In the waning days of the presidential campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump zero in on the battleground state of Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, concerns over attempts at outside interference in Tuesday's election sprang up in the state of Georgia. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said his state has been targeted with a video that’s “obviously fake” and likely the product of Russian trolls.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it is investigating the video.
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Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court delivers victory for GOP on mail-in ballot case
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court on Friday rejected a last-ditch effort to ensure that thousands of mail-in ballots that lack an accurate, handwritten date on the exterior envelope will still count in this year’s presidential election.
The ruling is a victory for the GOP, as Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris vie in the final days of the presidential campaign for victory in the nation’s biggest battleground state.
The Republican Party has contested at least a half-dozen lawsuits in four years seeking to require counties to count such ballots. In this case, voting rights advocates argued that throwing out a ballot because it lacks a meaningless date violates a voter’s constitutional rights.
In its unsigned order, the state’s highest court said the case won’t apply to the presidential election being decided next week, but held out the possibility that it would still rule on the case at a later time.
However, a lawyer who helped bring the case said it’s almost certain that the question will be back before the justices in the days after the presidential election if it’s close.
Brazil's president endorses Harris
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appears to have endorsed Kamala Harris for U.S. president in a Friday afternoon message on X, saying democracy would be safer in her administration.
“I love democracy. I think it is the best system of government society has built in the world,” Lula wrote, adding that democracy enabled him, a former metalworker, to reach the presidency three times.
“It allows for those who are against it, those who are antagonistic, in a civilized debate of ideas, without violence. I think that if Kamala wins the elections, it is much safer to strengthen democracy in the U.S.”
Trump was allied with Lula’s most recent predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. The far-right politician lost his reelection bid to Lula in late 2022 and, a little over two months later, his supporters stormed the capital in a bid to restore him to power. It was widely seen as an echo of the Capitol insurrection two years earlier.
Washington state governor says he has activated the National Guard as a precautionary measure ahead of Election Day
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee has activated some Washington National Guard members to be on standby in the event they are asked to support local law enforcement and the Washington State Patrol during election week.
Inslee said in a news release on Friday that the activation is a precautionary measure taken in response to incidents in October in which incendiary devices were set off on ballot drop boxes in Vancouver, Washington, and in Portland, Oregon.
He also cited U.S. Department of Homeland Security warnings of threats to election infrastructure during the 2024 election cycle as a reason for the measure. His order activates as many members of the Washington National Guard as determined necessary for up to four days, beginning Monday and ending at 12:01 a.m. on Nov. 8.
Arizona officials probing whether Trump broke the law after Cheney remarks
The office of Arizona Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes is “looking into” whether Donald Trump broke state law when he said late Thursday former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney should face rifles “shooting at her” to see how she feels about sending troops to fight.
“The Arizona Attorney General’s Office is looking into whether Donald Trump’s comments about Liz Cheney violated Arizona law,” Richie Taylor, communications director for the AG’s office, said in a statement on Friday. “The office has no additional comments to make at this time.”
Trump made the comments about Cheney, one of the former president’s biggest Republican critics and the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, to former Fox News Host Tucker Carlson at a campaign event in Glendale on Thursday.
“Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her,” Trump said. “Let’s see how she feels about it.”
In an interview on Friday with 12News, a local television station in Arizona, Mayes said Trump’s comments were “deeply troubling.”
“I have already asked my criminal division chief to start looking at that statement, analyzing it for whether it qualifies as a death threat under Arizona’s laws,” Mayes told 12News.
“I’m not prepared now to say whether it was or it wasn’t, but it is not helpful as we prepare for our election and as we try to make sure that we keep the peace at our polling places and in our state,” she continued.
Harris and Trump packing their schedules with swing state visits
As Election Day nears and the electoral math to secure a presidential victory comes down to seven states, Trump and Harris are scheduling more stops and their travel itineraries are coinciding in time and place.
Harris’ Air Force Two landed a bit ahead of Trump with members of the media following Trump seeing the motorcade after arriving at the Milwaukee airport.
Walz’s plane was on the tarmac as Trump landed earlier Friday in Detroit.
Harris on Donald Trump in Wisconsin: ‘The man is angry’
Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday cast former President Donald Trump as an angry man who has exhausted Americans with his focus on division in a speech at an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers labor union hall in Janesville, Wisconsin.
After arguing, as she often does, that it is time to “turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump,” Harris put a finer point on the way she believes people feel about Trump’s time in the national spotlight: “Folks are exhausted with this stuff.”
“The man,” Harris said, referring to Trump, “is angry.”
She also said Trump was “one of the biggest losers of manufacturing jobs in America’s history,” hanging on the word “loser.”
Harris, who was flanked by IBEW workers, said Trump is “all talk, no walk” on unions, calling him “no friend to labor” and “a union buster his entire career.”
“He’s got a lot of talk, but if you pay attention to what he’s actually done... you’ll see who he really is,” she said, calling Trump “an existential threat to America’s labor movement.”
Union workers are important in a series of key swing states. While Democrats have long enjoyed the support of union leadership, Trump has improved Republican’s standing with rank-and-file union workers in both 2016 and 2020.
Harris has closed her campaign by arguing that the former President is more focused on the people he believes have wronged him than the American people.
Dearborn leaders turn down meetings with Trump
Several Arab American leaders in Dearborn say they declined invitations to meet with Donald Trump, who is visiting the nation’s largest majority-Arab city in metro Detroit today.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud declined an invitation to meet with Trump this week, confirmed Katie Doyal, a spokesperson for Hammoud, to The Associated Press. Hammoud, a Democrat, has not endorsed any presidential candidate this year.
Arab American News publisher Osama Siblani said he was invited to a “handshake” meeting with Trump but responded with conditions, requesting a substantive discussion on community issues.
Siblani also informed Trump allies that the Arab American PAC, which he co-founded, and The Arab American News would not alter their nonendorsements in the presidential race, even if he met with Trump. Siblani said the meeting never materialized after the requests.
Early in-person voting in North Carolina exceeds 2020 total
The number of people who’ve cast early in-person ballots in North Carolina has exceeded the total from four years ago. Such voting ends Saturday.
State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said that 3.71 million people had cast early in-person ballots as of early Friday.
The previous record was 3.63 million people voting in fall 2020. Early in-person voting has become increasing popular in the presidential battleground state over several election cycles.
State and national Republicans this year have encouraged supporters to vote early. Brinson Bell said voter turnout in counties affected by Hurricane Helene continues to outpace turnout statewide.
Harris says Trump comments about Liz Cheney show he's ‘unqualified’ for the presidency
Harris says that recent comments by Trump about Liz Cheney show that he is not qualified to be president.
Late Thursday, Trump suggested that Cheney, one of his most prominent Republican critics, should have rifles “shooting at her” to see how she feels about sending troops to fight.
Harris bristled at the remarks.
“Anyone who wants to be president of the United States who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president,” Harris said. “Rep. Cheney is a true patriot who has shown extraordinary courage in putting country above party.”
Harris spoke after landing in Madison, Wisconsin, for a series of events.
Cheney, a former Wyoming congresswoman, voted to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. She has endorsed Harris.
Trump arrives in Michigan, will visit with Arab Americans
Trump has landed in Detroit, Michigan, where he is expected for a rally in the suburb of Warren. In the area, he will also visit a restaurant in Dearborn, the nation’s largest Arab-majority city.
Nearly half of the 110,000 residents of Dearborn are Arab American, and the city has become the centerpoint of Democratic dissent over the Israel-Hamas war.
To agree to the visit, the restaurant’s owner told The Associated Press he asked Trump to issue a statement about ending the war and calling for peace in Lebanon, which Israel invaded a few weeks ago. Trump released a statement on Wednesday.
“Your friends and family in Lebanon deserve to live in peace, prosperity, and harmony with their neighbors, and that can only happen with peace and stability in the Middle East,” Trump wrote on X.
Walz says Trump knows nothing about life in middle class America
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says Donald Trump knows nothing about how middle class Americans really live.
“To those undecided folks, the only thing Donald Trump knows about working-class and middle-class people is how to take advantage of them,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee said at a rally in Detroit on Friday. “He talks about manufacturing. The only thing he knows how to manufacture is b———-.”
Walz is scheduled to visit a United Auto Workers union hall outside Detroit after the event.
US intelligence officials: Russian actors responsible for video falsely claiming election fraud
US intelligence officials say that “Russian influence actors” are responsible for a video circulating online that falsely claimed election fraud was taking place in the state of Georgia.
The video, which began circulating on the social media platform X on Thursday afternoon, claims to show a Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia IDs who says he is planning to vote multiple times in two counties.
A joint statement issued Friday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said that “Russian influence actors manufactured a recent video that falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally" in Georgia.
The activity is “part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans,” the statement said.
Earlier Friday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said his state has been targeted with a video that’s “obviously fake” and likely the product of Russian trolls “attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election.”
The original video was no longer on X on Friday morning, but copycat versions were still being shared widely.
Justice Department to deploy election monitors
The Justice Department is deploying election monitors in 27 states on Election Day to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws.
The department made the announcement Friday.
The federal monitors will be in 86 jurisdictions across the country. The Justice Department regularly sends monitors across the country on Election Day, to make sure federal laws are being followed at polling places.
The jurisdictions being monitored on Tuesday include Maricopa County, Arizona and Fulton County, Georgia, which in 2020 became the center of election conspiracy theories spread by former President Donald Trump and other Republicans.
Other jurisdictions the Justice Department is sending monitors to include Miami-Dade County, Florida; Detroit, Michigan; Queens, New York; Providence, Rhode Island; Jackson County, South Dakota; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Colorado updates passwords after accidental leak
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Friday that state workers have updated election system passwords that were accidentally leaked on a public-facing state website.
The passwords were left on a hidden tab of a spreadsheet online for months, though they were only one of two passwords needed to access voting systems.
The state has layers of security for its voting system, including secured rooms and round-the-clock surveillance.
Colorado’s secretary of state’s office said in a statement Friday that the leak “never posed an immediate security threat” and that the passwords were changed out of an “abundance of caution.”
The mishap came amid skepticism of voting systems, even though U.S. elections nationwide are remarkably fair and reliable. Former President Donald Trump’s campaign sent a letter to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold expressing concerns. In a reply, Griswold reiterated that “no single error can compromise the integrity of the system.”
Georgia election officials say they're late in mailing some absentee ballots
Election officials in Georgia’s third-largest county say they’re late in mailing more than 3,000 absentee ballots to voters just a few days before the election.
Election officials in Cobb County north of Atlanta say they’re using express mail and UPS overnight shipping in an effort to deliver the ballots on time for them to be returned by Tuesday’s deadline.
A statement from the county Board of Elections blamed the delay on faulty equipment and a late surge in absentee ballot requests. Officials say voters receiving their mailed ballots late can hand-deliver them to the elections office or vote in person.
Meanwhile, civil rights groups filed a lawsuit Friday asking a judge to give Cobb County three extra days to receive and count absentee ballots.
Maryland AG sends cease and desist letter to Washington-based voter groups
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has ordered two partner organizations to stop sending letters to Maryland voters that threaten to publicly expose registered voters who do not vote in this year’s election.
Brown issued a cease and desist letter to the Center for Voter Information/Voter Participation Center, which is based in Washington, D.C.
The letter also orders them to refrain from sending threatening communications in the future, and to not follow through on threats to embarrass nonvoters by publishing the information to their neighbors.
The attorney general’s office and the state elections board have received several complaints about letters sent by the organizations, claiming to be “Voting Report Cards.”
Maryland law permits a requestor to receive a copy of the voter registration list with voters’ election participation history included. However, Maryland law prohibits conduct designed to “influence or attempt to influence a voter’s decision” or to do so “through the use of force, fraud, threat, menace, intimidation, bribery, reward, or offer of reward.”
Elon Musk has spent at least $119 million to help elect Trump
Elon Musk, the tech and business titan who is also the world's richest man, has spent at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee.
Musk’s conversion to a self-described “Dark MAGA” Trump warrior is a recent one.
In the past, he donated modest sums to both Republicans and Democrats, including $5,000 to Hillary Clinton in 2016, records show. He didn’t contribute to Trump’s political efforts until this year, according to federal campaign finance disclosures.
Musk is now leading America PAC, a super political action committee that is spearheading Trump’s get-out-the-vote effort.
Trump makes his opposition to transgender rights a core theme
Trump has made his opposition to transgender rights a central theme in the closing days of the campaign.
The Republican nominee’s campaign and aligned political action committees have spent tens of millions of dollars on advertising that attacks Harris for previous statements supporting transgender rights.
Trump has vowed to target transgender people if elected. He has said he would ask Congress to pass a bill stating there are “only two genders” and to ban hormonal or surgical intervention for transgender minors in all 50 states.
Harris has been underscoring that she has supported federal policies that were in place when Trump was president. LGBTQ advocates argue that Trump’s rhetoric encourages hostility toward transgender people and fosters misunderstandings about who they are.
Final day for voters in populous Philly county to apply for early mail-in ballot
The final day for voters to apply for an early mail-in ballot in a populous suburban Philadelphia county is underway.
Voters in Bucks County, a bellwether whose residents Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris have courted in the presidential campaign’s final days, have until 5 p.m. Friday to apply for, receive and cast on the spot a mail-in ballot.
The court-ordered deadline is a three-day extension, stemming from a lawsuit brought by Trump’s campaign, the Republican National Committee and GOP Senate candidate David McCormick’s campaign this week.
They alleged that voters faced disenfranchisement when they were turned away when county government offices that process the applications closed.
Trump and Harris both visit Milwaukee area in swing-state Wisconsin
Harris and Trump will host dueling rallies on Friday in the Milwaukee area as part of a final push for votes in swing-state Wisconsin.
Milwaukee is home to the most Democratic votes in Wisconsin, but its conservative suburbs are where most Republicans live and are a critical area for Trump as he tries to reclaim the state he narrowly won in 2016 and lost in 2020.
Georgia election official says video purporting illegal voting is “likely” the work of Russian trolls
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said his state has been targeted with a video that’s “obviously fake” and likely the product of Russian trolls “attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election.”
The video, which began circulating on the social media platform X on Thursday afternoon, claims to show a Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia IDs who says he is planning to vote multiple times in two counties.
“This is false and is an example of targeted disinformation we’ve seen this election,” Raffensperger said.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it is investigating the video.
An Associated Press analysis of the information on two of the IDs confirms it does not match any registered voters in the counties.
The original video was no longer on X on Friday morning, but copycat versions were still being shared widely.
Trump criticizes former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney as a ‘war hawk’
Former President Donald Trump launched another attack on former Rep. Liz Cheney late Thursday, calling the Republican former Wyoming congresswoman a “war hawk.”
During an event in Glendale, Arizona, with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the Republican presidential candidate was asked if it is weird to see Cheney campaign against him.
Cheney held the No. 3 GOP leadership position in the House, but lost the job after she voted to to impeach Trump for the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. She has since campaigned for Harris.
Trump called Cheney “a deranged person,” then added: “But the reason she couldn’t stand me is that she always wanted to go to war with people. If it were up to her we’d be in 50 different countries.”
The Associated Press
