US election: Harris warns voters not to 'fall for' a premature Trump victory claim

US Vice President Kamala Harris has warned voters not to be put off by Donald Trump's claims about the integrity of the presidential election ahead of the final day of voting on Tuesday.

In particular, she cautioned that people who have not voted should not be misled.

"I would ask in particular people who have not yet voted to not fall for his tactic, which I think includes suggesting to people that if they vote, their vote won't matter," Harris said at a press conference, "suggesting to people that somehow the integrity of our voting system is not intact, so that they don't vote."

"I think that it is a tactic. It is meant to distract from the fact that we have and support free and fair elections in our country. We did in 2020. He lost."

"And the systems that are in place for this election in 2024 have integrity, they are good systems, and the vote of the people will determine the outcome of this election."

A wide range of polls shows that at least seven swing states are currently too close to call, with neither Harris nor Trump establishing a firm lead in the national popular vote.

Harris made her remarks come after a Trump rally at which the former president said he "shouldn't have left" the White House after the 2020 election.

In his speech, Trump claimed that a poll showing him losing in Iowa was a form of electoral interference, and claimed without providing evidence that voter fraud is already underway in Pennsylvania.

"They found, as I understand it...2,600 ballots all done by the same hand, in other words, the same exact penmanship, the same hand, the same everything, it was all done by the same pen, the exact same pen. And then they go and say, 'Well, this is a conspiracy theorist.' It's a terrible thing that's happened to our country."

Trump's campaign has promised to deploy legal teams across the country to file cases alleging voter fraud, and is already taking legal action in the state of Georgia, levelling claims of "illegal election administration" after certain counties kept polling locations open over the weekend to receive early ballots.

In 2020, Joe Biden won the popular vote by a clear margin but only reached a majority in the all-important Electoral College by securing tiny margins in several states that Trump won in 2016. It took more than three days after the polls closed for a definitive Biden victory to be called.

However, Trump claimed victory just hours after the counting had begun, insisting that the election was being stolen from him as the counting of mail-in votes continued.

“We were getting ready to win this election," he said in remarks at the White House. "Frankly, we did win this election.”

After Biden was declared the victor, Trump mounted a legal and political campaign across multiple states to try and have the results overturned, but his efforts failed. Biden's victory was certified by Congress on 6 January 2021 after an attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.