Harris, Trump in MI, GA; latest polls

Just eight days until Election Day.

In the final stretch of the 2024 presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are focusing on two pivotal battlegrounds that could decide the race for the White House: Michigan and Georgia.

Harris on Monday is holding a rally alongside her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Meanwhile, Trump is holding his own rally in Atlanta, Georgia, and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, will gather with voters in Wausau, Wisconsin.

Trump’s campaign stops come after his highly-touted Madison Square Garden rally courted controversy on Sunday after a warm-up act from a comedian that sparked a political furor with a key constituency Trump is hoping to win over in his bid for a second term in the White House.

During the early stages of the rally, the comedian Tony Hinchliffe, who goes by the stage name Kill Tony, mocked Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” and also said Latinos have too many children. While Trump’s campaign later sought to distance itself from the joke, it had already garnered condemnation from fellow Republicans, major celebrities and others.

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When do we find out who won the election?

It is not clear exactly when the election results will be announced, as the timing depends on a variety of factors. Each state handles its elections differently, ranging from weeks-long early voting to strict voter ID laws.

But you can anticipate delays.

Some key swing states that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are vying for, like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, aren’t permitted to start processing absentee and mail-in ballots until Election Day, which is expected to slow down the count.

– Sudiksha Kochi and Sam Woodward

How many days until Election Day? See the countdown clock

Yes, Election Day is next week. Check out USA TODAY’s countdown clock below.

Are schools closed on Election Day?

It depends on your school or district, as well as the state where you live. However, many public schools will be closed for Election Day, which is Nov. 5.

Schools across the country are used as polling places where voters can cast their ballots on Election Day, along with community centers and other local gathering places.

– Sudiksha Kochi

What time do polls open on Election Day?

It depends where you live.

In some states like Arizona and Connecticut, polling locations can open as early as 6 a.m. on Election Day, which is Nov. 5. In other places, locations will open later in the morning, at 7 a.m. or 8 a.m.

 You can find your polling location and its hours by contacting your state and local election office or visiting usa.gov for more information.

– Sudiksha Kochi

JB Pritzker hits Donald Trump after former president’s allies accuse him of fascism

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says Donald Trump “demonstrates all of the qualities of somebody who is using peoples’ fears to advance a cause that is antidemocratic” but declined on Sunday to directly label him a fascist. 

“You can put whatever label you want on it, but you’ve heard him say antidemocratic things,” Pritzker told USA TODAY. “And at the same time, he says things that are motivational to some of the worst elements of peoples’ thinking – racism, sexism, you know, xenophobia, the concern about immigrants and so on.”

Pritzker added, “So there’s no doubt that you can take some quotes of Donald Trump’s and read them in the most extreme texts that there are out there, and say, he must be reading those, or someone is telling him those, and he is drawn to them.”

The governor’s comments came after former White House chief of staff John Kelly in an interview with The New York Times last week said the 2024 presidential candidate fits the bill for a fascist.

Last year, after Trump pledged to root out fascists and referred to liberals as “vermin,” Pritzker said the Republican’s comments were “frightening to those of us who know the history of Europe in the 1930s and 40s.” Kamala Harris said last week on CNN that she thinks Trump is a “fascist.”

– Francesca Chambers

Trump-aligned group is already planning lawsuits over election results

A Trump-aligned group that has filed lawsuits in several swing states challenging voter registration lists is already planning to sue over this year’s election results, one of the group’s founders told USA TODAY.

“We feel compelled to file in defense of this beautiful country,” said Marly Hornik, who co-founded United Sovereign Americans in 2023. “We already have signs and numbers coming in of errors inside of the process.”

The organization, which describes itself as nonpartisan, is regularly represented by Bruce Castor, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Lawsuits from both the group and Republican organizations suggest widespread voter fraud could be happening – without providing proof that it is.

The claims feed into the false narrative from Trump that he didn’t lose the 2020 election, which critics fear is a precursor to claiming similar election theft if he loses again. Numerous counts and audits showed President Joe Biden won the last presidential election. Nearly all of more than 60 lawsuits from Trump allies in the wake of that election failed.

– Aysha Bagchi

New polls show slim leads for Republicans in Nebraska and Texas Senate races

New polls from The New York Times/Siena College, conducted between Oct. 23 and Oct. 26, show tight Senate races in both Nebraska and Texas. 

In Texas, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, a Trump-endorsed, two-term incumbent is leading his Democratic opponent Rep. Colin Allred 50% to 46% among 1,180 voters in Texas, according to the poll. Democrats have been eyeing the seat as one they could possibly flip to keep control of the Senate, pouring millions of dollars into the race. 

In Nebraska, Republican Sen. Deb Fischer is leading her independent opponent Dan Osborn 48% to 46% among 1,194 voters in Nebraska. Five percent of likely voters said they were undecided or didn’t answer.

– Sudiksha Kochi

Court rejects Mississippi’s 5-day grace period for mailed ballots − but policy for 2024 is uncertain

A federal appeals court revived a Republican lawsuit against Mississippi’s grace period for mailed ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive up to five days after Election Day.

But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t block the state law that allowed the grace period. Instead, the appeals court sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola for further review.

Guirola had rejected the lawsuit in the July from the state and national Republican Parties that challenged the grace period approved during the COVID pandemic. “The upshot: These statutes ‘mandate holding all elections for Congress and the Presidency on a single day throughout the Union,’” Judge Andrew Oldham wrote for the three-judge appeals panel.

If the case were appealed to the Supreme Court it could potentially have brought implications because more than a dozen states have grace periods for mailed ballots postmarked by Election Day to arrive up to 10 days afterward.

−Bart Jansen

Court refuses to revive Virginia policy to remove suspected noncitizens from voter rolls

A federal appeals court on Sunday rejected a Republican case from Virginia that sought to reinstate a purge of suspected noncitizens from voter rolls.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles on Friday had halted the state program that removed about 1,500 names since Aug. 7 because federal law prohibits removing names from voter rolls within 90 days of an election. She also ordered the registration of those who were removed to be restored.

The state appealed but the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Giles’ ruling.

“For the second time in three days, a federal court ruled Virginia’s purge of eligible citizens is unlawful,” said Ryan Snow, a lawyer with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “We urge the Supreme Court to stop this madness and make it clear that it is unacceptable to block eligible citizens from voting.”

−Bart Jansen

Harris and Trump locked in dead heat in key battleground state, new poll shows

A new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll found that Trump and Harris are almost tied in Wisconsin, 48% to 47%, among 500 likely voters.  The results are within the poll’s margin of error of 4.4 percentage points. The poll was conducted Oct. 20 to 23.

In Door County, Wisconsin, which has been a bellwether for the state, Harris has a slight edge. Harris leads Trump in that area, 50% to 47%, the poll of 300 likely Door County voters found. The results are still within the margin of error of 5.7 percentage points.

Wisconsin, which has 10 electoral votes, is among several important swing states that both Trump and Harris are eyeing to help catapult them to the presidency.

− Rebecca Morin and Sudiksha Kochi

Does Puerto Rico vote in the 2024 presidential race?

No, Puerto Rican residents cannot vote for president.

They can help choose each party’s nominee for president, however. The political parties have the ability to include them in the primary selection process.

Trump won Puerto Rico’s 2024 GOP primary, winning 23 of the territory’s Republican delegates. 

While Puerto Ricans on the island can’t vote for President, more than two-thirds of Boricuas live in the United States where they can vote for president.

− Sudiksha Kochi

Trump faces backlash from Bad Bunny, Puerto Ricans amid fight for Latino vote

Puerto Ricans, including Grammy-winning artists Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin, widely condemned Trump after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who goes by the stage name Kill Tony, derided the island as a “floating island of garbage” at the former president’s campaign rally in Madison Square Garden.

The backlash comes as Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris are locked in a tight race – and are counting on Latino voters to help get them to the White House. Puerto Rican voters living in the United States make up the second largest Latino group in the country, including in key battleground states like Pennsylvania.

In the face of a growing uproar, senior Trump advisor Danielle Alvarez on Sunday night issued a statement addressing Hinchcliffe’s bit. “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” she said.

− Rebecca Morin and Sudiksha Kochi

Where do Trump, Harris stand in the polls?

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are neck-and-neck in national polls. Trump leads Harris by 0.1 percentage points in Real Clear Politics’ average of national polls, well within the margin of error of each survey included.

It’s also a tight race in battleground states across the country. For example, according to Real Clear Politics’ average of polls in Michigan, Trump leads by just 0.2 percentage points.

– Marina Pitofsky

Where is Trump campaigning on Monday?

Trump is holding a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Monday at 6 p.m. Georgia could easily determine the 2024 race, a crucial southern swing state that Trump won in 2016 but lost to President Joe Biden in 2020.

– Marina Pitofsky

Election Day is Nov. 5. Sign up for USA TODAY’s On Politics newsletter for breaking news and exclusive analysis.

Where is Harris campaigning on Monday?

Kamala Harris will hold an event Monday in Ann Arbor, Michigan along with her vice presidential running mate, Tim Walz, and singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers, her campaign said Friday.

Harris has been spending a great deal of time in Michigan, a key battleground state, of late: Earlier this month she held three events before campaigning in southeastern Michigan with rapper Lizzo. Last week, she was in Oakland County with Republican former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, and she campaigned on Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama.

– Todd Spangler