The Possibilities of Foreign Interference in the 2020 Election

A voter fills out his ballot while early voting at the Santa Clara County registrar of voters office in San Jose, Ca.. on Oct. 13, 2020. Pen-and-paper ballots may be the the last election interface not susceptible to attacks by foreign interference. Source.

With the General Election underway, millions of voters across the country have voted early or are preparing to vote in person at the polls today. Each voter is promised a secure and confidential vote. However, the shocks of the 2016 Election linger on to challenge this promise, namely with the problem of foreign interference. The most-known and recent example is that of Russian interference in the 2016 election, detailed in the Mueller report. Lengthy and covered in detail by the media, the Mueller report produced a staunch partisan divide -- with Democrats overwhelmingly believing there was Russian interference in the election, and Republicans being skeptical of these claims. The aftermath of the two-year long Special Counsel investigation has caused three-quarters of U.S. adults to believe it is likely that interference will occur from Russia or other foreign governments in the upcoming election.

Foreign interference in the American democratic process is and has been in the past conducted through a series of cyberattacks and social media agitation. Cyberattacks are often meant to steal confidential information and leak it to websites such as WikiLeaks. Cyberattacks can also target state election infrastructure, typically by infiltrating voting machines in hopes to change ballots or miscount them. Social media agitation is done through bots and fake accounts who pose as Americans on social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook to spew misinformation and influence voters. Other methods of foreign interference are much more subtle, such as state-sponsored forms of media that can reach and misinform voters. William Evanina, Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, released a statement in early August in which he states that the governments of China, Russia, and Iran are attempting to interfere with the 2020 Presidential Election. When asked about the report, President Trump said that his administration would look “very closely” into it. 

How closely? Efforts to improve election security at the federal level have been scattered and vague. Congress has provided funding for election system upgrades, but have not been able to agree on legislation since the 2016 Election that directly addresses foreign interference. Proposals have included mandating paper ballot backups and requiring that campaigns report contacts with foreigners to the FBI. Attempts to safeguard elections have been more productive at the state level. In Georgia, a key battleground state, a group of plaintiffs argued that its voting machines create no paper trail and therefore votes cannot be verified. Also in Georgia, a group of voter integrity activists requested a federal judge that their touch-screen voting tablets be replaced with hand-marked ballots, in an attempt to avoid glitches and hacks. The issue of how votes are to be counted is ongoing as early voting nears.

The fundamental link between votes and foreign interference is that of voting machines. Since the actual election administration is done by the states, they all have unique ways to guard and ensure safe voting practices. However, voting infrastructure is outdated and aging. As of 2018, forty-one states have voting machines that have not been updated in ten years. This number is especially striking as Russia targeted election systems in all fifty states during the 2016 Election. Although the Senate Intelligence Committee stated that there was no evidence to show that these actions manipulated votes or voting counts, the Russian government began as early as 2014 to direct extensive attacks against U.S. election infrastructure and was in a position to alter voter data in at least one state. Most information detailing these actions has been redacted within the report. 

To decrease the chances of foreign interference in the upcoming election, federal agencies and states must maximize security efforts. Voting machines are clearly out of date, and states should purchase more updated and secure voting machines that offer paper trails. Federal agencies must focus on improved cybersecurity efforts. Foreign interference will not stop with the 2020 Election, but with proper security and reinforcement, voter integrity can be maintained. The question remaining after this tumultuous election week will be whether the actions were taken to ensure this security.