The race for the White House is heading into the final stretch with most polls showing Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump neck-and-neck in key states with less than two weeks to go.
More than 24 million Americans have voted early
With less than two weeks before Election Day, over 24.5 million Americans have cast their vote through early voting methods, according to data from the Election Lab at the University of Florida.
The majority of those early votes come from mail ballots as 15.3 million absentee ballots have been returned nationally as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the data.
More than 9.7 million have voted in-person at early voting polling places in several states, the data showed.
Several states are slated to begin early voting options in the coming days.
-ABC News' Ivan Pereira
Harris stops by Philly deli before town hall
Harris stopped by the Famous 4th Street Delicatessen, one of Philadelphia’s oldest delis, for a Harris-Walz campaign volunteer appreciation event Wednesday afternoon before her CNN town hall.
Harris stopped to take selfies and purchase a pastrami on rye sandwich and a slice of German chocolate cake. She thanked the volunteers and reminded them of the “impact” their efforts have on the world around them.
"You are having an impact on, for the most part, people that you may never end up meeting, because your work here will impact people around the country," she said.
She told the crowd they are "reminding" people of the "motivations" behind her campaign: "We all have so much more in common than what separates us."
Without naming Trump, she alluded to Trump as someone who "divides us" and urged the crowd to help "turn the page."
-ABC News' Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie
Trump calls Kelly 'lowlife,' denies stories
Trump lashed out Wednesday at John Kelly following his former chief of staff's accounts that Trump praised Adolph Hitler and denigrated soldiers and veterans.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump claims Kelly, who he labeled a "degenerate" and "tough and dumb," "made up a story out of pure Trump Derangement Syndrome Hatred!"
"The story about the Soldiers was A LIE, as are numerous other stories he told. Even though I shouldn’t be wasting my time with him, I always feel it’s necessary to hit back in pursuit of THE TRUTH. John Kelly is a LOWLIFE, and a bad General, whose advice in the White House I no longer sought, and told him to MOVE ON!" Trump said.
-ABC News' Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh
PA voters who submitted 'naked ballots' allowed to vote provisionally: Court
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that voters in the swing state must be allowed to cast a provisional ballot at their polling place if their mail-in ballot was previously rejected because it was not placed in a so-called "secrecy envelope."
The case stems from two voters in Butler County whose mail-in-ballots were rejected after they were sent in without the required secrecy envelope, creating what is known as a "naked ballot." They later submitted provisional ballots, but they were not counted, leading to the lawsuit.
In its ruling, the court said Butler County "erred" when it rejected those provisional ballots to be uncounted and affirmed the lower courts ruling directing them to be counted.
"The General Assembly wrote the Election Code with the purpose of enabling citizens to exercise their right to vote, not for the purpose of creating obstacles to voting," the opinion said.
The ruling is a loss for the Republican National Committee, which was looking to have the lower court's ruling overturned and have those voters' provisional ballots remain uncounted. It is one of the multiple cases around the country the RNC is involved in, litigating over which ballots should count during the 2024 election.
The court seemed to reprimand the RNC repeatedly in its order, including for "engaging in wordplay to confuse the Code and reach an absurd result" where provisional ballots of these voters should not be counted.
The order also rebuked the RNC's claims that "election integrity" calls for the votes to not be counted stating, "[W]e are at a loss to identify what honest voting principle is violated by recognizing the validity of one ballot cast by one voter."
-ABC News' Olivia Rubin
Harris campaign confirms 'closing argument' on the National Mall
The Harris campaign confirmed reports Wednesday that the vice president will deliver a major "closing argument" address at the Ellipse on the National Mall on Tuesday, a week before Election Day.
The location is the same location where Trump held his rally on Jan. 6 before his supporters stormed the Capitol.
Harris will provide a contrast between a first Harris term and a second Trump term by pointing to the future as a way to move past Trump and pursue a new way forward, according to a senior Harris campaign official.
The campaign believes that this symbolic location will help crystallize the choice for the American people in the election -- providing an opportunity for Harris to stress that the U.S. does not have to be defined as a nation by Trump’s chaos and division.
Campaign advisers say Harris will approach this moment like the former prosecutor she is: she has given her opening argument, laid out all the evidence, and now plans to take her closing argument directly to the “jury” -- the American people who will decide the outcome of this election, the official said.
-ABC News' Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie
Biden to campaign in Pittsburgh on Saturday
President Joe Biden will campaign in Pittsburgh on Saturday, however the White House did not detail any of the events in the announcement.
The president also addressed Pennsylvania local and statewide leadership of the Pennsylvania North American Building Trades Union/AFL-CIO to thank them for their continued efforts to mobilize workers in support of the Harris-Walz campaign and Democratic candidates, according to the Harris-Walz campaign.
-ABC News' Justin Gomez
Harris stops by Philly deli before town hall
Harris stopped by the Famous 4th Street Delicatessen, one of Philadelphia’s oldest delis, for a Harris-Walz campaign volunteer appreciation event Wednesday afternoon before her CNN town hall.
Harris stopped to take selfies and purchase a pastrami on rye sandwich and a slice of German chocolate cake. She thanked the volunteers and reminded them of the “impact” their efforts have on the world around them.
"You are having an impact on, for the most part, people that you may never end up meeting, because your work here will impact people around the country," she said.
She told the crowd they are "reminding" people of the "motivations" behind her campaign: "We all have so much more in common than what separates us."
Without naming Trump, she alluded to Trump as someone who "divides us" and urged the crowd to help "turn the page."
-ABC News' Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie