With less than two weeks before Election Day, some 26.5 million Americans have cast their vote through early voting methods, according to data from the Election Lab at the University of Florida.
People mark their ballots at machines during the first day of early in-person voting in Black Mountain, N.C., Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024.
Mail ballots have been returned by 15.7 million voters as of Wednesday night, according to the data, with another 10.7 million voting early in person.
Several states are slated to begin early voting options in the coming days.
Oct 23, 2024, 6:18 PM GMT
Harris: Trump's Hitler remarks 'deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous'
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the vice president's residence in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024.
Kelly claimed Trump said he wanted generals like the ones Adolf Hitler had, and that, in his view as a retired general, the former president fell under the definition of a "fascist."
"It is deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous that Donald Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler, the man who is responsible for the deaths of 6 million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Americans," Harris said. "All of this is further evidence for the American people of who Donald Trump really is."
"The bottom line is this. We know what Donald Trump wants. He wants unchecked power," Harris added. "The question in the next 13 days will be: What do the American people want?"
ByWill McDuffie, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow
Oct 23, 2024, 4:31 PM GMT
Harris campaign seizes on John Kelly's remarks about Trump
The Harris campaign seized on former White House chief of staff and ex-Marine general John Kelly's remarks panning Trump as a "fascist," among other things, convening a press call of former GOP military leaders to sound a similar alarm.
"This is a difficult conversation for me as a lifelong Republican who always, you know, supported the Republican Party until Donald Trump came along," Brig. Gen. Steve Anderson said.
Anderson mocked the fact that Trump "couldn't qualify to be in the military -- he has 34 felony convictions -- so, how can we have the commander-in-chief be in charge of a military that he couldn't possibly join?"
Kevin Carroll, who served as senior counsel to Kelly when he was Homeland Security secretary under Trump, also underscored the seriousness of Kelly's surprisingly public rebuke of his old boss.
"I had the honor of working aside him, and I know him speaking out this way was no small step for him," Carroll said.
Oct 23, 2024, 4:21 PM GMT
Gov. Tim Walz, wife Gwen and son Gus went to a polling place in St. Paul to cast their ballots early
Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, left, son, Gus Walz, right, as they cast their ballots during early voting in St. Paul, Minn., Oct. 23, 2024.
"I'm excited about it," Walz told reporters Wednesday on his way in to the Ramsey County Elections office.
Minnesota started early in-person voting Sept. 20 but the governor has been on the campaign trail most of the time since Vice President Kamala Harris picked him as her running mate.
Tim and Gwen Walz also voted early at the same office in 2022.
Oct 23, 2024, 2:09 PM GMT
John Kelly says Trump fits definition of a 'fascist'
John Kelly, who served as chief of staff in Trump's administration, described the former president as a "fascist" during an interview with the New York Times.
"Well, looking at the definition of fascism, it's a far right, authoritarian, ultra nationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized hypocrisy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief, natural, social hierarchy," Kelly told the newspaper. "So certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks will prove work better in terms of running America."
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Greensboro Coliseum, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Greensboro, N.C.
Kelly also said he believed Trump would "love" to be a dictator, and that he was comfortable saying Adolf Hitler "did some good things, too." Kelly also claimed Trump referred to veterans who lost limbs as "losers and suckers."
The Trump campaign pushed back in a statement.
"John Kelly has totally beclowned himself with these debunked stories he has fabricated because he failed to serve his President well while working as Chief of Staff and currently suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. President Trump has always honored the service and sacrifice of all of our military men and women, whereas Kamala Harris has completely disrespected the families of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, including the Abbey Gate 13," said campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung.
