Putin & Trump
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Although the U.S. government have recently flagged attempts by actors in Russia, China, and Iran to spy on people in connection with the U.S. election, nothing on the scale of 2016 has yet to materialize.

According to Chad Wolf, acting director of the Department of Homeland Security, the agency has not seen any “indications that a foreign actor has succeeded in compromising or affecting the votes cast in this election.”

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The message came as Americans began the final day of voting in an electoral campaign dogged by worries over foreign interference.

“We have no indications that a foreign actor has succeeded in compromising or manipulating any votes in this election,” Mr Wolf told a press conference that was streamed online.

More than 90 million ballots have already been submitted in an unprecedented wave of early voting. Millions more are expected to be cast on Tuesday in what promises to be a bitterly fought contest.

In the weeks leading up to Election Day, officials accused Iran of sending voter intimidation emails to Florida voters. They also claimed Russia hacked into two local government networks.

During the call, a senior official at the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said those incidents showed that officials worked quickly to address the foreign election interference attempts.

Although the U.S. government and private cybersecurity firms have recently flagged attempts by actors in Russia, China, and Iran to spy on people in connection with the U.S. election, nothing on the scale of 2016 has yet to materialize.

There were early technical problems reported on Tuesday, including across Spalding County, Georgia, where voting systems were down, elections supervisor Marcia Ridley told local media.

“It appears to be a typical technology challenge,” one said.

At the news briefing, senior DHS official Christopher Krebs said he’d seen some indications of disruption but that U.S. election systems were resilient.

He and Wolf advised patience as Americans await the results, which – given the disruptions connected to the COVID-19 pandemic and the flood of mail-in voting – could take days to come into focus.

“It is important to recognize this process may require time,” Wolf said.

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