Voters work on their ballot at a polling station at the Elena Bozeman Government Center in Arlington, Virginia, on September 20. Early in-person voting for the 2024 US presidential election began in Virginia, South Dakota and Minnesota. Picture: AFP
Kamala Harris on Friday attacked Republican rival Donald Trump and his party as "hypocrites" over abortion, as the first voters cast their ballots for November's knife-edge US election.
The Democrat unleashed one of the most forceful speeches of her campaign so far as she blamed Trump for an abortion ban in the battleground state of Georgia that she said had caused the deaths of two women.
"And these hypocrites want to start talking about how this is in the best interest of women and children," the vice president told a rally in Atlanta, Georgia to cheers from a mainly female audience.
"Well, where have you been? Where have you been when it comes to taking care of the women and children of America, where have you been? How dare they."
Since replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket two months ago, Harris has repeatedly focused on what she calls "Trump abortion bans".
Trump has frequently bragged on the campaign trail that his three Supreme Court picks paved the way for the 2022 overturning of the national right to abortion.
At least 20 states have since brought in full or partial restrictions, with Georgia banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
Harris doubled down on the issue later Friday at a raucous rally in Madison, a liberal-leaning city in swing state Wisconsin where she slammed the bans as "immoral."
"This is a health care crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect."
In both speeches Harris mentioned Amber Nicole Thurman, a 28-year-old mother-of-one from Georgia who developed a rare complication from abortion pills and died during emergency surgery in 2022.
An official Georgia state committee blamed the fatal outcome on a "preventable" lag in performing a critical procedure.
"We will make sure Amber is not just remembered as a statistic," Harris said in Atlanta, a day after meeting Thurman's family during a campaign event hosted by talkshow icon Oprah Winfrey.
Harris's campaign speeches came as three states — Virginia, Minnesota and South Dakota — began early voting 46 days before election day in what is an agonizingly close race.
"The election is basically here," she told Madison rallygoers. "It's basically here and we have work to do, to energize, to organize and to mobilise."
Former president Trump has previously cast doubt on early voting and mail voting to back his false claims that he won the 2020 election against Biden.
Most US states permit in-person voting or mail-in voting to allow people to deal with scheduling conflicts or an inability to cast their ballots on election day itself, November 5.
Dozens of people waited at a polling station in the centre of Arlington, Virginia, just outside the capital Washington.
"I'm excited," said Michelle Kilkenny, 55, adding that voting early, "especially on day one, helps the campaign and raises the enthusiasm level."
Ann Spiker, 71, told AFP she usually cast her ballot by mail "but I'm going to vote today because it's so exciting."
The Democratic supporter added: "I can't believe we can pick Donald Trump, when I think about it I become very worried. That's why we're out and doing what we can."
Trump, 78, faces criminal charges for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 result, after which his supporters violently stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Every vote will count in the race, whose result Trump has once again refused to say he will accept.
Harris, 59, has erased Trump's lead since sensationally replacing Biden as the Democratic candidate in July, pulling neck-and-neck with the Republican.
The result is expected to hinge on just seven crucial swing states, including Georgia and Wisconsin.
Trump however sought to lay the blame for any potential loss at the door of Jewish American voters, sparking outrage on Friday.
"If I don't win this election... in my opinion the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss," Trump told an anti-Semitism event on Thursday, repeating his grievance that Jewish voters have historically leaned towards the Democrats.
The White House slammed his comments.
"It is abhorrent to traffic in dangerous tropes or engage in scapegoating at any time — let alone now, when all leaders have an obligation to fight back against the tragic worldwide rise in anti-Semitism," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement.
AFP