The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and other groups said on Thursday that “there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised” as President Trump pushes claims that the election was rigged in favor of President-elect Joe Biden.
The members of the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council Executive Committee (which includes CISA’s Assistant Director Bob Kolasky as well as leaders from the independent U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the National Association of Secretaries of State, the National Association of State Election Directors, and others) pushed back against allegations that U.S. voting machines had somehow been tampered with to steer votes from Biden to Trump.
“The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. Right now, across the country, election officials are reviewing and double checking the entire election process prior to finalizing the result,” the joint statement said. “When states have close elections, many will recount ballots. All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary. This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors. … Other security measures like pre-election testing, state certification of voting equipment, and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s certification of voting equipment help to build additional confidence in the voting systems used in 2020.”
The joint statement follows a massively viral tweet sent by Trump earlier in the day that quoted One America News Network, claiming in all caps, “REPORT: DOMINION DELETED 2.7 MILLION TRUMP VOTES NATIONWIDE. DATA ANALYSIS FINDS 221,000 PENNSYLVANIA VOTES SWITCHED FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP TO BIDEN. 941,000 TRUMP VOTES DELETED. STATES USING DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS SWITCHED 435,000 VOTES FROM TRUMP TO BIDEN.”
Dominion Voting Systems pushed back against the claim.
“First and foremost, Dominion Voting Systems categorically denies any claims about any vote switching or alleged software issues with our voting systems,” the company said. “Dominion systems continue to reliably and accurately count ballots, and state and local election authorities have publicly confirmed the integrity of the process. Edison Research has also categorically denied any claims that their data suggests any voting irregularities, including vote switching.”
CISA and the other election security groups also stressed in a statement with some of the text in bold: “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised… While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too. When you have questions, turn to elections officials as trusted voices as they administer elections.”
Trump referred to the “Rigged Election!” earlier in the day. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is Trump’s personal lawyer, claimed on Fox Business on Wednesday that Dominion voting systems parent company was founded to “fix elections.” He added, “Yes they can be hacked, and yes they can change votes.”
CISA released the statement after Reuters reported on Thursday that its director, Christopher Krebs, expects to be fired by Trump. He later tweeted out the joint statement, saying, “TLDR: America, we have confidence in the security of your vote, you should, too.”
Krebs also released a statement last week, one day after the election, that talked about how his agency was certain no other country meddled in the 2020 contest.
“Over the last four years, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has been a part of a whole-of-nation effort to ensure American voters decide American elections,” Krebs said. “Importantly, after millions of Americans voted, we have no evidence any foreign adversary was capable of preventing Americans from voting or changing vote tallies.”
In addition, Krebs has repeatedly used his Twitter account to attempt to debunk what he sees as unfounded election-related claims, and has directed his follower’s to CISA’s “Rumor Control” website.
In early August, William Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, released the Intelligence Community’s assessment on foreign election meddling. The statement warned that Russia is “using a range of measures to primarily denigrate” Biden. The same statement also said China “prefers” that Trump not win reelection and is “expanding its influence efforts ahead of November 2020.” In addition, Evanina said Iran “seeks to undermine” Trump’s presidency.
More than a week after Election Day, Trump continues to contest the contest. Media outlets projected Biden to be the winner on Saturday. after Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes were called for him.
In Arizona, where Biden leads Trump by 11,000 votes, the Trump campaign has filed a flurry of lawsuits. In Michigan, where Biden leads Trump by 145,000 votes, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to toss out 1.2 million ballots.
In Pennsylvania, where Biden leads Trump by 55,000 votes, the commonwealth’s Supreme Court sided with the GOP on a case related to late voter ID verification on Thursday. Pennsylvania Republicans are pushing the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case related to late-arrival mail-in ballots, as the Trump campaign pushes for the state’s results not to be certified. Numerous GOP election lawsuits have been thrown out.
In Georgia, where Biden currently leads Trump by 13,000 votes, the state will begin a hand recount on Friday.
The General Services Administration has not begun to cooperate fully with Biden’s transition team, and the former vice president has been denied access to the presidential daily briefing. Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley, James Lankford, Lindsey Graham, and others have said that Biden should be receiving classified intelligence briefings, even as Trump’s lawsuits continue to play out.
