Election integrity
-
I think many of us are fearful of Trump shenanigans and interference in the mechanics of the process.
This doesn't make me feel any better.
A few months into President Donald Trump’s second term, political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security made an unusual request of its agency focused on cybersecurity: Secretly acquire a voting machine and hack it.
The appointees wanted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to procure the machine, examine it and report back the findings so they could be given to the White House, according to two former administration officials with knowledge of the request.
The proposition was shocking to CISA’s career staffers, according to one of the former officials. CISA typically worked to thwart hackers. Moreover, the agency had been directed not to alert the voting machine company if it uncovered flaws, contrary to its standard practices. The request made the CISA employees fear they were being asked to take part in political interference.
“My thought was they could keep it in their back pocket to invalidate any [election] results they don’t like,” one of the former officials said. “This goes against everything CISA represents.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/cisa-election-security-donald-trump
-
-
-
Link to videoJust a week after a behind-the-scenes clash with CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl returned to Sunday’s (October 18) broadcast with a scathing report on Donald Trump.
The report touched on the upcoming midterms and the president’s attempts to undermine election voting. Stahl spoke with state and local officials about what some consider to be election interference and intimidation tactics by the U.S. government.
“In my wildest dreams, I never imagined that we would be raided by the FBI,” Fulton County Commissioner Dana Barrett told Stahl about the Trump administration’s FBI raid on a local Georgia election facility back in January. “They had vests. They had guns. They had all of the equipment on their belts as if they were raiding a drug house.”
Barrett said she was forced to hand over hundreds of ballots and voter rolls, and to this day, has no idea what the FBI did with the material. “I think it was all part of this concerted effort that’s happening nationwide to undermine faith in elections,” she added.
Stahl also spoke with Utah Republican Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson, who said the level of federal interference is unheard of.
-
-
I expect the fight to begin November 4.
Maybe earlier.
President Donald Trump on Friday said he personally directed the Department of Justice to file a lawsuit seeking to prevent Alaska from certifying its Senate election results if Republicans lose.
“I’m the one that said do it,” the president told reporters shortly after landing in Florida.
The president’s admission comes a day after DOJ sued Alaska election officials, arguing that the presence of an independent candidate named Dan Sullivan in addition to the incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan on the ballot could confuse voters and cost the party the race against Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola. It’s one of a handful of races seen as key to maintaining GOP control of the Senate.
The lawsuit marks an extraordinary intervention by the federal government in a state election, with the administration seeking to delay certification of results if the incumbent loses by a margin small enough that votes cast for the independent Sullivan could have changed the outcome.
“Given the substantial likelihood that the inclusion of Daniel J. Sullivan will confuse or mislead voters looking to cast a vote for Senator Sullivan, and thus distort the will of Alaskan voters, there is a substantial likelihood that a certification of the election will reflect an electoral process that lacked integrity,” DOJ wrote in its complaint.
The Alaska Supreme Court in June ruled that the independent Sullivan could remain on the ballot, but Trump continued to rail against his candidacy and the state’s election rules.
No wonder he referred to them as "my DOJ" a couple of days ago....
-
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login