The Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, has said a video that claimed to show a Haitian immigrant who voted multiple times is “false”, “targeted disinformation” and likely the work of a Russian troll farm.
“As Americans we can’t let our enemies use lies to divide us,” said Raffensperger, who also asked that “Elon Musk and the leadership of other social media platforms … take this down.”
Meanwhile, Musk has deputised his followers on X to spot and report any “potential instances of voter fraud and irregularities”. The election integrity community he spawned is rife with unfounded claims passed off as evidence of voter fraud.
As Americans race towards the presidential election, claims of voter fraud – as well as real example of political violence – are growing, with burning vote boxes, attempts to steal ballots and online hoaxes all reported this week.
Here is what else happened on Thursday:
Kamala Harris election news and updates
Kamala Harris said on Thursday that Donald Trump’s comment that he would protect women “whether the women like it or not” showed that the Republican presidential nominee does not understand women’s “agency, their authority, their right and their ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies”.
Harris, who has been receiving a slew of celebrity endorsements, got an A-list boost from pop star and movie actor Jennifer Lopez in Las Vegas, after basketball great LeBron James endorsed her earlier in the day. “I like Hollywood endings. I like when the good guy, or in this case the good girl wins,” said Lopez.
The cast of Marvel’s Avengers movies also came out in support of Harris. In a video posted first on Vanity Fair, actors Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, Chris Evans, Danai Gurira and Paul Bettany playfully riffed on their respective characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe while encouraging viewers to vote for Harris.
Donald Trump election news and updates
Trump acknowledged that Elon Musk and Robert F Kennedy Jr could be “influential figures” in a potential second administration as he sat for a lengthy interview with conservative broadcaster Tucker Carlson in battleground state Arizona. Trump also called Liz Cheney a “war hawk” who should be placed in the line of fire to “see how she feels about it”. The former congresswoman has become one of his most prominent Republican critics.
Trump made stops in New Mexico, a traditionally Democratic state, and the swing state of Nevada. Trump predicted he would defy experts who said campaigning in New Mexico was futile. “They all said ‘Don’t come. You can’t win New Mexico.’ I said, ‘Look, your votes are rigged. We can win New Mexico,’” Trump said.
Trump’s refusal to publicly acknowledge his defeat in 2020 and suggestion that if he loses this year, he will once again claim fraud, have changed the lives of many formerly low-key election offices and secretaries of state nationwide, who now regularly face threats and harassment, Chris Stein reported from Arizona.
Elon Musk failed to show up to a required hearing in a Philadelphia case challenging his $1m-a-day sweepstakes. His absence would have risked contempt of court had the case continued in Pennsylvania court, but it was moved to federal court in response to a motion filed by Musk’s attorneys, who did attend the hearing. No hearings were immediately scheduled in the federal case.
Musk’s get-out-the-vote effort for Donald Trump has come under renewed scrutiny after paid canvassers reported not knowing beforehand that they were being hired to support the former president. Workers recruited by Musk’s America Pac to canvass in the battleground state of Michigan only discovered they were working for the Space X and Tesla entrepreneur to drum up voter turnout for Trump after signing non-disclosure agreements, Wired reported.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail
Practising witches from around the world gathered in Salem by the hundreds on Thursday night to honour Stormy Daniels at their annual “magic circle” ceremony recognising loved ones who have died. Daniels – the adult film actor who allegedly had an affair with Trump and was at the centre of his May criminal trial that led to the former president’s conviction on 34 felonies – was chosen to be honoured in the Halloween ceremony as the organisers believe that she has been the victim of a modern-day witch-hunt.
White House press officials altered the official transcript of a call in which President Joe Biden appeared to take a swipe at supporters of Donald Trump, drawing objections from the federal workers who document such remarks for posterity, according to two US government officials and an internal email obtained on Thursday by the Associated Press.
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