Voters in several U.S. states have received mysterious robocalls urging them to stay home on election day, state and party officials say.
But at noon Eastern Time – with more than half the expected number of U.S. ballots already cast – there were few signs of digital interference long feared by those charged with protecting the vote.
“We are not out of the woods yet,” said Christopher Krebs, a senior official in the Department of Homeland Security who has become one of the government’s main spokespersons on electoral security. He said at a press conference earlier on Tuesday that “today in a sense is half time. There may be other events or activities or efforts to interfere or undermine the trust in the election “.
Fears that a foreign power might seek to intervene in the 2020 vote have been circulating since the last election in 2016, when Russian hackers threw tens of thousands of emails online to sway the vote for Republican Donald Trump and away from Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton.
But those concerns did not materialize as more than 99 million Americans voted in an unprecedented wave of early votes – well on their way to the 160 million expected by experts.
Speaking alongside Krebs, Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf said on Tuesday that “we have no indication that a foreign actor was successful in compromising or manipulating votes during the this election “.
There were, however, signs of more traditional threats in the form of machine failure and malicious automated calls.
Authorities and party officials in swing states including Iowa, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida have reported a spike in automated phone calls warning voters to go to the polls for a variety of bogus reasons.
“Obtain reports of multiple robocalls to residents of Flint who, due to long lines, are expected to vote tomorrow,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said on Twitter.
“Obviously, this is FALSE and it is an effort to suppress the vote.”
There were also technical issues.
In Spalding County, Georgia, voting systems were down, Election Officer Marcia Ridley told local media.
Ridley did not immediately return Reuters’ requests for comment. Local media said provisional ballots were being sent to polling stations so people could still vote, and two U.S. officials told Reuters the problems were consistent with a malfunction.
“It seems like a typical technological challenge,” one said.
In his comments to reporters, Krebs reminded voters that technical issues were not unexpected – and that rumors and unverified information should be avoided.
“Remember that sometimes technology fails and breaks,” he said.
He and Wolf advised patience as Americans await the results, which – given disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic and the flood of mail-in votes – could take days to work out.
“It’s important to recognize that this process can take time,” Wolf said.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
