Voting twice as nice: Don

Russia told to back off as election heats up

Russia is actively trying to undermine voters’ faith in the US electoral system – and especially in voting by mail – while Donald Trump asked his supporters to vote twice, just in case.

In yet more signs that the US presidential election on November 3 will descend into chaos, analysis by the Department of Homeland Security said Russian agents were hammering mail-in voting.

The internal DHS analysis says that at least since March, “Russian malign influence actors have been amplifying allegations of election integrity issues in new voting processes and vote-by-mail programs”.

It says that through media and social networks, the Russians have encouraged Americans to fear voting fraud, large counting errors and ballot mishandling by the postal service.

It is an argument that Mr Trump hammers away at as he trails in the polls.

As in 2016, the Russians are often amplifying sentiments already present in US politics.

Mr Trump claims that voteby-mail is likely to lead to widespread fraud and questionable vote counts. “Russia is echoing destructive and false narratives around vote by mail that President Trump and his enablers, including AttorneyGeneral Barr, have been aggressively promoting,” House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff said.

Separately, Democratic senators called on the US Treasury to place sanctions “immediately” on Russian organisations and individuals for interfering in the election.

Meanwhile Mr Trump has renewed his call for supporters to try to vote twice on November 3, a potentially illegal act he claims is the only way to be sure that a ballot is counted.

Mr Trump said Americans should first try to vote by mail, if that option is offered in their state, then also go to the polling station on election day to check their ballot has been counted – if not, vote again. Facebook and Twitter, which are under growing pressure not to allow misinformation ahead of the election, put warning labels on the President’s posts about the matter.

However, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said Mr Trump had been taken out of context and just wanted voters to verify their vote had been registered.

He “does not condone unlawful voting”, she said.