US election 2024: Live coverage of Kamala Harris, Donald Trump showdown

TOKYO: The dollar started Tuesday on the defensive as traders squared positions on the day of the US presidential election, after recent polls dented some market bets on a victory for Republican Donald Trump.

Overnight, though, the US currency slumped as much as 0.76% against the euro to a three-week trough after a weekend opinion poll showed Harris with a surprise lead in Iowa, a traditional Republican stronghold. Overall, polls continue to show a tight race.

The dollar index =USD, which measures the currency against six major peers including the euro, was flat at 103.91 as of 0349 GMT, after slumping as low as 103.67 on Monday for the first time since October 21. Last week it surged to the highest since the end of July at 104.63.

The euro EUR=EBS was little changed at $1.0877, after lifting to $1.09145 in the previous session for the first time since October 15.

Against the yen, the dollar traded at 152.365 JPY=EBS, after slipping to 151.54 overnight, a one-week low.

In preparation for high-stakes US election, security measures like razor wire, thick black iron fencing, metal detectors, armed security guards, bomb sweeps have been taken outside a ballot counting centre in Arizona. 

After Donald Trump accused authorities of voter fraud following his loss to Joe Biden by fewer than 11,000 votes in a state, Maricopa County attracted huge number of  conspiracy theories during the 2020 presidential election. 

Armed protesters rushed to vote counting centres after the rigging accusations went viral. Keeping such incidents in view, the election officials this time have opted for high security protocols to prevent any possible disorder, reported BBC. 

Governors from at least three states have requested the deployment of National Guard troops to assist in maintaining public order. An Arizona sheriff has placed his department on heightened alert to mitigate the risk of potential violence, with drones and sharpshooters prepared for any incidents.

As the nation gets ready to cast votes for either Republican Donald Trump or Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election, heightened concerns regarding potential political violence have prompted officials to implement a range of security measures both during and after Election Day.

Most of these precautionary actions are particularly evident in battleground states, such as Nevada, where prior protests by supporters of former President Trump occurred following the 2020 election.

Read more here.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris both predicted victory as they campaigned across Pennsylvania on Monday in the final, frantic day of an exceptionally close US presidential election.

Both candidates converged on Pennsylvania on Tuesday to urge supporters who have not yet cast their ballots to show up on Election Day. The state offers the largest share of votes in the Electoral College of any of the seven battleground states expected to determine the outcome.

"With this election, you can show them once and for all that this nation does not belong to them. It belongs to you," a weary-sounding Trump told a half-full arena in Reading, the second of four stops he had planned for the day.

"Together we will fight, fight and we will win, win."

In Allentown, Harris predicted victory and promised to be a president for "all Americans," as she appealed to the city's substantial Puerto Rican community who were outraged by insults from a comedian at a Trump rally last week.

"Do we believe in the promise of America, and are you ready to fight for it?" she asked the crowd. "Because when we fight, we win."

Speaking at a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania with a sizable Puerto Rican population, Vice President Kamala Harris tried to woo voters, saying she is proud of her "long-standing commitment to Puerto Rico and her people”.

The presidential candidate reassured the local population of Puerto Rican origin, days after a speaker at a rally of former President Donald Trump in Madison Square Garden called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

“I am so thankful to everyone for being here, including the leaders of the Puerto Rican community,” Harris said.

“I stand here, proud of my long-standing commitment to Puerto Rico and her people, and I will be a president for all Americans.”

“So, Allentown, this is it. Just one more day, one more day, one more day left in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime, and momentum is on our side,” she added.

Nikki Haley, a Republican who ran against former President Trump months ago, has again expressed support for the former president, calling him 'clearly the better choice'.

"I don’t agree with Mr Trump 100% of the time," Haley wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Sunday.

"But I do agree with him most of the time, and I disagree with Ms Harris nearly all the time. That makes this an easy call."

Haley, who was the last-standing opponent against Trump in the presidential primaries, earlier also supported the former president after she dropped out of the race.

Haley has gone to the extent of saying that she is on "stand by" to assist Trump should he call her. However, there are no signs of his intending to do so with less than a day left before the elections. 

Panic buttons for poll workers, special weapons teams deployed on rooftops, and the National Guard on standby.

The 2024 US presidential election campaign has been a particularly volatile one, and security for Election Day on Tuesday is being ramped up to unprecedented levels given concerns over possible civil unrest, election chicanery, or violence against election workers.

The states of Oregon, Washington and Nevada have activated the National Guard, the FBI has set up a command post to monitor threats, and security has been bolstered at many of the nation's nearly 100,000 polling stations.

Nineteen states — including key election battlegrounds Arizona, Michigan and Nevada — have enacted election security enhancement laws since 2020, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

With Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump deadlocked at the climax of the race, authorities are keen to reassure jittery Americans that their votes are secure. But they are also bolstering physical security for election operations across the country.

Runbeck Election Services, which provides security technology for poll operations, confirmed to AFP Monday it has ordered some 1,000 panic buttons for clients that include election facilities and their workers.

These small devices worn as a lanyard or held in a pocket are paired with a user's cell phone and contact law enforcement or other authorities in case of emergency.

Officials in the seven most closely watched swing states are eager to convey confidence in a secure and fair election.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump launched a final frenzied campaign blitz Monday, hitting must-win Pennsylvania on the last day of a volatile US presidential race that polls say is hurtling towards a photo finish.

At his first rally of the day in North Carolina, Trump, 78, shrugged off accusations that his age and the gruelling election schedule had left him physically and mentally exhausted.

"I don't even sleep. I've gone through 62 days without a day off," he said in an insult-laden 90-minute stump speech that he has delivered dozens of times in recent weeks.

Harris said she was "feeling good" and gave a thumbs-up as she boarded her plane to her first event of the day in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Republican Trump has promised a "landslide" as he seeks a sensational return to the White House, while Democrat Harris said "momentum" was on the side of her bid to be America´s first woman president.

But the polls suggest a deadlock nationally, and also in the seven swing states where the winner is expected to be decided.

US democracy could be tested as Trump is expected to reject the result if he loses, raising the prospect of political chaos, civil unrest and violence.

"Donald Trump and his campaign are already telegraphing they may declare victory prematurely. We fully expect him to," Harris spokesman Ian Sams said Monday.

"It's a sign of weakness and concern he may lose, to sow doubt in the nonpartisan election officials."

Residents in US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris' ancestral village in southern India were preparing to hold prayers on election day on Tuesday in a Hindu temple more than 8,000 miles (13,000 km) from Washington.

Harris' maternal grandfather PV Gopalan was born more than a century ago in the leafy village of Thulasendrapuram in what is now southern India's Tamil Nadu state.

"There will be a special prayer on Tuesday morning at the temple," G Manikandan, a villager who runs a small store near the temple, said. "Celebrations will follow if she wins."

At the temple, Harris' name is engraved into a stone that lists public donations, along with that of her grandfather. Outside, a large banner wishes "the daughter of the land" success in the election.

Gopalan and his family migrated a few hundred miles to the coastal city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu's capital, where he worked as a high-ranking government official until his retirement.

The village received global attention four years ago, when its residents prayed for victory for Harris' Democratic Party in 2020 before celebrating her inauguration as US vice president by setting off firecrackers and distributing food.

Harris and her Republican rival Donald Trump were scrambling to get supporters to the polls in an historically close contest, which means it could take days for the winner to emerge.