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The public is worried about the integrity of this year's elections, according to a new poll, with Democrats more concerned than Republicans.
Another poll finds voters filled with angst about election security
Feb 28 2020
Another day, another poll finding voters worried about the integrity of this year's election.
This one is from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and it found:
- 45 percent are extremely or very concerned that foreign governments will tamper with voting systems or election results.
- 47 percent are extremely or very concerned about foreign governments influencing what Americans think about candidates.
- 45 percent are extremely or very concerned about foreign governments stealing information from political parties and candidates.
<p>The poll, as so many others in recent months have shown, finds Democrats more suspicious and worried than Republicans.</p>
<p>In the AP-NORC poll, 33 percent overall said they have little or no confidence that their votes this fall in President Trump's bid for a second term will be counted accurately. But only 21 percent of Republicans felt that way while 39 percent of Democrats and 44 percent of independents did.</p>
<p>Overall, half of Americans polled said they were extremely or very concerned that the voting systems in the country might be vulnerable to hacking. Sixty-two percent of Democrats felt that way but only 37 percent of Republicans were extremely or very concerned about that.</p>
<p>The poll of 1,074 adults was conducted Feb. 12-16. The results have a 4.2 percentage point margin of sampling error.</p>
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Only 40 percent of U.S. voters have confidence in the honesty of elections, ranking the country 27th in the world, according to polling by Gallup.
Confidence in the honesty of U.S. elections lags behind other countries
Feb 24 2020
The Russians may not have had much real success hacking our elections. But their efforts, combined with other fears brought on by extreme partisanship, a proliferation of conspiracy theories and a feeling of helplessness, have made a real impact on Americans' confidence in our elections.
A new report published by Gallup finds that only 40 percent of the country has confidence in the honesty of our elections — ranking the United States a distant 27th in the world.
<p>Citizens in Nordic countries had the highest level of confidence in their elections, with Finland and Norway tied at No. 1 (89 percent) among countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Next is Sweden at 87 percent.</p><p>On the other end, Mexico (30 percent) and Chile (31 percent) had the lowest confidence levels in elections.</p><p>The election confidence numbers may be low in the U.S. but they have been worse, with only 30 percent of Americans saying in 2016 they had confidence in our elections.</p><p>In the 2019 poll of Americans used for the comparison with other countries, only 35 percent of women had confidence (compared to 46 percent of men). And people aged 30-49 had the least confidence in elections: 31 percent.</p><p>The report notes that public attitudes toward the honesty of elections may have dipped already this year.</p><p>The reason? Two words: Iowa caucuses.</p>
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he Republican colleagues would "rather let Putin win than stand up to President Trump."
Warning of revived Russian meddling gives fresh rationale for election security bills
Feb 21 2020
The fresh warnings from intelligence officials that Russia is again intruding in the presidential race have given congressional Democrats an opening to revive their uphill push for election security legislation.
Several proposals for bolstering American democracy's protections against interference by foreign adversaries have passed the House but are stymied in the Senate, where GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell maintains they're unnecessary and designed by Democrats to get under President Trump's skin.
After news broke Thursday night about the warning delivered to lawmakers by the intelligence community's top election security official — who told them Russia is already at work meddling with the election in hopes of helping Trump win again — Minority Leader Chuck Schumer excoriated the GOP in particularly harsh terms.
<p>"Republicans keep blocking election security bills in the Senate, and now we know why: They'd rather let Putin win than stand up to President Trump," he said on Twitter.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
<div id="e97ff" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9RU2WT1582312762"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1230625766972559360" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Republicans keep blocking election security bills in the Senate, and now we know why:
They’d rather let Putin win… https://t.co/e2dZ1OA6az</div> — Chuck Schumer (@Chuck Schumer)<a href="https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/statuses/1230625766972559360">1582239021.0</a></blockquote></div>
</p>
<p>The unambiguously identified targeting of the presidential race by Vladimir Putin's government four years ago resulted in few identifiable hacks of voting systems, but it also included a sweeping online disinformation effort and has generated waves of uncertainty about the reliability of American elections. The new intelligence findings will only amplify that.<br/></p><p>But it remains highly uncertain whether those reports will prompt any loosening of the Senate standoff when lawmakers return next week.</p><p>The measure taking clearest aim at Russia, dubbed the Deter Act, would impose sanctions on Russian finance, defense and energy businesses after a clear finding by U.S. intelligence that the Kremlin was interfering in the election. The measure has been sponsored by five Democrats but also six Republicans, including three of the party's most vulnerable incumbents this fall: Susan Collins of Maine and both of the senators Trump campaigned for this week: Corey Gardner of Colorado and Martha McSally of Arizona.</p><p>Four times in the past six months, the Democrats have made a choreographed show of taking the Senate floor to propose immediate passage of election security bills they view as less contentious than the Deter Act — knowing full well their efforts could (and would) be blocked by the GOP without any roll call votes.</p><p>The most recent effort came two weeks ago, when three measures that have passed the House in various forms were blocked. One would require presidential campaigns to call the FBI if they are approached by a foreign power offering assistance. Another would require candidates to report any efforts by a foreigner to make a campaign contribution. The last would authorize more federal money for election security and ban the use of voting machines connected to the internet or made overseas.</p>
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The supervisor of elections in Palm Beach County caused a stir this week when she said the agency's computer system had been hacked during the 2016 election. But Susan Bucher (above), who headed the office then, said that was not true.
Florida fury after fresh claim of a 2016 cyberattack
Feb 14 2020
Just a few weeks before the Florida presidential primary, the elections supervisor for the state's third biggest county has dropped an election security bombshell.
Wendy Sartory Link says she was told the Palm Beach County elections systems were hacked during the 2016 presidential election but the attack was never reported to state or federal authorities.
The claim immediately became embroiled in controversy, however, because the person in charge of the office at the time, Susan Bucher, denied the attack occurred and the agency's former head of information technology won't comment because he is facing unrelated criminal charges.
The contradictory stories have left other political leaders in the state perplexed.
<p>Florida is the biggest state in the country where the presidential contest could go either way in November, and the 219 delegates that will be distributed after the March 17 primary are the fourth-biggest prize of the Democratic nomination contest. And it has already been identified as one of the few places where Russian operatives are definitively known to have hacked the last presidential contests — infiltrating the computers at election offices in two counties.</p><p>But news of those hacks was not revealed until last year when it was first mentioned in the report by special counsel Robert Mueller. State officials were unaware. After meeting with the FBI, GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis revealed that two county offices were the subject of the attacks but he declined to name the counties at the request of federal officials. No votes or voter registrations were affected by the intrusions, officials have said.</p><p>This latest revelation came out in an equally unusual way when Link mentioned it during an editorial board meeting on Wednesday with The Palm Beach Post. </p><p>Link, who was appointed in January 2019, said she was told of the attack by the No. 2 official in her office's IT department, Ed Sacerio. Jeff Darter, who was the IT director at the time, was fired after his arrest in November for child pornography possession.</p><p>The FBI was called in to investigate the attack but that report is not complete, Link said.</p><p>Several officials, including Democratic Rep. Ted Deutch, whose congressional district takes in part of the country, worried that the revelation would raise doubts about the upcoming elections.</p>
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