International election observers with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) found no evidence of foreign interference during the US midterms after two years of fear mongering that Russia would try to undermine American democracy like they allegedly did in 2016
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th November, 2018) International election observers with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) found no evidence of foreign interference during the US midterms after two years of fear mongering that Russia would try to undermine American democracy like they allegedly did in 2016.
The United States has repeatedly accused Russia of interfering in the 2016 presidential election without providing substantive proof while politicians and security officials have claimed Moscow would interfere in the 2018 elections through social media disinformation campaigns. Moscow has denied the allegations as unfounded and absurd attempts to fuel anti-Russian sentiment.
On Tuesday, the international observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) said they have found no indication of any foreign meddling in the 2018 midterms upon releasing a final statement and holding a press conference in Washington DC.
"We did not see any evidence of that," OSCE special coordinator George Tsereteli told reporters in Washington on Wednesday when asked whether they saw any signs of foreign meddling in the midterm elections.
Tsereteli told Sputnik that the machinery operated well and they did not see any signs that any polling stations or systems had been hacked.
"But it is one side. Another side of foreign interference is social media - Facebook, Twitter, other social media outlets, and that we don't know what happened," Tsereteli added. "It might come after analytical work and after the work of intelligence services, but at this moment we did not have any verified case of any type of interference."
Head of the OSCE PA delegation Isabel Santos also told Sputnik that up until now, the observers did not see any evidence of foreign interference in the elections.
However, Santos said authorities around the world need to be ready to respond and cooperate on issues of election security.
"Cyber space is an open space without borders and threats can come from everywhere and even from [a] single citizen," Santos said. "We must be prepared to invest in cybersecurity - invest in technical condition and invest in dialogue between countries to defend ourselves."
Trump said in a press briefing on Wednesday that his administration plans to issue a full report on any interference by foreign countries in the midterm elections.
De Zulueta went on to say that the observers did not see much coverage about foreign interference during their observation period from October 7 through November 6.
"It was not a subject which was very much discussed except for at the time of an indictment which was issued against the treasurer of the internet Research Agency by a prosecutor. That episode was noted, but it did not lead to much discussion. That is what our observation is, it is not a theme which occupied much attention," she noted.
Voter suppression was a major issue in the run-up to election day across several US states including Georgia, where a Federal had to halt government officials from trashing some 3,000 early ballots cast predominately by minorities.
The OSCE pointed out in a statement that although voter registration has minimum conditions set by federal law and some states boosted efforts to facilitate it, some 50 million eligible citizens were not registered for these elections, for various reasons.
The voting rules in some US states have created obstacles for minority groups particularly for low-income voters, racial and linguistic minorities and Native Americans, to exercise their right to vote, the observers found.
"The fundamental right to suffrage was undermined in places by the disenfranchisement of some groups and the lack of full representation in Congress," the observers said in a press release.
In addition, the OSCE said US campaign finance rules do not guarantee full transparency.
International observers overseeing US midterm elections were faced with restrictions in 12 states due to state's regulations.
The international observers found the US midterm elections this year were highly competitive with contestants were able to freely campaign and media presented a wide range of views and information, according to the OSCE statement.
Candidates in the US midterm elections had equal access to media coverage ahead of the vote, but some of the ads that they played repeatedly were hostile, Head of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) limited election observation mission Tana de Zulueta told Sputnik.
De Zulueta said the negativity was mostly confined to paid advertisements, though some news networks also made negative statements during the campaign.
"These statements reflected with political sympathies of the news outlets so we had one large cable company very critical of the president and one other very supportive and very critical of the opposition," she said.
De Zulueta pointed out that cable channels were polarizing, and quite strongly partisan.
She noted that although public service channels were balanced in their coverage, they were limited in their reach, with radio increasingly popular.
The OSCE noted that there was an overall respect for fundamental freedoms in a campaign although intolerant rhetoric included several statements with xenophobic and anti-Semitic connotations.
"Concerns were raised regarding online disinformation from both domestic and foreign sources, as well as regarding the transparency of online advertising," it added.
US federal and state authorities took extensive efforts to secure voting technologies in the 2018 midterm congressional elections in order to defend against cyber threats, according to the OSCE's final statement.
"The use of new voting technologies (NVT) is extensive and varies considerably across the country, and federal and state authorities launched a number of robust initiatives to help secure election technologies, including from cyber-threats," the OSCE said in the release on Wednesday.
The OSCE pointed out that voting machines without a voter-verified paper trail were used in 15 US states.
However, more investment is needed to replace aging voting equipment and maintain security, the OSCE added.
Tsereteli noted that the mission leadership would go to the State Department and all the governmental agencies to discuss their findings and make recommendations on future midterm elections.
De Zulueta noted that 18 teams of observers are currently deployed in the United States and will stay in the country for one more week in order to finalize their observation of the count, consolidation of results, and any complaints about the process.
The United States held its midterms on Tuesday. According to the latest results, Democrats so far have a 222-196 lead in the lower house of Congress - 218 seats were needed to secure a majority. Republicans will continue to be in control of the Senate after retaining their majority.
