Top officials rule out fraud in US elections
washington — A coalition of federal and state officials found no evidence that votes were compromised or altered in last week’s presidential election, rejecting unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud advanced by President Donald Trump and many of his supporters.
The statement late on Thursday, by government and industry officials who coordinate election cybersecurity, trumpeted the November 3 election as the most secure in American history. It amounted to the most direct repudiation to date of Trump’s efforts to undermine the integrity of the contest, and echoed repeated assertions by election experts and state officials over the last week that the election unfolded smoothly without broad irregularities.
“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,” the statement said. “When you have questions, turn to elections officials as trusted voices as they administer elections.”
It was distributed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which spearheaded federal election protection efforts and tweeted by its director, Chris Krebs. Krebs has been vocal on Twitter in repeatedly reassuring Americans that the election was secure and that their votes would be counted.
The statement’s authors said they had no evidence that any voting system had deleted or lost votes, had changed votes, or was in any way compromised. They said all of the states with close results have paper records, which allows for the recounting of each ballot, if necessary, and for “the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors.”
“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 finalising the result,” the statement said. —
The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. Statement of federal and state officials
He’s (Joe Biden) not president right now. I don’t know if he’ll be president on January 20th.”
Kevin McCarthy, House of Representatives Republican
Now that the people have expressed their views, Joe Biden has won (and) Kamala Harris will be the first woman vice-president of the United States” Nancy Pelosi, Democratic
House Speaker
Instead of working to pull the country back together so that we can fight our common enemy Covid-19, Republicans in Congress are spreading conspiracy theories, denying reality and poisoning the well of our democracy”
Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader
We respect the choice of the American people. We congratulate Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris”
Wang Wenbin, China’s foreign ministry spokesman
President-elect wins Arizona, boosting margin of his win over incumbent president
Biden is just the second Democrat to win Arizona since 1948, when Harry Truman won the state
A growing number of Republicans backs calls for Biden to receive intelligence briefings
China congratulates Biden, Harris, says it respects ‘the choice of the American people’
President-elect Joe Biden cemented his US election victory by capturing the battleground state of Arizona late on Thursday, but the official transition to his administration remains stalled as President Donald Trump refuses to accept defeat. Biden was projected to win Arizona after more than a week of vote counting from the November 3 election, Edison Research said. He becomes only the second Democratic presidential candidate in seven decades to win the traditionally Republican state.
Biden’s win in Arizona gives him 290 electoral votes in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the White House winner. According to a CNN report, Biden is just the second Democrat to win Arizona since 1948, when Harry Truman won.
On Saturday, Biden had already cleared the 270vote threshold to win the election, setting him on course to be sworn in on January 20. Arizona’s 11 additional electoral votes put any longshot challenge by Trump even further out of reach.
Biden also holds a lead of more than 14,000 votes in the uncalled state of Georgia, a margin that is nearly certain to survive a manual recount. Although the national popular vote does not determine the outcome, he is winning that by more than 5.3 million votes, or 3.4 percentage points.
Trump, a Republican, has claimed without evidence that he was cheated by widespread election fraud. State election officials report no serious irregularities and his legal challenges have failed in court.
To win a second term, Trump would need to overturn Biden’s lead in at least three states, but he has so far failed to produce evidence that he could do so in any of them. States face a December 8 “safe harbour” deadline to certify their elections and choose electors for the Electoral College, which will officially select the new president on December 14.
In Michigan, where Biden won by 2.6 percentage points or more than 148,000 votes, two Republican state senators have asked the state’s top election officials to audit the results before certifying them.
They cited a “glitch” in vote-counting software, allegations that ballots were mishandled, and impediments to poll-watchers.
“These claims deserve our full attention and diligent investigation to ensure fairness and transparency in our election process,” Lana Theis and Tom Barrett said in a letter to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Federal election security officials have found no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, “or was in any way compromised,” two security groups said in a statement released on Thursday by the lead US cybersecurity agency.
While Republicans in the United States have questioned the outcome, US allies around the world have recognised Biden’s victory since Saturday. Rival China on Friday became the latest country to congratulate Biden, leaving Russia and Mexico as conspicuous holdouts.
Trump’s refusal to accept defeat has stalled the transition. The federal agency that releases funding to an incoming president-elect, the General Services Administration, has not yet recognised
Biden’s victory. Biden’s pick for White House chief of staff, Ron Klain, told MSNBC on Thursday that starting the transition is particularly crucial now, as the Biden administration will inherit a coronavirus vaccination campaign as soon as he takes office.
Regardless of the impediments, Biden will sign a “stack” of executive orders and send high-priority legislation to Congress on his first day in office, Klain said.
“He is going to have a very, very busy Day One,” Klain said, citing a return the to Paris accord on climate change, immigration reform, strengthening the “Obamacare” healthcare law and environmental protection as issues Biden would address on January 20.
Biden was set to meet transition advisers again on Friday as he maps out his approach to the pandemic and prepares to name his top appointees, including cabinet members.
Most Republicans have publicly said Trump has a right to pursue court challenges and declined to recognise Biden as the winner. But more signs of dissent began emerging on Thursday. Party figures such as Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and Karl Rove, a top adviser to former president George W. Bush, said Biden should be treated as the president-elect.
Meanwhile, a number of Republican senators said the Trump administration should allow Biden to receive classified intelligence briefings, though they stopped short of explicitly calling him the winner.
Democrats have assailed Trump, and the Republicans giving him cover, for undermining the country’s institutions. In an interview that will air on CBS’ 60 Minutes on Sunday, former president Barack Obama said Republicans were walking a “dangerous path” by endorsing Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud. Biden’s legal advisers have dismissed the Trump lawsuits as political theatre. —