2024 election updates: Trump and Harris enter the final stretch of the 2024 campaign

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Last updated: Monday, October 28, 2024 10:05PM GMT
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As we head into the final full week of campaigning before Election Day, the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll shows Kamala Harris with a slight 51-47% lead over Donald Trump among likely voters nationally -- but the polls in the battleground states remain essentially deadlocked within the margin of error.

Fallout continues over racist comments made at Trump's big rally on Sunday at Madison Square Garden and Harris is preparing for her "closing argument" Tuesday night on the Ellipse near the Capitol and White House in Washington.

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Oct 28, 2024, 10:22 AM

Almost 42 million voters have cast a vote

Almost 42 million Americans have cast a vote through early voting methods, as of Sunday afternoon, according to data from the University of Florida's Election Lab.

The about 41.9 million recorded mail and early in-person votes were evenly split with about 21 million mail ballots returned nationally and about the same cast at in-person early voting polling sites across the country, the data showed.

Early voting options are now open to voters in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Many early voting periods will last until the weekend before Election Day.

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Oct 28, 2024, 10:05 PM GMT

Republicans ask US Supreme Court to block some provisional ballots in Pennsylvania

Republicans on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency order in Pennsylvania that could result in thousands of votes not being counted in this year's election in the battleground state.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro carries his mail-in ballot to a dropbox on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Abington, Pa.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro carries his mail-in ballot to a dropbox on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Abington, Pa.

Just over a week before the election, the court is being asked to step into a dispute over provisional ballots cast by Pennsylvania voters whose mail ballots are rejected for not following technical procedures in state law.

The state's high court ruled 4-3 that elections officials must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were voided because they arrived without mandatory secrecy envelopes.

The election fight arrived at the Supreme Court the same day Virginia sought the justices' intervention in a dispute over purging voter registrations.

In their high-court filing, state and national Republicans asked for an order putting the state court ruling on hold or, barring that, requiring the provisional ballots be segregated and not included in the official vote count while the legal fight plays out.

ByHannah Demissie ABCNews logo
Oct 28, 2024, 9:47 PM GMT

Vance says people should 'stop getting so offended' after racist rally joke

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York.
Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York.

Trump's running mate was pressed by reporters while campaigning in Wisconsin to weigh in on the controversy caused by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday.

JD Vance claimed he heard about the comments but didn't see them. Vance, when asked if the racist jokes were the right tone for the Trump campaign's final argument, pivoted to attacking Harris, claiming her closing pitch is "essentially [was saying] that all of Donald Trump's voters are Nazis."

Vance also said that people have to stop getting offended over the little things.

"And you should get really pissed off about a comedian telling a joke. That is not the message of a winning campaign. And most importantly, it's not the message of a person who's fit to be the president of the United States of America," Vance said.

"Maybe it's a stupid racist joke as you said, maybe it's not. I haven't seen it," Vance said. "I'm not going to comment on the specifics of the joke, but I think that we have to stop getting so offended at every little thing in the United States of America. I'm just, I'm so over it."

ByWill McDuffie ABCNews logo
Oct 28, 2024, 8:07 PM GMT

Harris touts CHIPS Act as she tours semiconductor facility

In a visit to a semiconductor facility in central Michigan, Harris praised the manufacturing work happening there and noted the importance of outpacing China.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Hemlock Semiconductor Next-Generation Finishing facility in Hemlock, Mich., Monday, Oct. 28, 2024.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Hemlock Semiconductor Next-Generation Finishing facility in Hemlock, Mich., Monday, Oct. 28, 2024.

"Look, we've got to win the competition for the 21st century," she said at Hemlock Semiconductor in Saginaw. "We're not going to have China beat us in the competition for the 21st century, and that's about, then, doing the work that Corning is going to be doing about manufacturing of these solar panels, together with the work that you are doing here."

Harris cited the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act as ways she has tried to boost America's manufacturing power.

"I want to thank you all for what you're doing here, as a great example of what was a vision that we had -- the president and I and Congressman -- we're going to create a meaningful public investment in America's private industries through the CHIPS act, through the Inflation Reduction Act, and we're going to infuse it with billions of dollars, knowing that if we do that, as that old saying comes, if you build it, they will come," she said.

Harris used the opportunity to slam Trump for "how he'd get rid of the CHIPS Act." Trump criticized the bipartisan law while on Joe Rogan's podcast last week.

ByBenjamin Siegel and Soorin Kim ABCNews logo
Oct 28, 2024, 6:28 PM GMT

Elon Musk's America PAC posts, then deletes, video calling Harris a 'C-Word'

Elon Musk's America PAC deleted a video that called Harris a "C-Word," using a wordplay to suggest an expletive, but instead calling her a "communist."

Elon Musk and former first lady Melania Trump listen as former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York.
Elon Musk and former first lady Melania Trump listen as former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York.

The ad began with a warning: "WARNING This ad contains multiple instances of the C word. Viewer discretion is advised."

"Kamala Harris is a C word. You heard that right? A big old C word. In fact, all of the other C words think she's the biggest C word of them all," a narrator said in the video.

Then with an image of a cat in a Soviet officer's uniform and an altered image of Harris wearing a Soviet hat, the video revealed the word in question was "communist," even though the video was clearly hinting at the expletive.

"That's right. She's a tax hiking, regulation loving, gun-grabbing communist. And the worst part, she's proud of it," the narrator says.

ABC News has reached out to America PAC about the video.