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Trump launches rally blitz as America braces for election unrest
Miami, Florida: US President Donald Trump will end the US election campaign with 13 rallies packed into three days as America braces itself for potentially violent unrest in the case of a close and contested result on November 3.
Businesses in some of America's biggest cities - including Washington D.C, New York and Chicago - are boarding up their shopfronts in anticipation of potential damage on election day.
Democratic nominee Joe Biden has also increased his travel schedule and will campaign alongside former president Barack Obama and music icon Stevie Wonder in Detroit an effort to drive up turnout from the Democratic base.
Trump's sprint to the finish line includes rallies across seven battleground states, with the pivotal state of Pennsylvania receiving the most visits.
On Monday (AEDT) Trump will hold rallies in five different states: Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, with the final rally scheduled for just before midnight local time.
The president views his raucous in-person rallies as his best tool for mobilising his supporters to vote in overwhelming numbers on November 3.
On Sunday (AEDT) Biden will appear for his first joint campaign appearance with Obama, whom he served with for eight years as his deputy. They will hold drive-in rallies together in Flint and Detroit, two predominantly African-American cities in Michigan.
A big drop-off in black voter turnout in states like Michigan played an important role in Hillary Clinton's loss to Trump in 2016.
Twenty-five-time Grammy winner Stevie Wonder, who grew up in Detroit, will perform at the second rally.
Stevie Wonder will campaign with Joe Biden and Barack Obama in Detroit, Michigan.Credit: AP
It is clear that the Biden campaign, like the Trump campaign, views Pennsylvania as the most important state on the electoral map.
Biden will campaign in Philadelphia, the state's most populous city, on election eve. Running mate Kamala Harris and Biden's wife Jill will also campaign in Pennsylvania on Tuesday (AEDT).
Biden leads Trump by 3.6 points in Pennsylvania according to the RealClearPolitics average, a narrower lead than he holds in the other critical "rust belt" states.
Tiffany is among the luxury brands that have said they're planning to board up windows ahead of the election result. Credit: AP
New York retailers including Nordstrom, Tiffany and Saks Fifth Avenue have said they are planning to board up windows or add extra security personnel ahead of November 3. Many businesses in the US capital have boarded up their buildings, as they did during the Black Lives Matter protests earlier this year.
The National Guard has established new "regional response units" made up mostly of military policemen that could be dispatched to help quell unrest in coming days.
Trump has claimed without evidence that the election is "rigged" and the increased use of postal ballots will lead to widespread fraud.
On Saturday (AEDT) he tweeted: "The Election should end on November 3rd., not weeks later!"
It is normal for election officials to continue counting ballots well after election day.
It appears that thousands of postal ballots that were supposed to have been mailed out to voters in Butler County, Pennsylvania, have gone missing because of problems with the US Postal Service.
During a campaign event in Minnesota, Biden attacked Trump for claiming that hospitals were inflating their COVID-19 numbers in order to make profits.
"Doctors and nurses go to work every day to save lives," Biden said. "They do their jobs. Donald Trump should stop attacking them and do his job."