US elections have another twist, as national intelligence officials warn voters that Russia and Iran may coerce the voters with fake data.
US elections have no lack of dramatic moments. Be it fierce debates between presidential candidates or the president saying no to let Covvid-19 dominate lives. It has never been the same. The competition between Trump and Joe Biden is at its peak.
Supporters and party members have been campaigning hard for their candidates with the election around the corner. Now, it has gone to another level.
US Elections: Then Russia, now Iran?
John Ratcliffe, the director of National Intelligence, convened a press conference much to everyone’s surprise. He stated that Iran and Russia had obtained US voter data and would use them to confuse and intimidate voters.
” This data can be used by foreign actors to attempt to communicate false information to registered voters that they hope will cause confusion, sow chaos, and undermine your confidence in American democracy,” Ratcliffe said.
Democratic party members slammed Ratcliffe for stating such statements, highlighting his association with the Republican party. John Ratcliffe was a Republican congressman.
Ratcliffe also told that Iran was sending intimidating e-mails to US voters to incite social unrest.
Democratic voters in states such as Florida and Pennsylvania have reported them receiving threatening e-mails to vote for Trump. The mails stated that they knew about the USA’s entire voting infrastructure and for whom the voter will vote.
State voting lists contain party affiliations, home addresses, and voters’ email addresses, and they are not too difficult to obtain.
Christopher Krebs, the top election security official at the Department of Homeland Security, tweeted after these e-mails, “These emails are meant to intimidate and undermine American voters’ confidence in our elections” and added, “The last line of defense in election security is you – the American voter.”
Alireza Miryousefi, an Iranian spokesman at the UN, told the press that Iran had no interest in manipulating the US election results. He urged the US to “end its malign and dangerous accusations.”
“These accusations are nothing more than another scenario to undermine voter confidence in the security of the US election.” He also added that Iran would never interfere in any nation’s elections.
FBI statement
The director of FBI, Christopher Wray, held another conference, declaring that the FBI would alert American voters if any such event occurred.
He added that “You (voter) should be confident that your vote counts. Early, unverified claims to the contrary should be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism.”
Google has stated that the spam filters have stopped 90% of 25,000 e-mails sent from operation linked to Iran. They have referred the matter to the FBI and other state agencies to investigate.
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