Russia is “amplifying criticisms” about mail-in voting to undermine trust in the U.S. electoral process, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned in a bulletin Thursday.
Issued two months before Election Day, the intelligence bulletin said Russian state actors have been boosting claims attacking the voting by mail process and seem unlikely to stop.
The bulletin, first reported by ABC News, said the efforts have been apparent since at least March amid the pandemic caused by COVID-19, the disease the novel coronavirus causes.
“Russian malign influence actors have been amplifying allegations of election integrity issues in new voting processes and vote-by-mail programs,” the DHS bulletin reads in part.
Those actors include members of Moscow’s state-run media apparatus, online proxies and Russian-controlled social media trolls, according to the unclassified intelligence bulletin.
“We assess that Russia is likely to continue amplifying criticisms of vote-by-mail and shifting voting processes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to undermine public trust in the electoral process,” DHS added.
DHS said the assessment is made with “high confidence” and derived from sources including Russian state media reports, proxy websites federal election security guidelines.
Millions of Americans are set to vote in this year’s presidential election by mail because of health and safety concerns prompted by the contagious and potentially deadly virus.
Election officials have said voting by mail is safe and secure. President Trump strongly disagrees, however, and has claimed without evidence it will lead to rampant fraud.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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