US Presidential Election Updates: False Voter Fraud Videos Spread as Election Approaches | US elections 2024

The Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said a video purporting to show a Haitian immigrant voting multiple times was “false,” “targeted disinformation” and likely the work of a Russian troll farm.

“As Americans, we cannot allow our enemies to use lies to divide us,” said Raffensperger, who also demanded that “Elon Musk and the leadership of other social media platforms… repeal this.”

Meanwhile, Musk has tasked his followers on X with identifying and reporting any “potential cases of election fraud and irregularities.” The election integrity community he created is full of baseless claims passed off as evidence of voter fraud.

As Americans head into the presidential election, allegations of voter fraud are mounting — as well as real examples of political violence — with reports of burning ballot boxes, attempts to steal ballots and online hoaxes this week.

What else happened on Thursday:

News and updates on the election of Kamala Harris

• Kamala Harris said Thursday that Donald Trump's remark that he would protect women “whether women like it or not” showed that the Republican presidential candidate does not understand “agency, her authority, her right and her ability to make decisions about her own life, including her own body.”

• Harris, who has received numerous celebrity endorsements, got an A-list boost from pop star and film actor Jennifer Lopez in Las Vegas after basketball star LeBron James supported her earlier in the day. “I like Hollywood endings. I like it when the good guy, or in this case the good girl, wins,” Lopez said.

• The cast of the Marvel's Avengers films also supported Harris. In a video first published on Vanity Fair, actors Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, Chris Evans, Danai Gurira and Paul Bettany played playfully about their respective characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and encouraged viewers to vote for Harris.

News and updates on the election of Donald Trump

• Trump acknowledged that Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could be “influential figures” in a possible second administration as he sat for a lengthy interview with conservative broadcaster Tucker Carlson in the embattled state of Arizona. Trump also called Liz Cheney a “war hawk” who should be put in the firing line to “see what she thinks.” The former congresswoman has become one of his most prominent Republican critics.

• Trump stopped in New Mexico, a traditionally Democratic state, and the swing state Nevada. Trump predicted he would defy experts who said the New Mexico campaign was pointless. “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 the suggestion that he will again allege fraud if he loses this yearhave changed the lives of many formerly reserved election offices and secretaries of state across the country who now face regular threats and harassment, Chris Stein reported in Arizona.

• Elon Musk failed to appear at a required hearing in a Philadelphia case involving his $1 million winnings. His absence would have resulted in contempt of court if the case had proceeded in a Pennsylvania court, but it was moved to federal court in response to a request from Musk's lawyers, who were present at the hearing. No immediate hearings were scheduled in the federal case.

• Musk's attempt to get Donald Trump elected came under renewed scrutiny after paid advertisers reported they had no prior knowledge 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 learned they were working for entrepreneur Space X and Tesla to boost voter turnout for Trump after signing nondisclosure agreements, Wired reported.

Elsewhere in the election campaign

• Practicing witches from around the world gathered in the hundreds in Salem on Thursday evening to honor Stormy Daniels at their annual “Magic Circle” ceremony to honor deceased loved ones. Daniels — the adult film actress who allegedly had an affair with Trump and was at the center of his criminal trial in May that led to the former president's conviction on 34 felony counts — was chosen to be honored at the Halloween ceremony, organizers believe that she has done so, becoming 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. That draws objections from federal employees who document such remarks for posterity, according to two U.S. government officials and an internal email obtained by the Associated Press on Thursday.

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