Federal officials in the United States on Thursday rejected President Donald Trump’s claims of fraud in the 2020 elections, and said that the polls were the “most secure in American history”.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is tasked with ensuring secure elections, said in a statement that there was no evidence to show that the process had been compromised. “When states have close elections, many will recount ballots,” the agency said. “All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary.”
The federal agency added that this also ensured security and resilience. “This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors,” it said. “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said there had been several “unfounded claims”, and misinformation about the election process. “We assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too,” the agency told voters. “When you have questions, turn to elections officials as trusted voices as they administer elections.”
“The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. Right now, across the country, election officials are reviewing and double checking the entire election process prior to finalizing the result.”
— Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's statement
United States President-elect Joe Biden defeated incumbent President Donald Trump and was declared the winner by US media organisations on November 7 after he appeared to win enough states to garner a majority of the Electoral College votes. However, Trump has filed a flurry of lawsuits in the last few days to challenge the outcome and has refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.
Since the election day on November 3, Trump has falsely claimed that there was a conspiracy by the Democrats to stop him from achieving another term. When the vote count in the key states of Georgia and Pennsylvania finally tipped in Biden’s favor, Trump’s campaign declared the “election is far from over”, and announced it had activated “legal challenge teams” in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania. These lawsuits were dismissed in Michigan and Georgia.
After Biden secured a crucial win in Pennsylvania, Trump again insisted that the race was not over and claimed he had “WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT”.
A day later, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani said he had “a lot of evidence” of fraud, but did not provide any immediate proof, according to AFP. The president, meanwhile, continued to make false claims on Twitter that the election was being “stolen” from him. All of Trump’s tweets were flagged as being disputed and potentially misleading.
Trump was defeated by Democrat leader Joe Biden in a close contest. Biden led the race since November 3. On November 7, the crucial state of Pennsylvania was called for him, putting him on track to win the elections with a total of 273 electoral votes.
Also read:
- China congratulates Joe Biden, Kamala Harris for winning US elections
- ‘There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration’, says Mike Pompeo
- US elections: Attorney General William Barr allows investigation into voter fraud
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