Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Friday 28 February 2020
AP-NORC poll: Election security, integrity worry Americans

By MARY CLARE JALONICK
and HANNAH FINGERHUT
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Americans have wide-
spread concerns about
the security and integrity of
elections, with few saying
they have high confidence
that votes in the 2020 presi-
dential election will be
counted accurately.
A poll from The Associ-
ated Press-NORC Center
for Public Affairs Research
finds skepticism about the
democratic process in
the United States. While a
third of Americans say they
have high confidence in
an accurate count, rough-
ly another third are only
moderately confident and
a remaining third say they In this Aug. 16, 2019, file photo, a man feeds a ballot card into a digital voting machine during a demonstration in Raleigh, N.C.
have little confidence. Associated Press
"What's to prevent old Vlad
Putin from interfering in the sion to stop a ballot recount hackers, and just about lem that people who are of black Americans, more
election? I don't know," ultimately put George W. a quarter are highly con- eligible are not allowed to so than white Americans or
says Reid Gibson, an inde- Bush, a Republican, in of- cerned about any form of vote, while only about a Hispanics, are concerned
pendent voter in Missouri, fice. In general, Americans foreign interference. third of Republicans say the about hackers and foreign
referring to the Russian have mixed feelings about U.S. intelligence agencies same. The opposing views interference.
president, who U.S intelli- the way the country's po- and special counsel Rob- come as Republicans in Robert King, a 70-year-old
gence agencies say inter- litical leaders are chosen, ert Mueller found that Rus- some states have imple- African American man
fered in the 2016 election with about as many saying sia interfered in the 2016 mented laws requiring vot- from Michigan, says he
with a sophisticated op- they are optimistic as say- presidential election. Muel- ers to show identification, might not even vote this
eration to sow division and ing they are pessimistic. ler charged 13 Russians in a arguing that it will combat year "because of the tam-
help elect Donald Trump, a There also are widespread covert social media cam- voter fraud. Democrats pering and all of this other
Republican. fears about security vulner- paign that prosecutors said have fought many of those stuff going on." He says he's
FBI Director Christopher abilities as well as voter sup- was aimed at dividing pub- laws, saying they disenfran- concerned that his vote
Wray told Congress this pression and voter fraud. lic opinion on hot-button chise some voters. might not even be count-
month that Russia is still en- About half of Americans social issues as well as prop- With their candidate sitting ed.
gaged in "information war- say they are highly con- ping up Trump while deni- in the Oval Office, Repub- Nearly 8 in 10 black Ameri-
fare" heading into the 2020 cerned that the country's grating Hillary Clinton, the licans are about twice as cans also say it's a major
election but that law en- voting systems might be 2016 Democratic nominee. likely as Democrats to say problem that people who
forcement has not seen ef- vulnerable to hackers, and The government has said they are optimistic about are eligible are not allowed
forts to target infrastructure about that many also are that Russian agents also the way political leaders to vote.
like voting machines. strongly concerned about searched for vulnerabilities are chosen. Republicans Richard Hasen, author of
Still, U.S. officials say one foreign governments inter- within election systems in also are more likely than the book "Election Melt-
of Russia's goals is to sow fering by tampering with all 50 states during the 2016 Democrats to be strongly down: Dirty Tricks, Distrust,
doubt about the integrity election results or influenc- election cycle, though confident that votes will be and the Threat to Ameri-
of U.S. elections, and the ing American attitudes. there is no evidence that counted accurately. can Democracy," says vot-
poll suggests that even if But concerns vary signifi- votes were changed. "I think it's about as fair is er identification laws have
Russia isn't targeting vot- cantly by partisanship, with Trump has often pushed it could be," says Richard led voters in both major po-
ing infrastructure it may be Democrats more likely than back on the findings by Merritt, 53, a Republican litical parties to believe that
achieving that goal be- Republicans to express his own intelligence agen- from Maine who supports the other side is cheating.
cause of the lack of voter worries about the secu- cies, saying frequently that Trump. "If someone was try- "There is increasingly incen-
confidence following from rity of elections. About 6 investigations into interfer- ing to hack into a voting diary rhetoric" on the voter
the 2016 election. in 10 Democrats say they ence were a "hoax." system, the United States fraud issue, he says.
Gibson, who says he leans are very or extremely con- Voter fraud and voter sup- would be on top of that be- Hasen says he believes
Democratic, is pessimis- cerned that voting systems pression also elicit a wide fore you and I even knew many Americans' concerns
tic about the state of U.S. might be vulnerable to partisan divide. Nearly 7 in it." about the process come
politics and has little confi- hackers. Roughly two-thirds 10 Republicans show con- Views on election integ- after they tune into major
dence that votes in the 2020 also are highly concerned cerns about voter fraud, rity and security also divide news events, such as elec-
presidential election will be that foreign governments saying people voting who along racial lines. Roughly tion problems in the recent
counted accurately. He will interfere in 2020 by tam- are not eligible is a major two-thirds of black Ameri- Iowa caucuses or Mueller's
says he's been concerned pering with results or influ- problem in U.S. elections. cans say they have little investigation into Russian in-
about the way elections encing what Americans That compares with about confidence that votes in terference.
are conducted since 2000, think about political candi- a quarter of Democrats. 2020 will be counted ac- "I think there are threats to
when voter problems in dates. Meanwhile, Democrats are curately, compared with our system," Hasen says,
Florida delayed resolution By contrast, fewer than concerned about voter fewer than 4 in 10 white "but I think the question of
of the presidential election half of Republicans express suppression. Almost two- Americans or Hispanics say- voter confidence is sepa-
and a Supreme Court deci- significant concern about thirds say it is a major prob- ing the same. Wide shares rate from the reality."q