2020 US Election

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd October, 2020) The United States' top intelligence official alleged that Russia and Iran obtained US voter registration data in an effort to influence the 2020 election which is less than two weeks away, just as President Donald Trump and rival Joe Biden are neck-and-neck in new polling in key swing states such as Texas and Arizona, among others.

US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe at a press briefing late on Wednesday said Iran and Russia have obtained US voter information to influence the election, but emphasized that the American election systems are resilient. Ratcliffe also alleged that Iran is sending emails to intimidate US voters and damage Trump's chances to get re-elected.

"We would like to alert the public that we have identified that two foreign actors, Iran and Russia, have taken specific actions to influence public opinion relating to our elections," Ratcliffe said on Wednesday. "First, we have confirmed that some voter registration information has been obtained by Iran and separately by Russia."

BIDEN, TRUMP NECK-IN-NECK IN KEY SOUTHWESTERN STATES

Biden has pulled even with Trump in Texas and narrowly leads him in Arizona according to new polls. Biden, who trailed Trump by 5 points in the reliably Republican state of Texas last month, has pulled even, a new Quinnipiac University poll revealed. Trump won Texas with a 9 point margin over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.

"Today, Trump and Biden are tied 47-47 percent among likely voters. This compares to a September 24 poll of likely voters in Texas when Trump had 50 percent and Biden had 45 percent," a press release explaining the poll said on Wednesday.

A Rasmussen Reports poll revealed that Biden is leading Trump by 2 points (48%-46%). According to the average of the seven most recent polls published on Realclearpolitics.com (RCP), Biden's lead is now 2.8%, a drop of about 1 percent from where the former vice president stood on Monday.

Trump and Biden will square off on Thursday for the final round of presidential debates offering them the last chance to reach out to a broad bipartisan audience less than two weeks before the election. Their second televised showdown takes place in Nashville, Tennessee, and will cover six topics chosen by the moderator, NBC news correspondent Kristen Welker - Fighting COVID-19, American Families, Race in America, Climate Change, National Security, and Leadership.

Accusing organizers of having a bias against him and favoring his opponent, Trump sought to refocus the agenda on foreign policy issues and protested against tougher moderation rules, but eventually agreed to participate.

Forty million US voters have already cast their ballots in the presidential election in what administrators describe as an unprecedented surge of early voting, Federal Election Commissioner Ellen Weintraub told reporters. The figure is a combination of mail-in and in-person voting. She admitted that as a result of a massive early turnout the outcome of the standoff between the Republic incumbent Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden may not be clear on election night.

The US Elections Project reported that 41.5 million voters have cast ballots as of Wednesday - 29.6 million by mail and 11.8 million in person, this is over six times greater than the pace in 2016. The number represents a jump of 10 million from just two days ago.

Senator Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate has voted early in the US national election this year, but not for President Donald Trump,. with whom he has repeatedly feuded, the veteran politician, who was also governor of Massachusetts, said in an interview.

Romney also refused to say whether he voted for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden or wrote any other name on the ballot. During the 2016 campaign Trump and Romney were repeatedly openly critical of each other.