President Obama and Mitt Romney headed into the final debate deadlocked among likely voters: 49 percent side with the Democratic president, 48 percent with the Republican challenger, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. But Romney now rivals Obama when it comes to dealing with international affairs and terrorism -- 47 percent with Obama and 46 percent with Romney -- and runs about evenly with the president as voters' pick who is the better commander-in-chief. And the number of voters with favorable impressions of Romney is on par with the number with positive views of Obama (50 to 52 percent). Obama, however, has a campaign high 11-point edge over Romney when it comes to handling taxes, a 12-point lead on Medicare and a 13-point advantage on "women's issues." He has a seven-point edge when it comes to understanding the economic problems people are having, and a nine-point advantage on honesty. He is still widely viewed as doing more to help the middle class than the wealthy, while voters anticipate Romney would tip the balance the other way.

WASHINGTON POST

GOP-LED BOARD SENT OUT WRONG ELECTION DATE, VOTING SITE

A Republican-run election board in a northern Ohio county sent out voting instructions to several precincts with the wrong date for Election Day and an incorrect description of the polling place location, leading state Democrats to suggest foul play in a presidential race that could be decided in a handful of states like Ohio by tiny margins.

The Ottawa County Board of Elections sent a mailer to three precincts last week referring to Election Day as Nov. 8, instead of Nov. 6, and said their new voting place was in a building on the east side of the high school rather than on its west side. The Ohio Democratic Party issued a statement saying, "This error is deeply troubling."

JoAnn Friar, director of the county's elections board, said that the error was unintentional and that a corrected version was being edited and would be sent out promptly. "We're sorry for the inconvenience," she said. "There was certainly no intention of trying to make it more difficult for the voters."

NEW YORK TIMES