US official sees little disruption in voting linked to foreign interference By Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A top U.S. official said on Tuesday that his administration had not seen any major incidents of foreign interference in Tuesday’s presidential election, despite reports of fake news aimed at disrupting voting throughout Election Day.
As of evening, there was little evidence of major disruption to the election infrastructure, Cait Conley, chief executive officer at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told reporters.
“At this time, we are not currently tracking any significant incidents at the national level that affect the security of our election infrastructure,” said Conley, whose agency is responsible for protecting America’s critical infrastructure, including election infrastructure, which can include voter information, tables and ballots. accounting software.
Earlier on Tuesday, the FBI warned Americans about three new fake videos that used their name and logos to promote false information about the vote, the latest in a string of fake news that officials expect will intensify, especially if uncertainty about the winner remains on Election Day.
A fake video purporting to be from a federal law enforcement agency lied about a serious terrorist threat and urged Americans to “vote remotely,” while another video included a fake press release purporting to be from the agency and claiming fraudulent voting among inmates at five prisons. . A third fake video claims the FBI has received 9,000 complaints about voting machine malfunctions.
It’s all untrue, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
Hoax bomb threats have also hit a series of polling stations in three battleground states, the office said on Tuesday.
“No threats have been determined to be credible at this time,” the FBI said. At least two polling places targeted by hoax bomb threats in Georgia were temporarily evacuated Tuesday. Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger blamed Russian interference for the Election Day bombings.
“It looks like they’re going to do something bad. They don’t want us to have an unfair, fair and accurate election, and if they can make us fight each other, they can count that as a victory,” Raffensperger told the media. .
Russia’s ambassador to Washington said the allegations were “groundless” and that Russia “does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.”
US intelligence agencies last week accused Russia of a fake video it said showed a Haitian immigrant who claimed to have voted multiple times in the US state of Georgia. Over the weekend, the FBI warned of more fake videos.
Later on Tuesday, a video posted on social media site X — purporting to show a Wisconsin voter for former President Donald Trump being beaten by a supporter of Vice President Kamala Harris — may have been Russian disinformation, a professor tracking the project said. . It had been viewed more than 30,000 times.
UX has restricted the account that posted the video, warning users of unusual activity on the account, but the video remains online.
Many of the hurdles voters faced were often prosaic: long lines, paper jams, and power outages.
Slow computer software updates delayed voters in Louisville, Kentucky, a local official told Reuters. In rural Pennsylvania, a computer software glitch meant some ballots could not be cast immediately, officials there said.
In St. Clair County in Alabama, some ballots had to be reprinted after officials discovered some were missing state and county amendment questions, the county said on its website.
Conley urged Americans to remain vigilant as the votes are counted.
“We have foreign adversaries with two goals, one is to destroy the confidence of the American people in our democratic institutions, and the other is to sow discord,” Conley said. “And so we should expect to continue to see narratives around those kinds of targets, today and in the days and weeks to come.”
