President Donald Trump is expected to address the nation on July 16, with a focus on election integrity and the 2020 election. Trump’s comments and news reports suggest he will discuss the security of election machines and potential foreign interference in the 2020 election.
Foreign Influence and Interference
Foreign influence refers to activities by foreigners to sway voters and candidates, such as misinformation on social media. Foreign interference, on the other hand, targets election infrastructure and hardware to change election outcomes. According to Lawrence Norden, an elections expert at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, there have been instances of foreign influence in U.S. elections since 2016, but no known instances of infiltration of election systems outside of Russian attempts in 2016.
Despite concerns about foreign interference, the 2020 election was found to be secure by federal government officials. The National Intelligence Council issued a report in March 2021 stating that there were no indications that any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process in the 2020 U.S. elections.
Trump’s Claims of Election Interference
Trump has made unproven statements about elections and voting by mail for over a decade. He has used these claims to push for changing election laws and recently called on Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, a bill that would tighten voter registration and voter ID requirements. However, reports from intelligence experts show that the 2020 election was secure, and foreign governments’ attempts at interference did not affect voting.
Original reporting: WPBF (Treasure Coast / Hearst) — read the source article.
