MONITORING (SW) – The two major United States political parties are expressing concern about “election integrity” ahead of November’s vote, focusing on the procedures for registering to vote; casting, counting and certifying votes; and adequately addressing any serious issues that arise.
Democrats accuse Republicans of limiting access to polling stations and plotting to hamper the certification of the results. Republicans suspect Democratic Party operatives of tampering with absentee ballots, manipulating voting machines and keeping ineligible voters on the rolls.
The Republican nominee for a third consecutive presidential election, former President Donald Trump, is facing criminal charges over his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss. He continues to assert he was not really defeated because it was a “rigged election.”
The Democratic Party’s nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, accuses Trump of undermining confidence in elections, while she pledges to uphold fundamental American principles “from the rule of law to free and fair elections to the peaceful transfer of power,” as she phrased it during her acceptance speech at last month’s party convention in Chicago.
Federal agencies have been conducting tabletop exercises, mindful of January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters, unhappy with the president’s defeat, stormed the U.S. Capitol.
The most recent drill included state and local election officials along with federal agencies such as the FBI, the Department of Defense, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Agency and the U.S. Cyber Command, as well as postal investigators.
“We’ll have to see what happens, what the outcome of the election is, how people feel about it, what protests [there are] and whether that protest crosses the line into violence, and my hope is that it doesn’t,” league CEO Celina Stewart told VOA.
So far this year, the system has held up well, said Ben Hovland, chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, an independent federal agency established in 2002 to help facilitate the administration of elections.
“We’ve had a lot of primaries already, both the presidential primaries this year, the state primaries. And, so, election officials have had a lot of practice already this season, and I think we’re in good shape going into November,” Hovland told VOA.
The Election Assistance Commission and Federal Election Commission are the only U.S. government agencies devoted solely to campaigns and elections. The Justice Department administers and enforces some elections statutes. Most everything else is under the jurisdiction of the individual states and territories. They are tasked with a chain of responsibilities ranging from registering voters prior to elections to certifying the tallies after the elections.
