US Presidential Election: Millions of voters head towards polling stations

Washington | Millions of Americans headed towards polling stations on Tuesday to elect the 47th President of the United States, capping one of the most bitter presidential campaigns in the country's history.

On Monday night, both the candidates, Republican leader Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, spent a considerable amount of time in Pennsylvania, the biggest electoral college prize out of the seven swing states, to sway the remaining undecided voters.

Harris, 60, and Trump, 78, remained neck and neck in polls conducted by various media outlets, with a few projecting a slight edge for the Democratic nominee.

Besides Pennsylvania, the other battleground states that have emerged as crucial are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

More than 82 million Americans have already cast their votes in early and mail-in voting, according to the University of Florida's Election.

In their final rallies, the two candidates concluded their campaigns with virtually opposing visions of how to take the country forward, with Harris calling for a vision to overcome "hate and divisiveness" and make a "fresh start" and Trump warning of a bleak future under a Democratic regime.

"Tonight, then, we finish, as we started with optimism, with energy, with joy," said Harris, closing her campaign in Pennsylvania.

In his concluding remarks, Trump said: "My message to you, and to all Americans tonight is very simple: we don't have to live like this."

The US has 50 states and most of them vote for the same party in every election except the swing states. Based on the volume of population, the states are assigned electoral college votes.

Overall, a total of 538 electoral college votes are up for grabs. A candidate with 270 or more electoral votes is declared winner.

The election is being billed as historic as it has been one of the tightest presidential races in the last several decades.

"This is the most consequential election in our lifetime," senior US senator Bernie Sanders told CNN while explaining why Trump as president will be detrimental to the US's foundational values.

If Harris wins the race, history will be made as she will become the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to become the US President.

In the overall campaign in the last few days, Harris has been projecting the election as the one to protect the country's fundamental freedoms, safeguard constitutional values and ensure women's rights.

In his rallies, Trump has been promising to rebuild the economy and rid the US of illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, various leading American cities have been brought under tight security as a precautionary measure to prevent any violence after election results are announced.

The security cover around the White House and Capitol Hill in Washington DC has been strengthened significantly.

Federal agencies say Russia, Iran ramping up influence campaigns targeting US voters

Washington | The nation's federal law enforcement and election security agencies debunked two new examples of Russian election disinformation on the eve of Election Day, highlighting attempts by foreign actors to sow doubt in the US voting process and warning that the efforts run the risk of inciting violence against election officials.

In a joint statement late Monday, federal officials pointed to a recent article posted by Russian actors falsely claiming that US officials across presidential swing states were orchestrating a plan to commit fraud, as well as a video that falsely depicted an interview with an individual claiming election fraud in Arizona.

US intelligence reveals that Russia-linked influence actors “are manufacturing videos and creating fake articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election, instill fear in voters regarding the election process, and suggest Americans are using violence against each other due to political preferences”, read the statement issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. “These efforts risk inciting violence, including against election officials.”

The Russian Embassy called the officials' announcement “baseless” in an emailed statement, saying Russia “has not interfered and does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, including the United States”.

Federal officials warned that Russia would likely release additional “manufactured content” on Election Day and posed “the most active threat” when it comes to foreign election influence. The statement also noted that Iran remains a “significant foreign influence threat to US elections".

The effort described by federal officials is part of a wide-ranging influence operation by Russia designed to undermine confidence in the electoral process and sow discord among American voters. Intelligence agencies have assessed that Russia, which also interfered on Donald Trump's behalf in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, again prefers the Republican nominee and is likely to persist in its influence operations well after Election Day.

Besides manufactured videos intended to promote disinformation, US officials also have accused Russian state media of a covert, multimillion-dollar operation to spread pro-Russia content to American audiences and have seized dozens of internet domains they said fostered propaganda.

In their statement, officials also drew fresh attention to Iran's attempts to interfere in the election, which include a hack-and-leak operation designed to harm Trump's candidacy. The Justice Department in September charged three Iranian hackers in that effort.

Iranian actors also have created fake news sites and impersonated activists online in attempts to sway voters, according to analysts at Microsoft. The tech giant said last month that Iranian actors who allegedly sent emails aimed at intimidating US voters in 2020 have been surveying election-related websites and major media outlets, raising concerns they could be preparing for another scheme this year.

As large tech firms and intelligence officials have called out foreign interference this election cycle, Russia, China and Iran have rejected claims that they are seeking to meddle with the US election.

The Arizona video promoted on social media by Russian actors on Monday purported to show an anonymous whistleblower revealing an election fraud scheme. Federal officials said the Arizona Secretary of State's office had already refuted the content of the video.

Earlier this week, US officials confirmed that a video claiming to show voter fraud in two left-leaning counties in Georgia was fake and the product of a Russian troll farm. And last month, they attributed to Russia another fake video of a person tearing up ballots in what appeared to be Bucks County, Pennsylvania.