Domestic disinformation campaigns and homegrown threats to poll workers are becoming bigger and bigger concerns for the upcoming midterm congressional elections in November.
The threat of homegrown threats has superseded the threat of foreign interference, according to U.S. cybersecurity and law enforcement officials.
Russia and Iran, accused of meddling in past U.S. elections using disinformation campaigns, are enmeshed in their own crises. Russia is consumed by its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and Iran is in turmoil over mass protests inside the country. So far, neither Russia nor Iran has yet been found to have targeted this election, according to senior U.S. officials.
Russian and Iranian intelligence units deployed hackers and fake social media accounts in recent U.S. elections to try to influence the vote and sow discord. This is according to information disclosed as part of criminal cases.
Election integrity has been a contentious issue in the United States, particularly in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Republican former President Donald Trump continues to make false claims that the election was stolen from him by Democrat Joe Biden through widespread voting fraud.
While at this moment top cybersecurity officials are not aware of any specific or credible threats t compromise or disrupt election infrastructure, threats are massively complex, experts said.
The current election threat environment is more complex than it has ever been, said top officials within the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Since 2020, there have been numerous reported incidents of poll workers being threatened, harassed or assaulted by Trump supporters. Opinion polls have shown that a large majority of Republican voters believe Trump won that election.
U.S. officials said there is a lot of rhetoric about violence against poll workers, and therefore the officials have made it a point to aggressively investigate all of those threats.
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