In the waning days of the presidential campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump zero in on the battleground state of Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, concerns over attempts at outside interference in Tuesday's election sprang up in the state of Georgia. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said his state has been targeted with a video that’s “obviously fake” and likely the product of Russian trolls.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it is investigating the video.
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Here's the latest:
US intelligence officials: Russian actors responsible for video falsely claiming election fraud
US intelligence officials say that “Russian influence actors” are responsible for a video circulating online that falsely claimed election fraud was taking place in the state of Georgia.
The video, which began circulating on the social media platform X on Thursday afternoon, claims to show a Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia IDs who says he is planning to vote multiple times in two counties.
A joint statement issued Friday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said that “Russian influence actors manufactured a recent video that falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally" in Georgia.
The activity is “part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans,” the statement said.
Earlier Friday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said his state has been targeted with a video that’s “obviously fake” and likely the product of Russian trolls “attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election.”
The original video was no longer on X on Friday morning, but copycat versions were still being shared widely.
Justice Department to deploy election monitors
The Justice Department is deploying election monitors in 27 states on Election Day to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws.
The department made the announcement Friday.
The federal monitors will be in 86 jurisdictions across the country. The Justice Department regularly sends monitors across the country on Election Day, to make sure federal laws are being followed at polling places.
The jurisdictions being monitored on Tuesday include Maricopa County, Arizona and Fulton County, Georgia, which in 2020 became the center of election conspiracy theories spread by former President Donald Trump and other Republicans.
Other jurisdictions the Justice Department is sending monitors to include Miami-Dade County, Florida; Detroit, Michigan; Queens, New York; Providence, Rhode Island; Jackson County, South Dakota; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Colorado updates passwords after accidental leak
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Friday that state workers have updated election system passwords that were accidentally leaked on a public-facing state website.
The passwords were left on a hidden tab of a spreadsheet online for months, though they were only one of two passwords needed to access voting systems.
The state has layers of security for its voting system, including secured rooms and round-the-clock surveillance.
Colorado’s secretary of state’s office said in a statement Friday that the leak “never posed an immediate security threat” and that the passwords were changed out of an “abundance of caution.”
The mishap came amid skepticism of voting systems, even though U.S. elections nationwide are remarkably fair and reliable. Former President Donald Trump’s campaign sent a letter to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold expressing concerns. In a reply, Griswold reiterated that “no single error can compromise the integrity of the system.”
Georgia election officials say they're late in mailing some absentee ballots
Election officials in Georgia’s third-largest county say they’re late in mailing more than 3,000 absentee ballots to voters just a few days before the election.
Election officials in Cobb County north of Atlanta say they’re using express mail and UPS overnight shipping in an effort to deliver the ballots on time for them to be returned by Tuesday’s deadline.
A statement from the county Board of Elections blamed the delay on faulty equipment and a late surge in absentee ballot requests. Officials say voters receiving their mailed ballots late can hand-deliver them to the elections office or vote in person.
Meanwhile, civil rights groups filed a lawsuit Friday asking a judge to give Cobb County three extra days to receive and count absentee ballots.
Maryland AG sends cease and desist letter to Washington-based voter groups
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has ordered two partner organizations to stop sending letters to Maryland voters that threaten to publicly expose registered voters who do not vote in this year’s election.
Brown issued a cease and desist letter to the Center for Voter Information/Voter Participation Center, which is based in Washington, D.C.
The letter also orders them to refrain from sending threatening communications in the future, and to not follow through on threats to embarrass nonvoters by publishing the information to their neighbors.
The attorney general’s office and the state elections board have received several complaints about letters sent by the organizations, claiming to be “Voting Report Cards.”
Maryland law permits a requestor to receive a copy of the voter registration list with voters’ election participation history included. However, Maryland law prohibits conduct designed to “influence or attempt to influence a voter’s decision” or to do so “through the use of force, fraud, threat, menace, intimidation, bribery, reward, or offer of reward.”
Elon Musk has spent at least $119 million to help elect Trump
Elon Musk, the tech and business titan who is also the world's richest man, has spent at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee.
Musk’s conversion to a self-described “Dark MAGA” Trump warrior is a recent one.
In the past, he donated modest sums to both Republicans and Democrats, including $5,000 to Hillary Clinton in 2016, records show. He didn’t contribute to Trump’s political efforts until this year, according to federal campaign finance disclosures.
Musk is now leading America PAC, a super political action committee that is spearheading Trump’s get-out-the-vote effort.
Trump makes his opposition to transgender rights a core theme
Trump has made his opposition to transgender rights a central theme in the closing days of the campaign.
The Republican nominee’s campaign and aligned political action committees have spent tens of millions of dollars on advertising that attacks Harris for previous statements supporting transgender rights.
Trump has vowed to target transgender people if elected. He has said he would ask Congress to pass a bill stating there are “only two genders” and to ban hormonal or surgical intervention for transgender minors in all 50 states.
Harris has been underscoring that she has supported federal policies that were in place when Trump was president. LGBTQ advocates argue that Trump’s rhetoric encourages hostility toward transgender people and fosters misunderstandings about who they are.
Final day for voters in populous Philly county to apply for early mail-in ballot
The final day for voters to apply for an early mail-in ballot in a populous suburban Philadelphia county is underway.
Voters in Bucks County, a bellwether whose residents Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris have courted in the presidential campaign’s final days, have until 5 p.m. Friday to apply for, receive and cast on the spot a mail-in ballot.
The court-ordered deadline is a three-day extension, stemming from a lawsuit brought by Trump’s campaign, the Republican National Committee and GOP Senate candidate David McCormick’s campaign this week.
They alleged that voters faced disenfranchisement when they were turned away when county government offices that process the applications closed.
Trump and Harris both visit Milwaukee area in swing-state Wisconsin
Harris and Trump will host dueling rallies on Friday in the Milwaukee area as part of a final push for votes in swing-state Wisconsin.
Milwaukee is home to the most Democratic votes in Wisconsin, but its conservative suburbs are where most Republicans live and are a critical area for Trump as he tries to reclaim the state he narrowly won in 2016 and lost in 2020.
Georgia election official says video purporting illegal voting is “likely” the work of Russian trolls
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said his state has been targeted with a video that’s “obviously fake” and likely the product of Russian trolls “attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election.”
The video, which began circulating on the social media platform X on Thursday afternoon, claims to show a Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia IDs who says he is planning to vote multiple times in two counties.
“This is false and is an example of targeted disinformation we’ve seen this election,” Raffensperger said.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it is investigating the video.
An Associated Press analysis of the information on two of the IDs confirms it does not match any registered voters in the counties.
The original video was no longer on X on Friday morning, but copycat versions were still being shared widely.
Trump criticizes former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney as a ‘war hawk’
Former President Donald Trump launched another attack on former Rep. Liz Cheney late Thursday, calling the Republican former Wyoming congresswoman a “war hawk.”
During an event in Glendale, Arizona, with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the Republican presidential candidate was asked if it is weird to see Cheney campaign against him.
Cheney held the No. 3 GOP leadership position in the House, but lost the job after she voted to to impeach Trump for the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. She has since campaigned for Harris.
Trump called Cheney “a deranged person,” then added: “But the reason she couldn’t stand me is that she always wanted to go to war with people. If it were up to her we’d be in 50 different countries.”
The Associated Press
