2024 election updates: Musk lawyer admits $1M giveaway was not random

(WASHINGTON) — Election eve has arrived with the race for the White House still very tight — with the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll out Sunday showing Kamala Harris slightly ahead nationally but Donald Trump ahead in some key swing states — and the two candidates deadlocked in Pennsylvania.

Harris is spending her last full day campaigning in battleground Pennsylvania while Trump is hitting the trail in North Carolina and Pennsylvania before ending the day in Michigan.

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.