Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said on Tuesday there is no evidence so far that a “foreign actor” compromised votes in the 2020 election, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: Since Russians interfered with the 2016 election and hacked the emails of Democratic officials, the country has been antsy about a potential repeat in an already closely contested election.
Driving the news: Wolf refuted the possibility of interference at a press conference on Election Day. "We have no indications that a foreign actor has succeeded in compromising or manipulating any votes in this election," he said.
- More than 90 million voters have submitted ballots already. Millions more are expected to cast their votes today.
- The level of early voter turnout is unprecedented.
- Wolf previously told CBS the agency was still on "high alert."
Yes, but: The election is not absent manipulation — last month, Iran sent threatening emails to Democratic voters, intending to intimidate them into voting for Trump.
- Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe also warned that Iran and Russia had obtained voter data in October.
- The U.S. Cyber Command recently expanded operations to identify election-related hacking by China, Russia and Iran.
The bottom line: Though there appears to be no election meddling so far, it doesn’t mean it’s not happening or won’t happen.
Go deeper: Cisco report details 2020 election security challenges
