addressing canvassers in Pennsylvania
Harris addressed canvassers in Scranton, Pennsylvania, ahead of a rally later this afternoon in the battleground state, where she emphasized building community and unity.
“I can feel the mood in here because it’s the best of who we are as a democracy,” Harris said at the event at the Montage Mountain Resort. “We are a people-driven campaign, and we love the people, and we see in the face of a stranger a neighbor, right? And that’s the spirit of what we are doing.”
PHOTO: Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at Montage Mountain Resort in Scranton, Pa., Nov. 4, 2024. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
She said the “whole era of this other guy” and discussion about “trying to point fingers at each other and divide each other” makes people feel alone.
“As we are getting out to vote, as we are canvassing, let’s be intentional about building community, about building community, about building coalitions, about reminding people we all have so much more in common than what separates us,” she said.
Nov 4, 2:21 PMCAIR sends 600,000 texts to Muslim voters asking them to vote
The nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization has sent out 600,000 text messages to ask American Muslim voters to vote on Election Day. The Council on American-Islamic Relations has been targeting Muslim voters across the country, including those in key swing states.
CAIR has not endorsed a candidate and will not do so as a 501(c)(3) organization. However, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement, “Turnout numbers for our community so far are promising, but they need to be much higher. We encourage all remaining American Muslim voters to show up on Election Day.”
Acknowledging some Muslim American’s views on the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict, Awad acknowledged that many may be “disillusioned and frustrated due to U.S. support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”
“But sitting on the sidelines of this election will not help the people of Gaza or anyone else,” Awad said. “Elected officials take communities seriously when they fully participate in the political process, including by exercising their right to vote. No matter who you support, showing up to vote is a display of political strength.”
In recent months, some Muslim American activists have called on Muslim Americans to mobilize as a way of leveraging the community’s power post-election.
-ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson
Nov 4, 2:07 PMPennsylvania secretary of state: Election will be ‘safe and secure’
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt projected confidence about the security of the election, saying it will be “free, fair, safe and secure,” during brief remarks Monday.
Schmidt warned Pennsylvania voters to “remain vigilant” about any last-minute misinformation and disinformation that may try to persuade them not to vote.
Schmidt also seemed to try to set expectations for the timing of results in the key battleground state, reminding people that Pennsylvania has “never” had final official results on election night regardless of when the media have called the state.
“We can’t predict what percentage of those votes will be counted on election night,” Schmidt said.
He noted that 2 million mail-in ballots have been returned so far, which officials can’t begin opening until Tuesday morning.
“That means election officials can’t even remove the ballot from their envelope,” Schmidt underscored.
He said counties will begin to submit unofficial election results beginning at 8 p.m. ET — and will continue updating throughout the night and “in the subsequent days.”
-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin
Nov 4, 2:03 PMRNC sues the Milwaukee Election Commission over access for poll observers
The Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit against the Milwaukee Election Commission on Monday, accusing the city agency of “arbitrarily limiting observers” at polling places.
The RNC alleged that the Milwaukee Election Commission limited the number of observers at some early voting sites to only one observer per political party, in violation of state law. During the early voting period, access was limited at three polling locations, according to the lawsuit.
“Interest in this election is at unprecedented levels in American history, as that has generated corresponding interest in observing the voting process in the City of Milwaukee,” the lawsuit said.
According to the lawsuit, the Milwaukee Election Commission plans to continue limiting the total number of observers on Election Day depending on the “space, access, number of voters, and other prevailing circumstances” at polling locations.
The RNC is asking the court to order the Milwaukee Election Commission “to allow the public to observe all public aspects of the voting process.”
Representatives for the Milwaukee Election Commission could not be immediately reached for comment.
In September, the RNC filed a lawsuit against the city of Racine, Wisconsin for not hiring enough Republican election inspectors for this summer’s primary election.
-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh and Peter Charalambous
Nov 4, 1:59 PMTrump tells hurricane victims to ‘sit back and relax’ at poorly attended NC rally
Former President Donald Trump kicked off his final day on the campaign trail Monday at a poorly attended rally in North Carolina, where the venue was at least a third empty.
Sparsely populated to begin with, dozens of people left the venue in a steady stream throughout the rambling, unfocused speech.
PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, Nov. 4, 2024. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)
At one point, Trump told North Carolinians who are desperately waiting for help after hurricane devastation to “sit back and relax” until he takes office.
“Those people, they better get that FEMA here fast. But we’re going to on Jan. 20,” Trump said. “Just tell everybody to sit back, relax. On Jan. 20, you’ll see people come in and help you out like we did in the past.”
-ABC News’ Soo Rin Kim, Lalee Ibssa and Kelsey Walsh
Nov 4, 1:52 PMPhilly DA wraps up testimony during hearing on Musk giveaway
During his two-hour testimony at an ongoing hearing over Elon Musk and his super PAC’s $1 million voter sweepstakes, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner characterized America PAC’s admission that winners are preselected as the “most amazingly disingenuous defense I have ever heard.”
“This was all political marketing masquerading as a lottery,” Krasner said during the hearing in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. “This has been a grift from the beginning. This has been a scam from the very beginning.”
PHOTO: District Attorney of Philadelphia Larry Krasner (C) walks to attend Elon Musk’s hearing in a lawsuit seeking to block Donald Trump supporter Musk’s $1 million-a-day giveaway to swing state voters, at City Hall in Philadelphia, Oct. 31, 2024. (Matthew Hatcher/Reuters)
According to Chris Gober, a lawyer for Musk and America PAC, the winners were selected based on their “suitability” as spokespeople, signed a contract and received the million dollars as a “salary” for their work, despite Musk himself publicly saying that winners would be selected “randomly.”
Krasner’s attorney, John Summers, described the claim as “a flat-out admission of liability.” While America PAC has openly acknowledged that winners would serve as spokespeople, the hearing marks the first time they have disclosed that the winners were preselected.
“It is deceptive. It is misleading. It is taking advantage of people,” Krasner said. “They are doing everything under the sun to cover it up.”
Musk’s lawyers have repeatedly argued that the case itself is politically motivated, accusing Krasner of creating a “political circus.” Krasner’s attorney attempted to counter that argument by mentioning that Krasner drives a Tesla — made by the electric car company owned by Musk — and would theoretically bring the same case against Taylor Swift if she arranged a similar scheme for Harris.
“I have brought action against Democrats in the past,” Krasner said. “I would have brought an action against Taylor Swift if she did this. As far as I know, she didn’t.”
The court is currently on a lunch break following testimony from Krasner, who was the hearing’s first witness.
-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous
Nov 4, 1:46 PMHarris supporters say they know Republicans who are secretly voting for her
Several Harris supporters at her rally in battleground Michigan on Sunday told ABC News they were confident in Harris’ prospects because they knew Republicans in their community who are casting a ballot for Harris — many of them secretly.
Andrea Galindo said she believes Harris will win “because I know a lot of Republicans voted Democrat.”
Mike Arvizu said his father is a lifelong Republican who is voting for Harris.
“If my father-in-law can do it, there’s a lot more people out there,” Arvizu said.
Their optimism reflects a defining strategy of the Harris campaign: to reach every possible voter in battlegrounds, including Republicans and independents. In her final rally speeches, the vice president is stressing that she would invite those who disagree with her to have a seat at the table.
PHOTO: Supporters gather around Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris during her rally at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, Nov. 3, 2024. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)
But voters said that the toxic and divisive nature of politics today means that many of these Republicans aren’t openly saying that they’re backing Harris.
“We’ve become so divided in this country that people don’t even have Thanksgiving with their own family members anymore. I think there is a fear in this country about even talking about politics, especially if you don’t know if someone agrees with you,” said Curtis Hertel, who is running for Congress in Michigan.
But Hertel said he’s seeing more conversation now across party lines, with Harris canvassers making headway even in deep-red areas like Livingston County.
-ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Selina Wang
Nov 4, 1:36 PMNorth Carolina elections chief pleads for ‘peaceful transition of power’
On the eve of Election Day, the head of elections in the battleground state of North Carolina has issued an on-camera plea to candidates on the ballot tomorrow: “I would just make a plea to the candidates and elected officials: Have a peaceful transition of power. Accept the results. Concede defeat when necessary,” Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director of the state’s board of elections, said during a press conference Monday.
PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (Evan Vucci/AP)
While saying that “there’s more hostility” this election, she also urged candidates, voters and others to “please recognize” that election workers are “members of this community” who have “sworn oaths … [as part of] a bipartisan effort to ensure that every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot, and that these results are tabulated and determined securely, accurately and correctly.”
“Please treat others with dignity and respect,” she said, adding that state and federal law forbids people from trying to intimidate voters or interfere with election officials carrying out there duties — and the penalties can include prison time or fines, or both.
-ABC News’ Mike Levine
Nov 4, 1:27 PMWalz appeals to Wisconsin voters: Election ‘could be won’ through state
Tim Walz called on voters in battleground Wisconsin to vote for an “optimistic” future during a rally in La Crosse.
“This election could be won, quite literally, through the state of Wisconsin, and it could be won right here through La Crosse,” Harris’ running mate said. “That’s how close this thing could be. So we’re taking nothing for granted.”
PHOTO: Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, daughter Hope Walz and wife Gwen Walz wave to supporters before departing from Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, Nov. 4, 2024, in Minneapolis. (Abbie Parr/AP)
Walz addressed policies he and Harris will focus on, including working to lower the cost of living for middle class Americans, addressing price gouging on groceries and making reproductive rights enshrined into law.
He said they have an opportunity to vote for “a future that either goes backwards — is divisive, dark and angry — or one that is hopeful, unified, inclusive.”
Nov 4, 1:29 PM’Swifties for Kamala’ target 250,000 Pennsylvania voters via mailers in closing push
“Swifties for Kamala,” the grassroots organization of Taylor Swift fans working to elect former Vice President Kamala Harris, announced over the weekend they had sent over 250,000 mailers to Pennsylvania voters encouraging them to pledge their support to Harris, make a voting plan and encourage their friends to do the same.
PHOTO: Taylor Swift performs at Wembley Stadium as part of her Eras Tour on June 21, 2024 in London. (Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP, FILE)
Included in 50,000 of the mailers were friendship bracelets beaded with the words “voting era,” a reference to the bracelets fans trade at Swift’s Eras Tour.
“Every vote in this election matters, especially in Pennsylvania, which could be the state that makes the planets and the fates and all the stars align for VP Harris,” the mailers read. “We think you belong in the voting booth because we are never going back, like ever.”
-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd
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Publish date : 2024-11-04 05:45:00
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