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2024 election updates: Trump concludes MSG rally with anti-immigrant rhetoric

Trump was introduced to the stage by Melania in an unannounced appearance.

The race for the White House remained essentially a dead heat on Sunday -- with nine days to go until Election Day.

Former President Donald Trump delivered a speech Sunday afternoon at New York's Madison Square Garden. After making several stops in Philadelphia on Sunday, Vice President Kamala Harris held a rally there Sunday afternoon.


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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Harris says Trump is 'full time focused on himself'

Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on Monday's episode of NFL player and TV host Shannon Sharpe's "Club Shay Shay" podcast to criticize former President Donald Trump as "full time focused on himself."

Trump, Harris said, is "somebody who has never been understanding of the issues that affect the community about disparities," accusing the former president of having "denied rent to Black families" when he was a landlord and noting his "full page ad in the New York Times against the Central Park Five."

"Don't think you're in Donald Trump's club," Harris continued. "He's not gonna be thinking about you."

"He'll spend full time talking about his grievances, about what everyone has done to him," Harris said of Trump's rallies. "He'll talk about himself, but he does not talk about the American people."

-ABC News' Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie


Obama makes case for Black men to vote Harris on Win With Black Men call

Former President Barack Obama appeared on a Zoom call with the group Win With Black Men on Sunday.

The group -- which raised $1.3 million in four hours for the grassroots platform on behalf of the Harris campaign -- warned of the dangers of being apathetic as Black men and the importance of staying engaged in politics.

"Donald Trump has shown utter disrespect and disregard for our communities, and for Black men specifically, throughout his career,” Obama said.

Drawing from former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Saturday Harris campaign speech, Obama expressed disbelief that the race is neck and neck.

"As my wife said yesterday, some of you I'm sure, caught her speech in Kalamazoo. It shouldn't be this close, because the candidates are not comparable. You have on the one hand, Donald Trump, somebody who, as president of the United States, showed contempt for huge sections of the country, who did not show the capacity to move legislation that actually helped ordinary people,” Obama said.

“And on the other side, you've got Kamala Harris, who at every stage, has shown herself to be a champion of ordinary people, who works to provide a voice for folks who need it," Obama continued.

"Who has displayed consistent excellence at every level, from being a district attorney to being an attorney general of California to being a U.S. senator and now to being vice president, she is as qualified as any presidential nominee that we've ever seen, and her message is directly focused on the challenges that we face as black men, and that our communities face and that America faces," Obama said of Harris.

Obama also debunked the notion that Trump is worth voting for because of the stimulus checks sent out during the pandemic.

“Well, during the pandemic, Trump sent us a check. You know what? First of all, it was Congress and Democrats and Republicans who sent you a check, just like Joe Biden, working with Congress, sent you a check during the pandemic emergency relief, just like I sent emergency relief to people during the Great Recession when I first came into office -- the difference is that Joe Biden and I did not put our names on the check," Obama said.

"So do not think that somehow, because you got a check from Donald Trump, quote, unquote, during the pandemic, that somehow that's something special that he did, and that justifies you giving him his vote," Obama said.

-ABC News' Gabriella Abdul-Hakim


Virginia to appeal voter purge block to Supreme Court after 4th Circuit ruling

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced on Sunday that "Virginia will be filing an appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court immediately," after the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Friday ruling halting Virginia's voter purge.

For the second time in a week, the law was found to be in violation of the 90-day quiet period in the National Voting Rights Act of 1993. Since Aug. 1, 600 voters have been removed from the rolls.

The 4th Circuit judges concluded that Gov. Glenn Youngkin's executive order to purge voters from the voter roll on a daily basis was systematic and therefore in violation of the NVRA.

Ryan Snow, one of the lawyers in the case, told ABC News on Sunday, "It should be crystal clear to Governor Youngkin that it is illegal to remove eligible citizens from the rolls just days before the election. We urge the Supreme Court to stop this madness and make it clear that it is unacceptable to block eligible citizens from voting."

-ABC News' Beatrice Peterson


Trump advisers propose bypassing FBI security clearance for appointees: Memo

Some of former President Donald Trump's advisers have proposed a plan, should he win the election, that would allow Trump to grant security clearances to a large number of his appointees without using the traditional background check process by the FBI, according to a memo described to ABC News that has circulated among his top aides.

The proposal in the memo -- which has circulated among a small group and is being promoted in part by Trump's top legal adviser Boris Epshteyn -- would essentially allow Trump to quickly install a group of loyalists without them being subject to the typical FBI background checks, according to sources.

The New York Times first reported the news.

It proposes using investigators in the private sector to conduct background checks instead of the FBI, and would clear the way for Trump to essentially install a large number of his political appointees on Day 1 on the basis they'd been approved to receive classified briefings, sources said.

The approach would raise significant questions about safeguards that could be bypassed as a result of such an approach, which runs contrary to how typical presidential transition operations have sought to prepare personnel for higher-level posts in an administration.

Some of Trump's advisers have a complicated history with background checks and therefore distrust the vetting process typically undertaken by the FBI. It's unclear how many people the alleged proposal in the memo would apply to, but people familiar with it say it would cover a huge portion of Trump's political appointees.

-ABC News' Katherine Faulders, Will Steakin and John Santucci