Election security updates: Voting hours extended in Pennsylvania county

(WASHINGTON) — From the polling place to the courtroom, ABC News tracks the latest election security developments as experts warn about the spread of misinformation and disinformation from within the U.S. and abroad.

Security experts stress that the nation’s voting infrastructure is highly secure, and that isolated voting issues do not indicate widespread election fraud.

How to watch ABC News coverage of Election Day

On Election Day, voters around the country will eagerly wait to hear if former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris comes out on top in the race for the White House.

ABC News will have full coverage of the presidential election results and many other key down-ballot races on Election Day and the days afterward as votes continue to get counted.

Voting hours extended in Pennsylvania county after tech issues

A Pennsylvania judge ordered the voting hours to be extended for two hours in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, after the location experienced technical issues on Tuesday.

The polls will now close at 10 p.m., per the order, and any ballots cast after 8 p.m. will be cast by provisional ballots.

Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter in law and current co-chair of the RNC, praised the ruling as “good news.”

-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin

Raffensperger confident Georgia will have results tonight, says bomb threats ‘of Russian origin’

Georgia’s top election official on Tuesday morning projected confidence that the critical battleground state will have the large majority of its election results available tonight, saying that election day in the state has been “smooth sailing by and large” and a “tremendous” day.

Specifically on timing, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that the state’s 4 million early votes as well absentee ballots will be uploaded and reported no later than one hour after the polls close, which for most locations will be 7 p.m.

“So by 8pm, you’ll have probably 99% of all that … so you get a good idea of what the race looks like,” he said.

With regards to votes from today, Raffensperger said “before the end of the night, you’ll have all of that.” He noted smaller counties are aiming to have all of their results in by 10/1030 p.m. “at the latest.”

Notably, Raffensperger was also asked about bomb threats made Tuesday, which he said were “of Russian origin.”

“We identified the source and it was from Russia,” he said, after hedging briefly on the source.

“They’re up to mischief it seems,” he said of Russia: “They’re not our friends anyone who thinks they are hasn’t been reading the newspaper.”

Raffensperger said he thinks they will pass 1 million votes today, and said they are ready for any litigation to come their way.

“We’re gonna follow the law, follow the Constitution, and report the results accurately.”

-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin

DC polling site briefly closed due to suspicious package

A polling location in Washington, D.C., was briefly closed for less than an hour Tuesday morning after “officers were notified of a suspicious package,” police said.

The city’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal responded to the scene near the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library and quickly determined the item posed no threat.

The polling site has since reopened.

-ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson

Arizona’s top election official gives update, speaks on Russian video

At a press conference on Tuesday, Arizona’s top election official said “everything in the state of Arizona is running about as smoothly as it could be.”

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said there have been minor incidents Tuesday including a county that briefly lost power and a polling site that opened late after an employee forgot their keys to the polling site. Fontes added that his office received eight calls today— four from counties reporting individuals who were electioneering within 75 feet of polling locations.

When asked by reporters about poll watchers, Fontes said county officials are aware that party observers have to be credentialed and added that the Department of Justice sent federal monitors to four counties. Fontes also warned that it is against the law to photograph or record inside a polling location.

“If you want to memorialize the moment, get outside the 75-foot line, take your selfie and then go in and vote,” Fontes said. “Not only do we want to protect the process, but the privacy of the other voters and our staff that are engaged in this process. “

Fontes said that it will take longer for election officials to process results because of the two-page ballot and a new state law that requires poll workers to count the number of mail ballot envelopes dropped off at the location before they deliver results to the central counting facility.

“Please exercise patience,” the Arizona Secretary of State said.

When asked about the Russian manufactured video that was released on Monday, Fontes said the video is an “attempt from foreign actors to influence our election and make people lose faith in the work [election officials] do.”

“I’ve got the National Guard working to monitor our computer systems 24/7,” Fontes said.

-ABC News’ Laura Romero

5 ‘non-credible’ bomb threats in Fulton County led to evacuations

The head of elections in Fulton County — the largest in the critical battleground state of Georgia — on Monday said they had a smooth start this morning with all locations opening on time and tens of thousands of voters casting their ballots, though two locations were briefly evacuated after a series of bomb threats.

Elections director Nadine Williams said the county received 5 “non-credible” bomb threats that lead to two voting locations being evacuated for approximately 30 minutes each. The county is working on going to court to extend the hours for those locations.

“All polling sites are secure with an active security presence,” Williams assured.

“Outside of these brief interruptions, Election Day has been quiet, with minimal issues reported,” she continued, “and we remain prepared to address any misinformation or additional disruption to ensure a smooth experience for all voters today.”

Williams said that as of 9:40 this morning, 29,500 ballots have been cast in the county.

Regarding timing of the results, Williams said that the 417,000 votes from advance voting, as well as the mail ballots received through Monday, will be uploaded by 8 p.m. tonight.

As far as the rest of the locations, Williams said that barring no long lines tonight, those memory cards with today’s votes should be back at the main center where they “are hoping before midnight we should see the rest of the results come up.”

“As [memory cards] arrive, we will start uploading,” Williams said.

-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin

FBI ‘aware’ of 2 fabricated news clips, press releases urging not to vote and rigged inmate voting

The FBI is aware of two fabricated news clips and press releases urging people not to vote and rigged inmate voting, according to a statement they released on Tuesday morning.

“The FBI was made aware of two instances of its name and insignia being misused in promoting false narratives surrounding the election,” the FBI said in a statement. “The first is a fabricated newsclip purporting to be a terrorist warning issued by the FBI. The fabricated newsclip reports falsely that the FBI purportedly stated that Americans should ‘vote remotely’ due to a high terror threat at polling stations. This video is not authentic and does not accurately represent the current threat posture or polling location safety. 

Additionally, a fabricated video containing a fabricated FBI press release alleges that the management of five prisons in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona rigged inmate voting and colluded with a political party. This video is also not authentic, and its contents are false.”

This is the second such warning the FBI has given in recent days.

US cyber agency ‘not tracking’ any ‘significant incidents’

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is not tracking any “national level significant incidents” on election day, according to a top CISA official.

Cait Conley, a senior advisor to the CISA Director and the official in charge of election security said in the early hours of voting, there haven’t been any major incidents.

“We are tracking instances of extreme weather and other temporary infrastructure disruptions in certain areas of the country, but these are largely expected, routine and planned for events separately,” she said on a call with reporters on Tuesday.

Additionally, Conley told ABC News that they are “not aware” of any foreign influence operations going on right now but they “remain incredibly vigilant and in close communication with our federal government partners in case such instances were to arise.”

Monday night, the intelligence community, including CISA attributed two Russian influence operations including one in Arizona that were spreading misinformation about the election.

-Luke Barr

Officials brace for Election Day under cloud of threats, lawsuits

As millions of Americans prepare to descend on polling locations across the country, election officials and law enforcement authorities are focused on administering a fair and safe election under a cloud of threats, online disinformation, and the potential for a grueling legal fight in the weeks ahead.

Although a typical Election Day inevitably includes some hiccups like long lines or weather-related issues, this year election workers face the additional challenge of a heightened threat environment and an onslaught of litigation concerning voting rules and ballot counting.

Even so, election officials on Monday expressed confidence in their ability to execute on Election Day. Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt said the vote in his state would be “free, fair, safe, and secure.” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that “at the end of the day, it’s going to be fair and fast and accurate.”

And in North Carolina, Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director of the state’s Board of Elections, said, “Despite all the naysayers, despite all false information and sensationalist rhetoric out there about elections, and despite a devastating hurricane, we are making this happen in North Carolina.”

-Lucien Bruggeman

Trump says he is running against ‘evil Democrat system’

Former President Donald Trump used his final campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to attack high profile Democrats including President Joe Biden and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Trump told attendees he is “not running” solely against Vice President Kamala Harris. “I’m running against an evil Democrat system,” he said. “These are evil people.”

Trump launched into attacks on Biden, pushing unfounded claims that Harris only became the nominee because Democrats wanted to be “politically correct.”

Trump then made fun of Harris’s name calling it “a strange name,” before pivoting back to criticize Biden.

“I wasn’t running against Biden either,” Trump said. “He was stuck in a basement. I didn’t even run against him. Now running against a very evil system, and we have to defeat that system, and America’s future will be an absolutely incredible one.”

The former president also mouthed an expletive when referring to Pelosi. “She’s a crooked person,” he added. “She’s a bad person, evil.”

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh

Trump suggests supporters to blame if he loses

Former President Donald Trump’s final campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, saw the Republican presidential nominee urging supporters to head to the polls while also again casting doubt on the security of the electoral process.

Multiple times throughout Trump’s speech he told supporters to go out to the polls “tomorrow.” However, given the rally was happening after midnight, people in the crowd started yelling “today” and then Trump falsely said the election was happening on Wednesday.

“It sounds so much better when you say tomorrow, Wednesday,” Trump said. “But that’s okay. I want to be exactly accurate for them, but go out today and vote. And I guess seven o’clock or whatever, whatever time it is, doesn’t matter, and we’re going to have the greatest victory in the history of our country.”

Trump then suggested that his supporters might be to blame if he does not defeat Vice President Kamala Harris.

“There’s nothing they can do” if Republicans turn out, Trump said of his opponents. “In other words, to make you feel a little guilty, we would only have you to blame.” Later, Trump claimed he has the “silent majority” and urged his supporters to “speak up.”

The former president also again cast doubt on the security of voting machines, despite officials and experts confirming the security of the election system.

“Perhaps I will be president in less than 24 hours, or maybe it will take these machines that we pay so much for two weeks,” Trump said, claiming that paper ballots would be cheaper, faster and more secure.

“What the hell is happening in the inside of those machines?” he continued. “If you wait, we want the answer tomorrow, tonight,” Trump said, quickly correcting himself. “We want the answer tonight.”

“You have to cheat,” Trump said about Democrats. “Who the hell is going to approve that stuff? Who’s going to prove open borders with criminals pouring into our country by the millions now they have to cheat. They have to cheat, and they do, and they do it very well, actually.”

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh

Walz ends campaign addressing ‘guys in the crowd’ on reproductive rights

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke for less than five minutes during his final campaign rally of the 2024 presidential race — focusing on reproductive rights.

The governor and his wife, Gwen, participated in the campaign’s Election Eve festivities on Monday in the pivotal battleground state of Michigan following their blitz through Wisconsin.

“You could probably tell from these rallies, all across the country tonight, this team is running like everything’s on the line — because everything’s on the line,” Walz said in Detroit.

Addressing the “guys in the crowd” about reproductive rights, Walz said the issue “really underlines the stakes in this election.”

“I want you to think about the women in your life that you love,” he said. “Their lives are at stake in this election. Donald Trump appointed those Supreme Court justices who repealed Roe v. Wade, and he brags about it.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, Walz said, would codify reproductive freedom if a bill came upon her desk as president.

“When Congress passes that bill to restore reproductive freedom, President Harris will sign it into law,” Walz said.

“Kamala and I trust women, it’s that simple. Now tomorrow, women all across America, of every age, both parties, are going to send a loud and clear message to Donald Trump, whether he likes it or not.”

Walz ended his remarks by stressing the historical significance of Tuesday’s election.

“There’s going to be a day you’re going to be sitting in that rocking chair, and you’re going to be rocking on that porch,” Walz said. “And a little one is going to come home from school and ask, what did you do in the 2024 election, where the American experiment survived, where the rule of law survived, where decency survived?”

Walz added, “And you’re going to be able to answer: ‘Every damn thing I could’.”

-ABC News’ Isabella Murray

Dixville Notch, New Hampshire votes split evenly between Harris and Trump

The first six ballots of the 2024 presidential election have officially been counted in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.

Of the six registered voters in the town, three votes were cast for Vice President Kamala Harris and three votes went to former President Donald Trump.

Oprah joins Harris onstage for final campaign rally in Philadelphia

Vice President Kamala Harris’ final campaign rally in the 2024 presidential election was a star-studded event outside of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Monday.

Famed talk show host, Oprah Winfrey, joined Harris onstage where they aimed to motivate voters ahead of Election Day.

“One more day, just one more day in the most consequential election of our lifetime,” Harris said. “And momentum is on our side.”

Joe Rogan and Elon Musk defend Trump’s controversial Liz Cheney comments

On Joe Rogan’s podcast, Elon Musk defended various comments Donald Trump has recently faced backlash for, saying he’s being misunderstood.

The two defended Trump’s recent violent rhetoric against former Rep. Liz Cheney, suggesting she should have a rifle “with nine barrels shooting at her,” claiming the former president’s comments have been misconstrued.

“A lot of people reached out to me — they’re like, oh, Trump says he wants to execute Liz Cheney. I’m like, that is utter b—s—. That’s not what he said at all. It’s not what he said at all,” Musk claimed.

“What he’s saying is that, look, if Liz Cheney actually had to fight at the front lines, [she] should think twice about going to war. It’s easy to be a warmonger if you don’t have to, you know, risk dying at the front lines,” Musk said, despite the fact that the backlash Trump faced was about the violent rhetoric itself.

Cheney, a Republican who was once a rising star in her party but lost reelection largely over her vocal criticism of Trump, has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

The two women have appeared together at several events as Harris works to woo disaffected Republican voters.

Harris rallies Pittsburgh to cross the finish line with her: ‘Momentum is on our side’

For her second rally of the day, Vice President Kamala Harris addressed a crowd of about 15,000 against the backdrop of an old steel mill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Accompanied by Katy Perry’s power vocals, Harris encouraged supporters to utilize their hard-earned momentum to cross the finish line.

“Pittsburgh, this is it. Tomorrow is Election Day. Tomorrow is Election Day, and the momentum is on our side,” she said. “Our campaign has tapped into the ambitions, the aspirations and the dreams of the American people, and we know it is time for a new generation of leadership in America, and I am ready to offer that leadership as the next president of the United States.”

She urged the crowd to “turn the page” to chants of “We’re not going back.”

“And we have an opportunity in this election to finally turn the page on a decade of politics driven by fear and division. We are done with that,” she said. “We’re done. We’re done. We’re exhausted with it, and Pittsburgh, we are not going back. We’re not going back.”

She continued: “Ours is not a fight against something. It is a fight for something. It is a fight for the future, and it is a fight for freedom, like the fundamental freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own life and not let the government tell her what to do.”

Harris’ fairly brief speech was nearly line-for-line the same as her one in Allentown, Pennsylvania, earlier in the day. Her campaign has said that the speeches are being timed ahead of her next and final stop in Philadelphia.

Harris continued to avoid directly using former President Trump’s name, barely referring to him at all except to acknowledge that voters are ready for a president who doesn’t stew over an “enemies list.”

“We are ready for a president who knows the true measure of a leader is not based on who you beat down, it is based on who you lift up,” she said. “And instead of stewing over an enemies list, I will spend every day working on my to-do list. All full of priorities to improve your life.”

-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie

Trump says he’s going to let RFK Jr. ‘pretty much do what he wants’

In his “closing message” in Pennsylvania, just a day before the 2024 election, former President Donald Trump touted his relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Trump called the former independent presidential candidate “a credible guy” and said he’s going to be very involved in his administration.

“Bobby Kennedy, you know, he’s a credible guy… He’s going to be very much involved. You know, he’s got a tremendous view on health and pesticides and all this stuff. And we’re not really a healthy country,” Trump said.

Then Trump said he would allow RFK Jr. “to pretty much do what he wants.”

“Bobby’s going to pretty much do what he wants. I want him to do something really important for our country, make people healthier,” Trump said.

RFK Jr. previously said he would oversee public health agencies in Trump’s administration including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture.

Harris expresses support for Puerto Rico on Spanish-language radio show

In a Spanish-language radio interview released Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris again vocalized her support for Puerto Rico.

“My commitment to Puerto Rico is longstanding. Even when I was in the United States Senate as representative of California, I took on a responsibility for myself of also prioritizing the needs of Puerto Rico, because I was aware that Puerto Rico did not have a U.S. senator, and so I was responsible for getting more resources to Puerto Rico,” she said in an interview on Univision Radio.

She vowed to continue honoring that commitment “when I am elected president of the United States, God willing, and with the votes of the people listening right now.”

She positioned her inclusive approach as a stark contrast to former President Donald Trump’s language in recent weeks, which she called “hateful.”

“Trump’s comments are hateful [and] are, you know, just furtherance of these tropes that are really unfair and meant to divide and demean people,” she said, citing what Jennifer Lopez said onstage while campaigning for Harris last week.

Harris also called immigration reform “one of [her] highest priorities.”

“The immigration system is just broken,” she said, listing a few of her approaches to fixing it, including securing the border, hiring more asylum judges, creating more humane asylum processes and creating a pathway for “hard-working people” to earn citizenship.

-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie

JD Vance says Pennsylvania will ‘take out the trash in Washington, DC’

Sen. JD Vance delivered his closing message to the voters of Newtown, Pennsylvania, on Monday, advocating for former President Donald Trump to be elected back to the White House.

Vance told the crowd that the only way the country would get a person who is fit to be president is by voting for Trump.

“So tomorrow, we’re going to say to Kamala Harris, you are fired. We don’t want you in the White House. We don’t want you in the Oval Office, we don’t want you anywhere near the halls of power,” the vice presidential candidate said.

Vance again brought up the recent “garbage” comment controversy, falsely claiming Harris called Trump supporters “garbage.”

“So, to Kamala Harris, you shouldn’t be calling your citizens garbage. You shouldn’t be criticizing people for daring to criticize you for doing a bad job. And our message to the leadership, to the elites of the Democratic Party — the people of Pennsylvania are not garbage for struggling under your leadership. But tomorrow, the people of Pennsylvania are going to take out the trash in Washington, D.C., and we’re going to do it together,” Vance said.

Megyn Kelly says she supports Trump because he will be a ‘protector of women’

Megyn Kelly took the stage at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Monday.

The conservative media personality explained why she’s backing Trump in the 2024 presidential election, saying, “He will be a protector of women, and it’s why I’m voting for him.”

Kelly then suggested that she supports Trump because he takes care of the common man.

“He will look out for our boys to our forgotten boys and our forgotten men. Guys like you, who maybe have a beer after work and don’t want to be judged by people like Oprah and Beyonce, who will never have to face the consequences of her disastrous economic policies,” Kelly said, seemingly referencing Vice President Kamala Harris.

-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa and Soo Rin Kim

Harris’ senior adviser says she could win all 7 swing states

David Plouffe, a senior adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris, told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday night that the campaign believes it could win all seven swing states.

“It’s very important that we have multiple pathways to 270, and you know, just a couple hours ago, reviewing all the early vote data, what we’re projecting for Election Day, how we think undecideds are breaking, we have a credible pathway to all seven states tomorrow night to go into Kamala Harris’ column,” Plouffe said.

“But we believe they’re all going to be close,” he added.

Asked if he believes Harris could win all seven states, he said, “Yes.”

Plouffe said that the campaign believes it is winning more late-breaking voters than former President Donald Trump is, and he credits the campaigns’ different approaches to their field operations.

“I think outsourcing your field effort — meaning the folks knocking on doors, making calls – largely to exclusively paid canvassers, historically just doesn’t work,” he said. “You want people showing up who are committed to your candidate.”

He called that a “secret weapon for us” and said that volunteers were “knocking on 2,000 doors a minute in Pennsylvania over the weekend.”

But, he acknowledged, both campaigns “have a lot riding on tomorrow, on actual Election Day.”

-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie

Harris visits Puerto Rican restaurant in Pennsylvania

Vice President Kamala Harris visited a Puerto Rican restaurant in Reading, Pennsylvania, Monday night, accompanied by the state’s governor, Josh Shapiro, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

A woman, who appeared to be the owner of the restaurant, Old San Juan Cafe, showed Harris a spread of food.

The vice president joked, “I’m very hungry. I don’t get a chance to eat as often as I’d like.”

Later, Harris and Ocasio-Cortez huddled with the restaurant owner to discuss the rapid growth of Latino-owned small businesses.

-ABC News’ Will McDuffie, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Fritz Farrow

Joe Rogan endorses Donald Trump for president

Joe Rogan has endorsed former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

The podcast host’s endorsement accompanied the release of a three-hour-long interview with Elon Musk, making the case for his support for Trump.

“The great and powerful @elonmusk. If it wasn’t for him we’d be f—–. He makes what I think is the most compelling case for Trump you’ll hear, and I agree with him every step of the way,” Rogan wrote.

“For the record, yes, that’s an endorsement of Trump. Enjoy the podcast,” he continued.

Michelle Obama to young voters: ‘You have to vote for Kamala Harris’

Michelle Obama went on social media to share a “message to all the young people out there,” encouraging them to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States.

“Look, I know it’s easy to feel what we do doesn’t matter. Like the world’s problems are too big and complicated to tackle. Like nothing’s ever going to change at all,” she said in a video, pointing to contentious issues like reproductive health rights and climate change.

“That’s exactly why you have to vote: because we need a better leader than Donald Trump. We simply cannot afford another four years of his incompetence, weakness, and division,” she added.

The former first lady goes on to say that Harris is the opposite — suggesting that the Democratic presidential candidate will “expand your freedoms” and “protect the planet.”

“While he denigrates anyone who is different than him, while he looks out only for himself, Kamala will be a president for all Americans. I know she will listen to you. And that’s why you have to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on November the 5th,” she said, before urging young people to make a plan to vote on Election Day.

-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie

In closing message, Trump sets the stage to challenge election results

In what campaign aides are classifying as his “closing message” speech, former President Donald Trump is already setting expectations for his supporters to challenge the results of the election, saying Vice President Kamala Harris only has a 4% chance of winning the race.

“So based on what I’m hearing — she’s at 4%. And so we never want to take anything for granted. But we’re really doing well,” Trump said during his rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Trump again falsely accused Democrats of cheating in the 2024 election, but added that it’s “too big to rig.”

“I do believe it is too big to rig. They’ll try. And they are trying, you know, though. It’s too big to rig. This is a big movement,” Trump said.

Doubting the fact that President Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 Election, Trump said that he has since learned.

“This is that big, powerful, vicious party — that’s a vicious machine. They can take all these bad ideas and win elections.” he said.

The comments come as the Trump campaign has 230,000 poll observers along with 500 attorneys in every battleground state.

-ABC News’ Soo Rin Kim, Lalee Ibssa and Kelsey Walsh

Harris makes 2 stops at residents’ homes in Reading, Pennsylvania

Vice President Kamala Harris made two stops at residents’ homes in Reading, Pennsylvania, and asked for their votes.

At the first stop, Harris greeted a family and followed them to their door so that she could talk to them.

At the second stop, Harris rang the doorbell and surprised the residents, a couple. She hugged the woman who answered the door.

“You know, it’s the day before the election, and I just wanted to come by and say I hope to earn your vote and wanted to just thank you for just giving us the time for this conversation,” Harris told the couple, before they conversed together briefly on one of her recurring campaign messages: finding common ground.

The woman said that Harris had received her vote already, and that she would be working the polls on Tuesday, while her husband would be voting on Election Day.

-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow, Will McDuffie and Oren Oppenheim

Marianne Williamson says she voted for Harris

Former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson said she cast her vote for Vice President Kamala Harris while emphasizing that no matter who wins, she will do “whatever I can to further the ideal that ultimately love will win.”

“No matter who wins, the result is going to be heartrending to roughly half the country. I feel like I want to put my arms around millions of people and tell them it’s going to be OK. I voted for Kamala,” she said, in part, in a statement posted to X.

-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd

Russia ‘manufactured and amplified’ video claiming election fraud in Arizona: Officials

The intelligence community is yet again sounding the alarm on a Russian “manufactured and amplified” video claiming election fraud in Arizona — and warned that the activity from Russia will likely focus on battleground states.

“Since our statement on Friday, the IC has been observing foreign adversaries, particularly Russia, conducting additional influence operations intended to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and stoke divisions among Americans,” the FBI, ODNI and CISA said in a statement Monday night.

“The IC expects these activities will intensify through election day and in the coming weeks, and that foreign influence narratives will focus on swing states,” officials added in the statement.

Russia, according to the intelligence community, is the “most active threat” in the election.

“Influence actors linked to Russia in particular are manufacturing videos and creating fake articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election, instill fear in voters regarding the election process, and suggest Americans are using violence against each other due to political preferences, judging from information available to the IC,” the statement continued.

“These efforts risk inciting violence, including against election officials. We anticipate Russian actors will release additional manufactured content with these themes through election day and in the days and weeks after polls close,” officials said in the statement.

Content with the hallmark of a Russian influence operation includes a video claiming election fraud in Arizona and an article falsely claiming that U.S. officials across swing states plan to orchestrate election fraud using a range of tactics, such as ballot stuffing and cyberattacks.

CISA said to seek out trusted sources of information — the election officials themselves.

-ABC News’ Luke Barr

Harris, Trump remain closely matched on Election Day eve: Ipsos poll

Harris is effectively tied with Trump among likely voters in an Ipsos national poll published Monday evening.

If the election were held today, half of likely voters said they would vote for Harris and 48% said Trump, the poll found.

When American adults were asked which candidate has a better plan, policy or approach to the following issues, Harris led on health care and political extremism, while Trump had more support for the economy, immigration and war/foreign issues, the poll found.

The poll was conducted Nov. 1-3 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percentage points for likely voters and +/-3.0 percentage points for American adults.

-ABC News’ Emily Chang and Oren Oppenheim

‘It’s as if he is trying to lose,’ Trump adviser tells Jonathan Karl

A close Trump adviser told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl it’s as if the former president “is trying to lose,” Karl told “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir.

“The Trump campaign just sent me reams of data saying they are ahead in the early vote, they’re doing everything they need to do to win, but I have to tell you, talking to senior advisers, people that have been advising Trump for a long time, I’m hearing newfound anxiety,” Karl said. “They say he’s been off-message.”

Karl said the Harris campaign has been “feeling anxiety for a long time, but they feel like this is closing in the right direction for them” and that Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally last month “was a turning point in this campaign.”

Georgia poll worker arrested for allegedly mailing bomb threat to election officials

A Georgia poll worker was arrested Monday and charged with allegedly sending a letter threatening to bomb an elections office in the state’s Jones County last month, the Justice Department announced.

Nicholas Wimbish, 25, allegedly sent the threat after he had a verbal argument with a voter in the Jones County Elections Office on Oct. 16, according to prosecutors.

The following day, he allegedly mailed a letter to the Jones County elections superintendent purporting to be from the unidentified voter that stated Wimbish had “give[n] me hell” and was “conspiring votes” and “distracting voters from concentrating,” according to prosecutors.

The letter allegedly stated that Wimbish and others “should look over their shoulder” and that the “young men will get beatdown if they fight me” and “will get the treason punishment by firing squad if they fight back,” according to the DOJ.

The letter was allegedly signed, “PS boom toy in early vote place, cigar burning, be safe,” prosecutors said.

During an interview with the FBI on Oct. 23, Wimbish allegedly blamed the letter on the voter he had interacted with, according to the complaint. During a search of Wimbish’s personal computer, the letter was allegedly found in the print spooler, according to the complaint.

Wimbish faces several charges including mailing a bomb threat, conveying false information about a bomb threat, and making false statements to the FBI. He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison on the cumulative charges if convicted, prosecutors said.

Court records do not list any attorney information for Wimbish.

-ABC News’ Alexander Mallin

Maryland election officials debunk disinformation about ballot marking devices

The Maryland State Board of Elections released a new statement on Monday aimed at correcting disinformation about ballot marking devices.

“Ballot marking devices do not flip or switch votes,” the statement read. “Unfounded claims of machines flipping votes have resurfaced and circulated in many elections.”

The board said it has not been able to substantiate any claims “of vote flipping or changing of votes by a ballot marking device,” and said any such allegation must be submitted as an administrative complaint along with an “affidavit sworn under the penalties of perjury.”

-ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson

Vance reminds Georgia voters that Trump lost state by fewer than 12,000 votes

While speaking to a large crowd in Atlanta on Monday, Sen. JD Vance urged voters in Georgia to go out tomorrow to cast their ballots while reminding them how close the race in the state was in 2020.

“Tomorrow is the day that we vote for lower grocery prices and more affordable housing,” he said. “Tomorrow is the day that we vote to close the border and make Donald J. Trump the president of the United States.”

Vance referenced that Trump lost Georgia to President Joe Biden by fewer than 12,000 votes.

“I didn’t realize how small this was in 2020. Georgia was decided by less than 12,000 votes,” he said. “That is crazy.”

-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie

Walz addresses excited crowd of Wisconsin voters

Speaking to a fired-up crowd Monday in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz emphasized that U.S election systems are secure and that Vice President Kamala Harris would win the presidential race on Tuesday.

“Just tell yourself how great it’s going to be when we get this thing done,” Walz said. “It may take a little bit here — we got patience. Our system is secure, our elections are safe.”

“We will win,” Walz continued, “And when that thing is done, we’re not ever going to have to see this guy on TV again.”

-ABC News’ Isabella Murray

Hundreds of National Guardsmen ready for election support across the country

At least 245 National Guard personnel across 18 states and Washington, D.C., have been either activated by their governors or are on standby, according to Pentagon officials.

Many are helping state governments with cybersecurity efforts, while others are there to assist law enforcement and first responders in the event of protests or security incidents.

There are 126 personnel activated in Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oregon, Wisconsin and Washington, a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News.

There are 119 personnel on standby in Colorado, D.C., Florida, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia, according to the official.

That amounts to an average of about 13 personnel currently activated or on standby per state/district.

These figures could shift at the discretion of the governors, the official said.

The move to utilize the National Guard comes after authorities said ballot boxes in Oregon and Washington were set on fire with incendiary devices last month. The governors of both states said they were putting Guard units on standby to aid local law enforcement. Nevada’s governor told local reporters he wanted Guard personnel on standby in Las Vegas and Carson City.

In D.C., Guard personnel will be on standby specifically to assist with the city’s fire and medical services Tuesday through Nov. 13, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said during a briefing Monday.

-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty and Matt Seyler

51 attorneys general condemn election-related violence ahead of results

A bipartisan coalition of 51 attorneys general has penned a letter condemning violence in response to election results.

“Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s election, we expect that Americans will respond peacefully and we condemn any acts of violence related to the results,” the coalition wrote. “A peaceful transfer of power is the highest testament to the rule of law, a tradition that stands at the heart of our nation’s stability. As Attorneys General, we affirm our commitment to protect our communities and uphold the democratic principles we serve.”

“We call upon every American to vote, participate in civil discourse and, above all, respect the integrity of the democratic process,” the letter continued. “Let us come together after this election not divided by outcomes but united in our shared commitment to the rule of law and safety of all Americans. Violence has no place in the democratic process; we will exercise our authority to enforce the law against any illegal acts that threaten it.”

-ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson

Georgia Supreme Court reverses deadline extension for voters who received ballots late

In a win for the Republican National Committee, the Georgia Supreme Court on Monday ruled that thousands of voters whose mail-in ballots were delayed will not have extra time to send them back.

The ruling from the court reversed a lower judge’s ruling that had granted 3,000 voters an extension of the mail-in-ballot deadline, after Cobb County election officials admitted they missed the deadline to ship them out.

The deadline for mail-in ballots to be received in Georgia is Election Day — but the lower judge had given those voters an extension for them to be postmarked by election day and received by Nov. 8, the same deadline for overseas ballots.

The RNC had appealed the ruling, saying it was a violation of the election code and that voters still had other ways they could vote, including in person.

The Georgia Supreme Court ordered the Cobb board to “keep separate” the absentee ballots of those voters that are received after the deadline on Election Day but before Nov. 8 “in a secure, safe, and sealed container separate from other voted ballots.”

Cobb County had previously been ordered to ship out all of the delayed ballots by Nov. 1 with express shipping and overnight return envelopes.

The court also ordered the board to notify the voters by email, text or public announcement of the change.

-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin

Trump: ‘If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole ball of wax’

At a rally in Reading, Pennsylvania, on Monday, Trump called on residents to turn out and vote tomorrow.

“If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole ball of wax,” he said. “It’s over. It’s over.”

“We’re just one day away. Oh, we’ve been waiting for this. I’ve been waiting four years for this,” he said.

DC mayor says no known threats, but not taking any chances
Washington, D.C., officials say they have no credible threats to the city, however, they will be fully activating police and have received support from Virginia and Maryland law enforcement agencies.

“I feel very strong about the district’s preparation,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said Monday. “I feel very sad that this is the state of things to be honest with you, but the way that I deal with anxiety is to work and to make sure that we are as prepared as we can be, and that people, all people, win or lose, do the right thing.”

D.C. police will have increased patrols in key areas downtown and around the White House, Police Chief Pam Smith told reporters Monday.

“[The] proactive presence is a preventive measure, and while there is no credible threat to the District of Columbia, we want residents and visitors alike to feel sure that MPD is here prepared and dedicated to keep communities safe across all seven districts.,” Smith said.

The mayor said before Jan. 6 and the inauguration she expects to make a National Guard request for additional assistance, but no request will be made for election week.

-ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson

Judge’s decision coming ‘shortly’ on Elon Musk giveaway case

Philadelphia Judge Angelo Foglietta said he plans to issue a decision “shortly” after a nearly six-hour hearing over Elon Musk’s America PAC’s million-dollar giveaway, as Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is seeking an emergency injunction to stop the sweepstakes.

During closing arguments, a lawyer for Krasner called Musk’s giveaway “one of the great scams of the last 50 years” by deceiving more than a million swing state voters to sign a petition in the hopes of winning a million dollars.

“There is nothing random about that process,” the lawyer, John Summers, said. “This was a profound, devastating and widespread deception.”

Summers argued that Musk attempted to “influence the election” by encouraging hundreds of thousands of voters to sign a petition while preselecting the winners based on their “suitability” to serve as spokespeople for the political action committee. Summers argued that even if the lottery was not random, it’s still illegal under Pennsylvania law.

“They essentially advertised this as a lottery. It’s not a defense that what we said it was isn’t true,” Summers said.

Andy Taylor, a lawyer for Musk’s America PAC, argued that the DA’s case falls apart after today’s revelation that the alleged lottery awarded preselected winners.

“It’s an opportunity to earn. It’s not a chance to win,” Taylor said, emphasizing the winners’ roles as spokespeople for the PAC.

Taylor emphasized that the case centers on a petition in support of the First and Second amendments, arguing that shutting down the giveaway would infringe on free speech.

“You are going to smother in the crib the rights of millions of Pennsylvanians from exercising constitutional magnitude free speech,” Taylor said.

Speaking outside court, Krasner’s attorney declined to comment on the specifics of the case, simply acknowledging, “It’s in the hands of the judge.”

-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous

CISA continues to see threats toward election officials

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency continues to see threats towards election officials a day before Election Day, according to a top official for CISA, the cyber arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

In a call to reporters Monday, Cait Conley, who is in charge of CISA’s election security portfolio, called these threats “fundamentally un-American.”

CISA Director Jen Easterly said most local elections officials are in touch with law enforcement.

“We’ve not seen specific reporting about violence at polling places, so I certainly don’t want voters to feel at all intimidated about going to voting locations,” Easterly said, saying it should “really be a day of celebration.”

Easterly said they “expect” disruptions throughout Election Day, and they are prepared for it. Foreign adversaries — particularly Russia, China and Iran — are looking to “undermine American confidence and the legitimacy of our elections and to stoke partisan discord,” she said.

-ABC News’ Luke Barr

Trump campaign looks to Vance to help them over the finish line in Pennsylvania

From the moment he arrived in Milwaukee, after being named former President Donald Trump’s running mate, it was clear that one of Sen. JD Vance’s primary roles was to help deliver battleground Pennsylvania for the former president.

The day Vance was announced as Trump’s vice presidential pick in July, Trump told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jon Karl that he was “going to leave [Vance] in Pennsylvania.”

Pennsylvania’s importance in this election can’t be overstated — it’s a crucial swing state with 19 coveted electoral votes where Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are neck and neck. Whoever wins the state is very likely win the presidential election. During the 2020 election, Pennsylvania was the state that sealed the presidency for President Joe Biden.

Click here to read more about Vance’s efforts in Pennsylvania.

-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie

Musk’s sweepstakes winners were vetted, signed NDAs: Political adviser

Before announcing the winners of Elon Musk’s $1 million giveaway, America PAC employees conducted background checks on them, vetted their social media and had them sign non-disclosure agreements, Elon Musk’s political adviser Chris Young testified during an ongoing hearing in Philadelphia on Monday.

The inside look at how winners were selected is at odds with how Musk himself described the “random” selection process.

“Were you surprised that he used the word ‘randomly’?” Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s attorney, John Summers, asked.

“That’s not the word I would have selected,” Young said.

Young testified that he reviewed candidates based on the location of Musk’s next rally before vetting the people who signed America PAC’s petition in support of the First and Second amendments.

“I essentially used the petition like a job application,” Young said, with America PAC considering the number of eligible voters that the candidate referred to the petition, their personality and social media history.

According to Young, Musk was notified when a candidate was selected. Young also said that winners signed non-disclosure agreements preventing them from talking publicly about their “consulting agreements.”

While the testimony contradicts Musk’s public statements, Young insisted that the winners “earned” their money by doing work on behalf of the PAC, seemingly supporting the defense argument that the giveaway is not an illegal lottery.

“Anyone who participated in the program knew what they were entitled to for their participation in the program,” Young said.

Closing arguments in the hearing will happen after a brief break.

-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous

‘Candidates don’t get to decide who wins elections’: Michigan secretary of state

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was asked during a press briefing Monday about the possibility that Trump could declare victory tomorrow before all the votes are actually counted.

“Candidates don’t get to decide who wins elections, voters do,” Benson responded. “And so we will keep reminding folks of that truth. Candidates certainly can say and will say whatever they want to say, it doesn’t change the facts. It doesn’t change the tallies of the votes that are cast on paper ballots that will be audited after the fact and securely tabulated throughout the election to ensure the accuracy of the results, whatever those results may be.”

Benson added that they “hope and expect and ask all the candidates to respect the will of the people and respect those results, and to not claim something is true when it’s not.”

In 2020, Trump claimed to have won the election only hours after polls closed on Nov. 3, 2020, before final results were in.

Benson said she and her staff will be debunking false statements and conspiracy theories as they arise, but that “truth and transparency are on our side.”

“We’ve seen how completely innocent things can be misused to spread false aspersions about our election, so let’s all be vigilant,” she said.

She also urged the public to question what they see on social media.

“Don’t assume anything that you’re seeing from a source other than a trusted voice or an election official has truth until you cross-check it with other sources of information,” she said.

-ABC News’ Mike Levine

Trump expected to host dinners at Mar-a-Lago on election night with club members, donors and close friends

Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to host multiple dinners on election night at his Mar-a-Lago club — including with his close friends, donors and club members, multiple sources familiar with the dinners told ABC News.

Trump is expected to dine with an intimate group of close friends Tuesday night, and there will be a separate Mar-a-Lago club member dinner in the ballroom. A source familiar with the dinners said there won’t be any formal speeches but Trump will likely stop by to greet them all.

Earlier that day, Trump is expected to cast his vote in Palm Beach, Florida.

Several of the attendees of the dinners told ABC News that they’re planning on heading over to the Palm Beach Convention Center after the dinner.

-ABC News’ Soo Rin Kim, Lalee Ibssa and Kelsey Walsh

Harris 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.”

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.

CAIR 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

Pennsylvania 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

Trump 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.

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

Trump 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.

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

Philly 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.”

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

Harris 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.

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

North 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.

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

‘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.

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

Walz 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.”

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.”

Musk’s attorney says winners of America PAC giveaway not chosen by chance

At an ongoing hearing in Philadelphia over Elon Musk and his super PAC’s $1 million voter sweepstakes, a defense attorney said the giveaway is a way to recruit spokespeople for America PAC, while the Philadelphia district attorney testified it is a “scam.”

According to defense attorney Chris Gober, the recipients of the million-dollar checks sign contracts after being selected from a pool of people who signed the petition to serve as a spokesperson for the PAC. Tomorrow’s winner has already been decided to be a registered voter from Michigan.

“They were not chosen by chance,” Gober said during the hearing in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas.

Minutes later, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s team played a video in court where Musk vowed the money would be awarded “randomly.”

“So I have a surprise for you, which is that we are going to be awarding a million dollars randomly to people who have signed the petition every day from now until the election,” Musk told a crowd in Pennsylvania on Oct. 19.

Testifying from the witness stand, Krasner slammed the giveaway as a “scam” and “grift” intended to “flood money into American elections.”

“That ain’t a contract and that’s not employment,” an animated Krasner, the first witness in the hearing, said. “There are certain words that stick out — awarding. Doesn’t sound like a spokesperson contract.”

“It is unquestionably supposed to be random selection despite what I think is a very disingenuous version of it that I think I heard today,” Krasner said.

Krasner testified that the America PAC has effectively scammed Philadelphia residents out of their personal information — which they entered to sign the petition to enter into the giveaway — while the giveaway never actually offered them a random chance of winning the million-dollar prize.

“They were scammed for their information,” said Krasner, who is asking a judge to immediately stop the giveaway.

-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous

Former Rep. Liz Cheney responds to Trump’s violent rhetoric about her, compares him to an autocrat

Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney responded to former President Donald Trump’s attacks on her in an interview with ABC’s “The View” on Monday, including a remark he made suggesting she should “have guns trained on her face.”

“He knows what he’s doing,” Cheney said. “He knows it’s a threat with the intent to intimidate. Obviously, the intimidation won’t work.”

Cheney emphasized Trump’s history of violent rhetoric, including how he responded to the violence on Jan. 6.

“For over three hours, he watched police officers be brutally beaten. He was told the vice president had been evacuated, he said, ‘So what?'” Cheney said. “People were rushing in, pleading with him, ‘Tell the mob to leave,’ and he wouldn’t.”

“That level of depravity, he knows he has no defense to that, and he knows that the American people will not entrust again with power anyone who would do something that cruel,” she continued. “And so because he can’t respond to that, he tries to change the subject, he tries to threaten. It’s what autocrats do to try to get their political adversaries to be silent.”

Vance: ‘Tomorrow is our last chance’

JD Vance addressed voters in Wisconsin during a rally in La Crosse on Monday.

“Tomorrow is our last chance,” Trump’s running mate said. “Tomorrow is the big day when we are going to vote in very big numbers in the state of Wisconsin. We’re going to vote for change. We’re going to vote for American prosperity.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is also campaigning in Wisconsin on Monday. Vance called it “tough work” to “convince the American people” that Harris can be president.

“I think that’s the toughest job in the United States of America,” Vance said, saying Harris is “more of the same” high grocery prices, unaffordable housing and “wide open border.”

Alabama GOP mobilizes 400 poll workers in Georgia and Alabama

The Alabama Republican Party announced on Monday it has launched its most comprehensive poll watcher deployment, with more than 400 poll watchers and election lawyers in Georgia and Alabama.

Over 200 Alabama poll watchers and dozens of election lawyers will be stationed in targeted districts across Alabama, which the party says is part of an effort to ensure a “secure and transparent election process.” The Alabama GOP added that the placement of election lawyers across the state “provides an extra layer of security and real-time responsiveness.”

The Alabama GOP is also deploying more than 200 poll watchers to Georgia, supporting the critical southern battleground state on behalf of former President Donald Trump’s campaign.

-ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson

Trump speaks at campaign rally in Raleigh

At a campaign rally Monday in Raleigh, former President Donald Trump urged his supporters to turn up to the polls on Election Day.

“If we get everybody out and vote, there’s not a thing they can do,” Trump told the crowd of North Carolinians, saying the state was “ours to lose.”

Trump smeared the Democratic Party as a “horrendously dangerous party that’s going to destroy our country.”

“We cannot let that happen,” he said. “So here’s my only purpose in even being here today: Get out and vote.”

Musk doesn’t show at hearing on Philly DA’s challenge to $1 million giveaways

Elon Musk was a no-show at the hearing over his $1 million voter sweepstakes in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on Monday.

Entering court without his client, Musk’s attorney, Chris Gober, criticized Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner for wanting to “silence Elon Musk for supporting Donald Trump.”

“We don’t allow our rights to be trampled upon bipartisan agendas masquerading as legal arguments,” Gober said.

In a late filing this morning, Krasner’s attorney continued to push for Musk to attend the hearing in person because his testimony would demonstrate “he is the beating heart of America PAC’s unlawful lottery and deceptive/unfair practices scheme.”

“Musk cannot distract from his central role by saying that he wants to be busy out campaigning, rather than attending to his responsibilities to this Court,” attorney John Summers said in the filing.

Earlier this morning, America PAC announced that the newest winner of their daily $1 million giveaway is a registered voter from Phoenix. One day remains until the sweepstakes ends on Election Day.

-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous and Chris Boccia

How Nebraska’s ‘blue dot’ could prove pivotal in the Electoral College

Amid an increasingly tight election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in several key swing states, Nebraska, and more specifically, its 2nd Congressional District, has taken on an outsize role in this year’s presidential election.

Because Nebraska currently awards three of its five Electoral College votes based on the results in each of its three congressional districts, the so-called “blue dot,” as the 2nd district has come to be known, could be critical to either campaign’s path to 270 electoral votes.

Early vote tops 78 million

As of 5:30 a.m. ET on Monday, more than 78 million Americans have voted early (a combination of absentee and early, in-person totals), according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida.

The total breaks down into 42,654,364 in-person early votes and 35,348,858 mail ballots returned.

The number of in-person early votes has surpassed 2020’s total number of in-person early votes. However, the overall number of early votes so far (including mail-in and absentee ballots) is still lower than 2020’s overall number.

-ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim

Jeffries says Republicans ‘will take a blow torch’ to social security

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Good Morning America on Monday that Democrats are “on the right side” of the presidential election’s most pressing issues.

“The extreme MAGA Republicans have clearly and unequivocally articulated what they will do to America moving forward,” Jeffries said.

“They will take a blow torch to social security, they will take a blow torch to Medicare, they will take a blow torch to the Affordable Care Act,” Jeffries said.

Vice President Kamala Harris, Jeffries said, is “closing with a positive vision” while former President Donald Trump and his Republican party are “trying to tear us apart.”

Jeffries will become House speaker if Democrats win back control of the chamber this week.

“The majority of current House Republicans voted not to certify the election in 2020,” Jeffries said. “My colleagues on the other side of the aisle don’t seem to be capable of unequivocally saying that they will certify the election and the verdict that is rendered by the American people.”

“As House Democrats, that’s what we will do,” Jeffries added.

“We believe in democracy even when we disagree with the outcome. That’s been part of what’s made America the greatest democracy in the history of the world.”

Candidates vie for every vote in key swing states

Highlighting how important Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes are to her campaign, Kamala Harris is spending her last full day on the trail with multiple events in the state.

Her search for voters includes a rally in Allentown and then she ends with an event in Philadelphia.

Donald Trump is trying to shore up support in battleground North Carolina – where Harris has made inroads – for a rally in Raleigh, before he, too, heads to Pennsylvania for events in Reading and Pittsburgh before ending his final day campaigning in Grand Rapids, Michigan.