2024 election: Disinformation did not keep voters at the polls

With polls closed in much of the United States, election officials and voting rights advocates say voting-related problems have been minimal, but government officials still warn of the continuing threat of foreign operations designed to undermine trust in the democratic process.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump continued to make baseless claims that the election was forgotten, saying on Tuesday afternoon that Social Truth posted there was “a lot of talk about massive CHEATING in Philadelphia” and that legislation was on the way. But the Philadelphia Police Department told CNN it didn’t know what Trump was talking about. Trump also made similar comments about Detroit, with police there, and disputed allegations of a heavy-handed police response.

Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said that while there were “minor distractions” throughout Tuesday, they were largely expected and planned. Additionally, CISA saw no evidence of malicious activity affecting the security or integrity of the election.

“In general, we have seen the stability of our process and the preparedness of the election officials as they conduct a free, safe and secure election,” said Easterly when he spoke to a reporter before midnight on the East Coast.

Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights Under the Law, said the voter turnout was “amazing” given the continued spate of harassment and lawsuits designed to prevent people from voting.

“People are voting today and we have to be aware of that,” Hewitt said at an afternoon news conference hosted by the voting rights organization Election Protection. “Democracy works when you let it, and sometimes we need to ignore it to make sure there are no obstacles in the way.”

While the scattered polling stations experienced the kind of problems you’d expect when polls open, such as malfunctioning equipment and longer-than-expected lines, many of the problems were localized and easily handled at the local level.

Earlier in the day, several dubious bomb threats caused the temporary closure of two Georgia polling stations. The FBI released a statement later in the day saying it was aware of multiple bomb threats in several states but none of them were deemed credible. It added that many of them appeared to be from Russian email domains.

Hewitt stressed that Georgia voters are safe at the polls and that threats don’t stop people from voting, they just make the process take longer. One of the polling stations will remain open longer to make up for the time lost due to the bomb threat, and Hewitt said his party wants another extension.

The group also requested that some polling places in Pennsylvania, including those at Lehigh and Villanova universities, and Lafayette College, remain open later because of wait times of more than 4 hours to vote at those places.

Easterly said CISA did not track any disruptions at the national level on a day-to-day basis. As the election draws to a close, he urged Americans to be patient, stressing that the total votes announced on election night are not the final results and that election workers need time to do their jobs.

Meanwhile, CISA is still concerned that America’s enemies, especially Russia and to a lesser extent Iran, will continue to increase their disinformation activities, in an attempt to undermine America’s confidence in the legitimacy of the election and to provoke violence in the coming days.

“We will not, as we have said many times, allow our enemies to vote in our elections,” said Easterly. “We all have a role to play in protecting and preserving democracy.”