(RepublicanInformer.com)- Prior to the midterm elections, the FBI reported that Russia and China are among the foreign foes pushing false information about the legitimacy of the American electoral process.
The bureau claimed to have found no credible threats to voting systems.
After local officials reported a wave of harassment and abuse before and after the 2020 presidential election, FBI officials stated that they were closely monitoring potential threats to election workers.
Since June 2021, the federal Elections Threat Task Force has examined more than 1,000 reports, and 11% have met the criteria for criminal investigation, leading to four arrests.
Cyber Command commander Gen. Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency, expressed concern about election security in late July. “We are going to be full-bore against foreign involvement and influence in our elections,” he told Bloomberg.
At a cybersecurity conference, Nakasone spoke “In order to secure our elections, we send three of our best personnel. We develop insights to comprehend what your adversaries are doing; we exchange this knowledge and clues about what’s going abroad with a number of partners; and, when necessary, we take appropriate action.”
But election officials are increasingly concerned about another threat in November- the homegrown activist attempting to sway the election outcome by becoming a poll worker.
The frontline election workers perform various tasks, such as checking voters in at polling places and assisting with mail-in ballot processing; in other words, they serve as the face of American elections to most voters. Election officials are already concerned because of a few high-profile events involving poll workers that suggest a broader wave of turmoil may be approaching.
Justin Roebuck, the clerk of Ottawa County, Michigan, also serves on the Task Force on Elections of the Bipartisan Policy Center, which is currently writing a study on the dangers posed by ill-intentioned poll workers.
Election officials are keen to point out that most poll workers around the nation are working elections for the right reasons. But they are of no consequence. The ones with bad intent are the ones that matter, and they do exist.
