Judge rejects GOP effort to throw out 127K Texas votes
More than 96 million people have cast their ballots -- an early voting record.
On the eve of Election Day, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden had only hours left to make their closing arguments to voters in a contest both are calling the most important of their lifetime.
With more than 95 million Americans having already cast their ballots -- an early voting record -- time was running out for Trump and Biden to sway uncommitted voters.
Trump had five rallies in four states -- North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin -- as both candidates planned to barnstorm the states they deemed critical in a final full day of campaigning overshadowed by coronavirus cases rising in nearly every election battleground.
Biden went to Ohio and Pennsylvania, closing out the day at a drive-in rally with Lady Gaga in Pittsburgh. His running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, is also campaigning in Pennsylvania and finishedd her day at a drive-in rally with John Legend in Philadelphia. Their ticket's top surrogate, former President Barack Obama, campaigned in Georgia and Florida.
Vice President Mike Pence had a pair of rallies in Pennsylvania -- a state Trump won by one point in 2016 and one where a Democratic win this time would leave him with an exceedingly narrow path to victory -- before joining Trump on the trail in Michigan.
Top headlines:
- Federal judge rejects GOP effort to throw out 127K 'drive-thru' votes in Texas
- Trump: Supreme Court 'hurting our country' by rulings in election-related cases
- Texas Republicans ask federal judge to invalidate 127K 'drive-thru' votes
- Biden: 'I'm gonna hire Dr. Fauci and we're gonna fire Donald Trump'
- Overview: Trump rallies in five states, Biden focus on Pennsylvania
Obama expresses hope in flipping Georgia blue at Atlanta rally
Former President Barack Obama took his talents to Georgia Monday afternoon to campaign for Biden and Democratic senate candidates there, telling supporters at a drive-in rally in Atlanta he had one word for them: "Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow, after four years of failure, you have the power to change America. Tomorrow, you can put an end to the politics that tries to divide a nation just to win an election, that tries to stoke conspiracy theories and -- and fear at a time when we need competence and we need hope," Obama began his remarks.
"And right here in Georgia, you've got an even bigger power to deliver the change that we need. You can be a state that sends Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House," Obama said, projecting confidence as Democrats sense an opportunity to flip the state.
Obama went on to rail against Trump's handling of COVID-19 and defend the nation's top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, whom he worked with during the Ebola and H1N1 crises.
"They've already said they're not going to contain the pandemic. Now they want to fire the one person who could actually help them contain the pandemic," Obama said. "So Georgia, if you think they've done a bad job of managing COVID so far, basically what they're telling you now is you ain't seen nothing yet."
Arguing the case to elect Democratic senate candidates in the state, Obama also slammed the leadership of Georgia's incumbent Republican senators.
"If President Trump and your senators had been focused on COVID from the beginning instead of their portfolios or their TV ratings, cases wouldn't be reaching new record highs across the country just this week."
The former president also preemptively discredited Trump for trying to declare victory on election night, making a comparison to how he said Trump prematurely declared victory against the coronavirus pandemic.
"Well, that's just what he did on this virus, and how's that turned out?" Obama said. "America deserves better than this. Georgia, you deserve better than this."
As Trump paints an apocalyptic-image of America if Biden were elected president on his rally tour, Obama concluded with a message of unity and a reminder to Georgians of the sacrifices made there and across the country to make the United States better for everyone.
"I'm asking you to remember what this country can be Georgia is a better place than it used to be. There used to be a lot of violence and cruelty in this place. And it's a better place because some folks went out there and made sacrifices, Black and white," Obama said. "And America, it's a better place than it used to be. But it can be better now. But you've got to do the work," telling Georgians, "It's all up to you now."
SCOTUS rejects request to block Minnesota mask rules at polling places
Justice Neil Gorsuch on behalf of the Supreme Court has denied, without explanation, a request from some Minnesota voters for an injunction against enforcement of mask-wearing rules at polling places across the state.
Masks will still be required at polling locations as required by the governor's order.
-ABC News' Devin Dwyer
Trump: Supreme Court 'hurting our country' by rulings in election-related cases
Speaking at the first of five rallies in his final full day of campaigning, Trump railed against the Supreme Court for recent rulings not blocking Pennsylvania and North Carolina from accepting absentee ballots postmarked by Tuesday for several days after Nov. 3 -- stopping, at least for the moment, GOP efforts to stop counting ballots on election night.
"What a horrible thing they've done. You know that puts our country in danger. Do you know what can happen? Cheating can happen like you've never seen. This is their dream," Trump said, without any evidence.
He went on to warn of voter fraud if states can continue counting mail-in ballots in the days after the election, demanding results be tabulated on election night -- though votes are always certified in the following days and sometimes weeks.
“What can happen during that long period of time is a disgrace,” Trump said. "Our Supreme Court, I'm just so tired of some of these horrible political decisions that are being made. It's a shame. You know, I won't get into it too much. I'm going to start getting into it because they're hurting our country very bad."
Although Trump has projected confidence in winning the election, he also said "if" we win Pennsylvania when speaking to the North Carolina crowd, in perhaps a show of uncertainty in that critical battleground.
"I think if we win this state, we win Pennsylvania -- we’re going to win Florida. We win Pennsylvania and you, we’re going to win the whole thing," Trump told the massive, mostly maskless, crowd.
Pence tells Pennsylvania: 'The time for speeches is over. The time for voting is on'
Vice President Mike Pence, taking his closing message to roughly 200 people at an airport hangar in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, this morning made a big push for supporters to get out and vote either by getting their ballots in today or in-person voting Tuesday.
"Men and women, the time for speeches is over. The time for voting is on. So I want you to leave here today, you can drop that ballot off or just make plans to be out tomorrow, but spend every free moment that you have reaching out to neighbors and friends," Pence said.
Pence also teased his joint appearances with Trump this evening in Michigan, including the final rally in Grand Rapids, where he said they will "bring it home."
Joined by his family, all of whom were seen wearing masks today, Pence didn't acknowledge rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Pennsylvania, but he did say the administration is working on a vaccine "to put this pandemic in the past."
-ABC News' Justin Gomez