With polls beginning to shut within the Japanese United States, election officers and voting rights advocates say that voting associated issues have thus far been minimal, however federal officers nonetheless warned of the risks of disinformation operations designed to undermine belief within the democratic system.
In the meantime, former President Donald Trump continued to make baseless claims that the election is rigged, saying in a Tuesday afternoon Fact Social submit there was “Quite a lot of speak about large CHEATING in Philadelphia” and that legislation enforcement was on the way in which. However the Philadelphia Police Division advised CNN they did not know what Trump was referring to. Trump additionally made related feedback about Detroit, with police there additionally debunking claims of a heavy police response.
Whereas there have been some minor and remoted incidents, the overwhelming majority of American voters are casting ballots with out a downside, Damon Hewitt, president and govt director of the Attorneys’ Committee for Civil Rights Below Regulation, stated throughout a day press briefing held by the umbrella voting rights group Election Safety.
Hewitt stated that is “exceptional” given the continued swirl of disinformation and litigation designed to maintain folks from voting.
“Individuals are voting right this moment and that is value noting,” he stated. “Democracy works if you let it, and typically we have to give it a nudge to make it possible for there are not any obstacles in the way in which.”
Whereas scattered voting precincts skilled the form of issues you’d anticipate when polls open, like malfunctioning gear and longer-than-expected traces, many of the points had been localized and simply dealt with on the native stage.
Early within the day, a number of non-credible bomb threats brought about the momentary closures of two Georgia polling locations. The FBI launched a press release later within the day saying that it was conscious of a number of bomb threats throughout a number of states however none of them had been deemed credible. It added that a lot of them appeared to originate from Russian electronic mail domains.
Hewitt emphasised that Georgia voters are protected on the polls and that the threats aren’t maintaining folks from voting, simply making the method take longer. One of many polling locations will keep open longer to make up for time misplaced because of the bomb risk evacuations, and Hewitt stated his group is searching for an extension for the opposite.
The group can be asking that some polling locations in Pennsylvania, together with these overlaying Lehigh and Villanova universities, together with Lafayette Faculty, keep open later on account of greater than 4-hour wait occasions to vote at these areas.
In a separate afternoon convention name, officers for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company confirmed that, total, voting goes easily in most areas and that federal officers aren’t monitoring any disruptions on the nationwide stage.
However CISA officers stay involved that America’s adversaries, significantly Russia and to a lesser extent Iran, will proceed to ramp up their disinformation operations by Tuesday and within the days following the election in an effort to undermine the democratic course of.
On a Monday night name with reporters, CISA Director Jen Easterly stated People proceed to be hit with a “fireplace hose of disinformation” bent on undermining democracy, making it crucial that they ensure they’re getting their election data from trusted sources like state and native officers.
Easterly additionally stated that it is “very unlucky and really irresponsible” for anybody ready of authority or affect, together with Trump and supporter Elon Musk, proprietor of the social media platform X, to unfold election disinformation.
“It is corrosive to our democracy, it does the work of our international adversaries for them, and it is creating very actual threats to election officers of each events,” Easterly stated.
