Help officials protect election
When it comes to sharing political content, be wary of misinformation
Fears about the integrity of the election remain high, though there are plenty of officials on the local, state and national level working diligently to ensure Americans can have confidence in both the process and the outcome of this year’s vote.
This week, some of them asked for the public’s help in this all-important effort.
It’s critical they have it.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Wednesday joined with committee Chairman Marco Rubio to issue an ominous bipartisan warning about foreign interference in this year’s election.
“As we enter the last weeks before the election, we urge every American — including members of the media — to be cautious about believing or spreading unverified, sensational claims related to votes and voting,” the statement said. “State and local election officials are in regular contact with federal law enforcement and cyber security professionals, and they are all working around the clock to ensure that Election 2020 is safe, secure, and free from outside interference.”
They released the statement a short while before Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray charged that Russian and Iranian assets had obtained voter information and were actively working to meddle in this year’s vote.
Subsequent reporting indicated that intelligence services weren’t united in their opinion of what was happening or who was responsible but sounding the alarm and encouraging Americans to be skepti
cal of what they read, hear and see in these final days still serves an important purpose.
The Senate Intelligence Committee concluded in a comprehensive report into the 2016 election that foreign actors — marshaled primarily by the Russian government — played an active role in sowing discord and division throughout the campaign.
The strategy of those efforts was to fracture the American public, putting people at each other’s throats and plunging the nation into dysfunction. Foreign governments care about who wins, of course,
but the larger goal was to create domestic strife.
It would be difficult to say, in taking measure of the state of our union, that they failed in that mission. And it’s why Americans should take to heart the warning Warner and Rubio issued this week.
With only days remaining until Election Day, Americans are already casting ballots in record numbers. Nearly 50 million people have already voted, more than all the early votes recorded four years ago.
That includes nearly 1 million early votes, nearly 700,000 returned absentee ballot, and more than 450,000 absentee ballot requests yet to be returned in Virginia, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Those are astounding figures.
But simply because tens of millions of Americans have already voted doesn’t mean this is time to let our guard down. That means being careful about what information we share with others or amplify on social media.
That post on your buddy’s Facebook may not be entirely true, but it is funny and really sticks it to the other party, so should you share it? That tweet you read seems implausible, but what’s the harm in retweeting it for others to decide?
To hear the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee and key members of the intelligence community tell it, the harm could be great.
Restraint and skepticism should be liberally employed to guard against disseminating falsehoods and unwittingly helping the nation’s enemies.
When this election concludes and the votes are tallied, the nation will a great many issues to address and will only be successful if it can do so with a common purpose and some semblance of unity.
This is a bitterly contested election between candidates and partisans who have serious and substantive disagreements with one another. We know foreign actors are actively looking to exploit those divisions and we must not assist in those efforts.
U.S. officials, both Democrat and Republican, have asked for your help to protect this election. Rise to that challenge in the coming days.