U.S. voters facing 'heightened and dynamic' threat landscape

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00:00In the next 10 to 12 hours, an estimated 120 to 130 million Americans all across the union

00:06shall have cast their choices in person for their next president and leader of the free world.

00:11Some 81 million have already voted either in person or by snail mail,

00:16since early voting began in the second week of September, indicating a record turnout.

00:22But this year's elections are shaping up to be one fraught with fear,

00:26intimidation, and harassment by the agents of chaos,

00:29both from within and outside, as we hear this report from VOA's Jeff Selden.

00:36With early voting underway, a nightmare scenario for election officials.

00:42Ballots in Washington state and Oregon literally going up in smoke.

00:47Our officers quickly determined that there was an incendiary device that had been attached

00:53to the ballot box, and that is what ignited this fire.

00:58And officials are not ruling out the possibility of more trouble, with more voters expected to

01:05cast ballots in person on election day. The message, though, trying not to worry.

01:12Despite the fact that the threat environment has never been more complex, election infrastructure

01:18has never been more secure, and the election stakeholder community has never been better

01:24prepared. Since January of last year,

01:27federal, state, and local officials have done more than 1,300 physical security assessments,

01:34in addition to numerous exercises to prepare for almost any contingency.

01:40State and local election officials are looking at past cases of concern, learning from them,

01:47and that training and enablement across places like police departments, public safety officials,

01:53and awareness, I think will also be helpful to reduce any likelihood of violence.

01:58Still, U.S. intelligence agencies say the threat remains. U.S. officials warn that the

02:04main foreign threats are what they call the big three, Russia, Iran, and China.

02:11They say Russian efforts are aimed at seeing former President Donald Trump

02:15return to the White House. Iran is seeking to hurt Trump and help Vice President Kamala Harris,

02:23seeing her as a lesser threat. U.S. intelligence has determined China has been mostly focused on

02:30congressional races. Tech giant Microsoft confirming Chinese cyber actors have repeatedly

02:37targeted several Republican lawmakers who have been critical of Beijing.

02:42And some of the efforts seem bent on inspiring chaos. One declassified U.S. intelligence

02:49assessment warns Russia has plans to incite violence, and Iran may try to foment violence,

02:56as well. Russia, Iran, and China have repeatedly denied such allegations,

03:02but the U.S. says it has proof, saying recent fake videos on social media purporting to show

03:09ripped up ballots in Pennsylvania and immigrants claiming to vote multiple times in Georgia

03:15are the work of Russian influence actors. The videos have caused a stir.

03:21Whether they're changing minds, that's harder to say.

03:25The successfulness, I would say, is quite small. We have not really seen these videos or this

03:34content break out beyond social media or on Telegram. For now, U.S. election and security

03:41officials are asking voters to tune out the noise of mis- and disinformation,

03:47trying to assure them they can trust the election process and the results.

03:55Jeff Seldin, VOA News, Washington.

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