The News
A recent video falsely showing non-citizens voting illegally in Georgia is part of a broader Russian influence campaign to sow discord and doubt about the integrity of the Nov. 5 presidential election, US officials said Friday.
Intelligence agencies warned that they expect Moscow to release more content to “undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans” in the lead up to election day, as well in the weeks and months after.
“The election is not over the night of Nov. 5,” the head of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency told Foreign Policy, warning that foreign adversaries will ramp up interference efforts right after polls close and before the vote is certified — potentially fueling political upheaval in what is expected to be a close race.
These foreign operators are “merely pushing on an open door” unlocked by Donald Trump’s campaign, FP wrote, given that the former president has already claimed he has a “lead” in the election, setting the stage to challenge an unfavorable result.
SIGNALS
Foreign powers exploit the First Amendment to influence elections
Democracies like the US are “uniquely exposed” to foreign interference because bad actors have historically exploited the country’s freedom of speech, American historian Tyson Reeder said at a recent panel. Foreign adversaries simply amplify the “already divisive messages Americans are hurling back and forth at each other.” The conundrum lies in determining whether such actions constitute foreign interference or public diplomacy: “If the Russians are taking the actual words of Americans and amplifying them, it’s a little hard to find the crime there,” New York Times correspondent David E. Sanger said at the panel.
Pennsylvania is ‘ground zero’ for election fraud claims
Given Pennsylvania’s status as a crucial swing state, it has become “ground zero” for election fraud claims, The Wall Street Journal reported, with one fake video — purporting to show Pennsylvania poll workers appearing to rip up ballots — already linked to Russia. Such attempts create “an environment where anything could be interpreted as being intentional and malicious and seeking to alter the outcome of the election,” Pennsylvania’s top election official told The New Yorker, and the state’s efforts to increase transparency have failed to combat conspiratorial doubts: “What’s very frustrating on my end is that someone will come in and they’ll ask a question and they don’t accept the factual answer,” one county commissioner said.
US allies also have vested interest in election outcome
A Chinese nationalist WeChat blog argued that Washington’s allies, who have their own vested interests in the US election, can make decisions that favor their preferred candidate. Analysts believe Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would prefer Donald Trump to win, and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, recently told CNN that it was possible the Israeli government was not going to sign any diplomatic agreements before the US election “as a means to potentially try to influence the result.” The EU, which largely favors Kamala Harris, has imposed high tariffs on Chinese EVs, while enacting minimal duties on US competitors, the Chinese blog argued, in “active [support] of the Biden administration.”