. the countdown is over. election day is here.

kamala harris and donald trump getting ready to take in the results at their respective headquarters after spending the last day of the campaign hammering home their messaging, closing their messages in the battlegrounds. our own richard lui breaks down the states to watch tonight. plus the results are in from one quirky new hampshire town which takes its vote at midnight. young voters could make a difference in who wins this election, especially in those crucial battleground states. our team talks to students in michigan about what matters most to them. breaking vernight, boeing union machinists vote to accept a new contract, increasing their wages by nearly 40% and ending a seven-we seven-week walkout. and the tampa bay bucs and the chiefs. and meet one california teen who isn't letting blindness keep

him off the field or keep him from his nfl dream. "early today" starts right now. good morning. glad you're with me early. i'm frances rivera. election day has arrived. voters will make their voices heard in this historic election. as the returns come in, former president trump will be at a watch party in florida, while v vice president harris will hold an event at her alma mater, howard university. the tiny town of dixville notch's results were tied 3-3. in their final messages, the candidates stressed how close this race could be. >> the race ain't over yet. and we must finish strong. and this could be, this could be one of the closest races in history. >> i can't tell you yet, but i mean, we're certainly under two or three yard line.

and the only way we can blow it is if you blow it. i've given you the ball. i mean, you got to go and vote. >> former president trump spent the eve of the election crisscrossing several battleground states. nbc's garrett haake kicks off our coverage. >> former president trump on his final battleground blitz of his last presidential campaign. from pennsylvania, which both campaigns see as the pivotal tipping point state. >> kamala broke it, and i will fix it and fast. >> reporter: to north carolina, a state he won twice that's now a battleground. >> i'd like to begin by asking a very simple question. are you better off now than you were four years ago? >> reporter: hammering home his message that he'll bring change at the border and on the economy. >> four years of kamala have delivered nothing but economic hell for american workers. you know that. her inflation disaster has made life unaffordable. >> reporter: trump's path back

to the white house likely depends on holding north carolina and wink atning at lea one of the democrats' so called blue wall states, plus flipping georgia, which president biden won in 2020. trump's campaign confident about its early vote. in the past, republicans usual trailed in early voting. >> we have numbers that nobody's ever seen before. can you believe this? >> reporter: trump's team parsing early vote numbers in the battlegrounds, which they say shows rural turnout up and urban numbers down, and harris underperforming biden with key demographics. predicting progress in the young men. >> i feel like kamala's all talk and all fake. they've been in office. so i just, like what's going to change if we vote them back in? >> reporter: but trump also making headlines for off-message comments. after surviving an assassination attempt in july, he now has

bulletproof glass on stage. sunday saying anyone who might want to shoot him would have to fire through the reporters covering him. >> they have this piece of glass here. but all we have, really, over here is the fake news, right? and to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news, and i don't mind that so much. because. >> reporter: his campaign saying his comment had, quote, nothing to do with the media being harmed and that trump was, quote, actually looking out for their welfare. >> our thanks to garrett for that report. vice president harris spent the final day of campaigning focussed squarely on pennsylvania. brie jackson is following the harris campaign. >> reporter: preparations are under way here on the campus of howard university, and this is where vice president harris will spend election night. now this is where shewent to school as an undergraduate, and she has said that this is where

she found her love of politics. winding down her campaigning, harris made several stops in pennsylvania, quholding star-studded events in what is seen as a must-win state for both candidates now. after three and a half months on the road, she's making her final pitch to voters. >> one more day left in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime, and momentum is on our side. momentum is on our side. can you feel it? we have momentum. right? >> reporter: and, as you can imagine, security here on the campus of howard university is tight. the secret service says it's working with federal and local authorities to ensure that howard university's campus is safe and secure. thousands are expected to be here on tuesday night to watch the election results pour in. on the campus of howard university, brie jackson, nbc

news. >> of course, it's all eyes on the swing states tonight. in michigan, the final polls show a tossup race, and historically young voters have turn out in big numbers. jacob soboroff in partnership with wdiv traveled there to find out what matters most to them. >> reporter: we headed to class at oakland university in michigan, because its student body is made up of some of the most-watched voters in the state. class hasn't started yet. but as usual usuals i'ms i'm . almost three quarters are from the swing states. and young votersvoted at a higher rate. 13 points higher than the national average. how many people are going to vote in this room? almost everybody says they're going to vote. any theories about why young peopler are voting at higher rates? >> one of the big issues is

reproductive rights. >> it's a sense of urgency i've never felt before. >> main thing i see is the disconnect with the ideas for the economy. >> i also support abortion rights. i wouldn't say i'm necessarily a trump supporter, but that's who i'm voting for. >> what do you want us to know. >> the cost of everything. not just tuition, but day-to-day living. >> i've lived here my whole life. i've experienced the whole oxford shooting thing. i appreciate kamala's policy on gun buy-back program. >> reporter: after class, we continued our conversation with junior lexi. sounds like there's a lot of noise out there. >> yeah. >> reporter: some of it's getting through to you. >> yeah. >> reporter: but it's hard to sort through it all. >> it is. there's so many sources of information, which you don't really know what to trust anymore. >> reporter: the information making its way to young voters here is what sent another ou student, marcus johnson to viral fame after we met him following the vice presidential debate.

>> you don't get to do what you want. you do what the president delegates you to do. >> reporter: a moment that ended with a meeting with vice president harris. >> she was like, your voice is very important. and we need people like you in elections like these. >> reporter: what would you say to people who won't have that experience and might be considering not participating? >> you don't need to look for the perfect candidate, because that person doesn't exist. you find the candidate who's going to get you closest to the type of america you want to be. >> reporter: a school where being heard matters to students because of the power of their vote. jacob soboroff, nbc news, rochester, michigan. a pennsylvania judge has ruled in favor of elon musk's $1 million a day sorority sweepstakes, saying it can continue until today's election. a democratic d.a. had asked the sweepstakes to be shut down, calling it a scam to influence the election. the common pleas court judge did not immediately explain his reasoning but did make the

ruling after musk's lawyers said the winners are paid spokes people and not selected by chance. musk had previously said the winners were randomly chosen. breaking news, the boeing strike has ended after seven weeks. on monday, machinists voted on and approved a new labor contract with a 38% wage increase, with the decision coming in just before midnight. >> tonight, they secured a victory. they voted by 59% to accept the agreement and the strike will end. and now it's our job to get back to work and start building the airplanes, increase the rates and bring this company back to financial success. >> this was their third vote since walking off the job on september 13th. now let's get a check on your election day forecast with nbc meteorologist angie lassman. good morning, angie. all important to get people out there. >> it definitely is, frances. good morning to you. we've got a couple spots that

look pretty good and a few that may be a little troublesome for folks to get to the polls. plenty of sunshine across the east. the middle of the country, specifically the great lakes dealing with rain. a little bit of snow out west. the southwest looks great. nice conditions. great temperatures and plenty of sunshine. but that front i told you is working across parts of the east, that's going to bring this line of showers and thunderstorms to work across parts of the great lakes down to the gulf coast, but specifically, the mississippi valley is where we'll see some of the stronger storms potentially as the day goes on. by tomorrow, we'll get maybe a little bit of rain across the northeast. we sure do need it, but it won't be a lot. and the southeast will see downpours working in. meanwhile, still hurricane season, so we are currently watching tropical storm raphael, moving northwest at 12 miles per hour. this does mean the impact to jamaica, cayman islands and hispaniola are going to be out there wi

chicago to green bay as well as st. louis. 50 degrees for the high in omaha today. and that's a look at your forecast, frances, back to you. >> okay, ang, thanks so much. >> okay, ang, thanks so much. coming with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis my skin was no longer mine. is ly lu it / lui t / lui don't let symptoms define you... emerge as you, with clearer skin. with tremfya®, most people saw 100% clear skin... ...that stayed clear, even at 5 years. tremfya® is proven to significantly reduce joint pain, stiffness, and swelling. serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections may occur.

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but baker wouldn't get a chance to serve up an overtime upset with patrick mahomes and the chiefs doing what they do best. >> caliendo comes in. he's eligible. here is hunt for the touchdown! >> kareem hunt ran in the game winner to keep kc a perfect 8-0 at the mid season mark. 30-24. now to the highest-paid man in the nfl being forced to ride the sidelines for the near future. espn and nfl network insiders reported monday that dallas quarterback dak prescott is expected to miss several weeks due to a hamstring injury. he signed a $240 million extension before the start of the season and made an early exit in the loss to the falcons. cooper rush is expected to start as the 3-5 cowboys take on the 6-2 eagles on sunday. now to the jersey worn by

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it is locelection day and america is heading to the polls for a final day of voting. and then the stage is set for a

night of nerves, as those results trickle in. our richard lui is here in the studio with us. richard, good morning, and let's start with what states we should be watching here on election night. >> the nerves are here. how long will this go. good morning to you, frances. it is these seven core battleground states we want to watch. where they go, so goes the election our political unit is saying. first up to look at. georgia, 7:00 p.m. is when the polls close. networks might have early data from there, and five other states at the same time. next we goo 7:30 prime minismi p.m. when north carolina closes. let's go ton to the next state. 8:00 p.m., pennsylvania. that's the first to give us a hint of the midwestern wave, if. and georgia, by the way, also expecting, listen to this, to get 75% of their votes in by

that hour. so they are saying. okay. let's move on now. now we're almost halfway there, frances. let's go to 9:00 p.m. that is when we get michigan, wisconsin and arizona, all at the same time. this is where we'll see where that so-called midwestern wall is leaning or not. finally for you, we'll take you all the way out to nevada. the final of our battleground states, 10:00 p.m. eastern is when the polls close there. it could take days before that state is called, because mail-in ballots postmarked by election day, that's included. how many? well, in the last election, half of the ballots from nevada were mail-in. all right, now all in all, this year could be on the faster side be, just to calm those nerves. many states upgrading their voting processes and technology for early and election day voting. a lot of people banking on that. that's what steve kornacki is telling us, that they've lowered

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time now for what's making headlines this morning. a new experian report finds around 67% of gen z and 62% of millennials are using a.i. to help with their personal finances. respondents say the a.i. tools have helped them in saving, budgeting, investment and credit score improvement. the usda plans to ban transaction fees for low-income

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the 28-time grammy-winning producer shaped some of the biggest hits of all time. his storied career spanning seven decades, working with the likes of frank sinatra and ray charles and adding his signature to michael jackson's "thriller sequestration. h"thriller." quincy jones was 91 years old. e. now to a california teen refusing to let a disability keep him from playing the game he loves. from our sacramento affiliate, karelina estrada introduces us to a blind high school football player with a nfl dream. >> reporter: 18-year-old jason bracy is unstoppable on the field. >> it's a lot. i mean, football is like what i breathe in, breathe out. >> reporter: from starting quarterback to nose guard, his game plan is always to defy the odds. >> no matter how many times i am

knocked down to the ground, i get back up and fight. >> reporter: fighting is part of his dna. at 1-year-old, he was diagnosed with retinal cancer. >> he has tumors in the retinas of both of his eyes. >> reporter: by the time he turned 7, he was blind. >> walk up, walk up, there. >> reporter: still, that didn't stop him from pursuing his dream to play football. >> he wanted to play. he was his own advocate. once he became old enough and started calling around to some of the local youth teams. the modesto raiders was the only team that gave him the opportunity. >> reporter: doing what he loves takes practice on and off the field. bracy memorizes every play and where the players are supposed to be. >> can't see the players, so reps is, i have a consistent amount of reps and learn every time i take a rep to, hey, okay, if i'm on this play, do this, do this more on this play, make sure you do that more.

>> reporter: from the sideline, his father guides him through a hearing device in his helmet. >> go. pass, pass, pass, left, left, left. >> basically, what i try to do is paint a mental picture for him of what everybody else is seeing out on the field. >> reporter: he's proven to be an outstanding player with his high school team. >> you do whatever you put your mind to. and i, i mean that for a lot of things. so basically, basically, it's not over until you say it's over. >> reporter: as his time as an eagle comes to an end this season, he says his future in football is just beginning. >> you know, go to college. and take my, you know, skills to the next level, improve and go the next level, improve and go to the dupixent helps people with asthma breathe better in as little as two weeks. when you can breathe better, what isn't better? this is better. this is better. that's better. dupixent is an add on treatment

for specific types of moderate to severe asthma. it works with your asthma medicine to help improve lung function. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's proven to help prevent asthma attacks. and doesn't that make things better? dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. tell your doctor right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines including steroids without talking to your doctor. when you can get more out of your lungs, you can do more with less asthma. isn't that better? ask your doctor about dupixent, the most prescribed biologic in asthma. and now approved as an add-on treatment for adults with copd that is not well controlled and with a specific marker of inflammation. a fight for a future