Robocalls concerning, but no big poll problems
WASHINGTON — Despite fears of widespread intimidation or disruptions at polling places, voting for a vast majority of Americans proceeded smoothly on Tuesday with sporadic reports of robocalls, text messages, and some live calls meant to confuse and deter voters but few major problems.
“It’s definitely a relief so far,” said Daryl Johnson, a former analyst with the Department of Homeland Security who focuses on domestic terrorism. But he warned “the period after the election is going to be more volatile and higher risk because you’re going to be dealing with the aftermath of the election results.”
Most of the complaints around the country concerning intimidation centered on robocalls made to voters relaying false information. The Election Protection Hotline said it received reports of robocalls from 17 states discouraging voting.
The Michigan attorney general, Dana Nessel, said in a tweet that callers were directing voters to delay going to the polls to avoid long lines. “Obviously this is FALSE and an effort to suppress the vote. No long lines and today is the last day to vote,” Nessel said. “Don’t believe the lies! Have your voice heard!”
The robocall complaint came on top of live calls to voters in Michigan that threatened voters in Flint and Grand Rapids with arrests if they showed up to the polls, and a text message sent to voters in Dearborn that warned of “ballot sensor” malfunctions in the voting precincts. The message, which the state attorney general’s office is investigating, told voters that if they wanted their vote for their preferred presidential candidate to count, they actually had to mark the ballot for the other candidate.
The FBI confirmed the robocalls.
In Virginia, Kristen Clarke, the president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said robocalls went out warning voters that they might get sick if they went out to vote. “Stay home and stay safe,” the calls said.
The robocalls were similar to those reported in Michigan, Texas, California, Florida, Kansas, Ohio, Washington, Georgia, New York, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
The “stay home and stay safe” robocalls had started during the campaign and were continuing during voting, Clarke said. Voting rights groups said voters in several other states had gotten similar calls directing them to vote on Wednesday.
All told, more than 3 million “stay home” calls were made to some 800,000 people across the country on Tuesday, according to data provided by the firm TelTech.
A senior homeland security official said such robocalls are common during elections and intelligence officials said there did not seem to be any early indications that the calls were originating from a foreign government. But Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, the director of the National Security Agency, said that his agency would “take a very close look” at the calls, and said that he was confident the FBI was “on top of it right now.”
Federal officials and local police officials on Tuesday continued to prepare for possible unrest going into election night, with the Homeland Security Department deploying tactical agents from Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement throughout the United States to protect federal property. A new fence has been erected in front of Lafayette Square, near the White House.
The agents deployed by the Homeland Security Department were directed to guard federal buildings, not conduct immigration enforcement. Such homeland security tactical teams were also the subject of a report issued by the homeland security inspector general on Tuesday that said the agency had sent the teams to quell protests in Portland, Ore., without the proper authority or training. The Homeland Security Department disputed the finding.
During a news briefing focused on cyberthreats, Christopher Krebs, director of the U. S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, encouraged Americans to be patient through election day. “Keep calm, vote on, and then after today keep calm and let them count,” Krebs said.
Bob Bauer, a former White House counsel who is helping to lead the Biden campaign’s election protection efforts, said that the campaign was seeing “minimal issues and disruptions” around voting, and that “by and large, voting is proceeding smoothly.”
Despite the relative calm during voting, law enforcement officials across the nation nonetheless remained on high alert on Tuesday. Election day came after a weekend in which caravans blocked roadways and there was an increase in threats made online and at the close of a bitterly divisive election.
Retailers and banks from Boston to Washington to Los Angeles searched for beefedup security. And Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills was closed for election day and the day after.