Lindsay Dentlinger5 November 2024 | 7:15

US elections: Harris calls for unity, Trump lashes out

Over 75 million Americans have already cast their votes in early voting, but their votes will be counted last, once the votes deposited at voting stations nationwide are tallied. 

US elections: Harris calls for unity, Trump lashes out

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on 9 September 2024 shows, L-R, US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaking at a Labor Day event at Northwestern High School in Detroit, Michigan, 2 September 2024 and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking at a town hall moderated by Fox News broadcaster Sean Hannity at the New Holland Arena in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on 4 September 2024. Picture: AFP

JOHANNESBURG - U.S. election candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have spent the final hours of their campaigns in key battleground states in last-ditch efforts to shore up the support they need to win Tuesday's poll.

While Vice President Harris has focused on bridging the divide between Democrats and Republicans, her opponent continued to drive the narrative that the election has already been stolen. 

Over 75 million Americans have already cast their votes in early voting, but their votes will be counted last, once the votes deposited at voting stations nationwide are tallied. 

The first voting stations to open their doors will be in Vermont - at 5am local time.

ALSO READ: South Africans in the US worried how a Trump presidency will impact pro-Palestine nations

But it will be in Pennsylvania which holds 19 electoral college votes, where the margins will be among the tightest and where Harris spent much of her final day on the campaign trail.

The election rivals have delivered very different final messages to the American electorate on the eve of Tuesday's crucial poll, with Harris choosing unity.

"I  see a nation to turn the page on hatred and division and chart a new way forward."

Trump on the other hand addressed venues in North Carolina and Pennsylvania which he struggled to fill, lashing out at uncontrolled immigration and his narrative of rigged elections.

"They cheated elections, and you call them on it, and they want to put you in jail. Think about it. It’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen."

Research polls currently put this neck-and-neck race at voters being split down the line at 48 % each.