As we write this, the ‘news that has made us furious’ for the last three years has exploded. Today, while still rage-inciting, the news is almost exclusively about hope that the pestilential president will be purged. But even as we click our news feeds like a lab rat pushing a cocaine drip, other events are obstinately continuing. They’re just being ignored.
This month’s amalgamation of acrimony focuses on only one of those ignored issues… US election security. The unanimous opinion of the US intelligence community is that foreign powers interfered with the 2016 election. Intelligence also shows they’re lining up to do the same in 2020, and the first primaries of 2020 are a little over 3 months away. Yet nothing is being done. Even the inadequate ‘solutions’ that have been proposed, mere ineffectual twitches in the direction of security, have been shut down. Why? Could be treason (though probably not), could be naked political self-interest (more likely), could be old-fashioned cowardice, could be there’s no real, effective action to take. But regardless of the reasons, action on Election Security doesn’t drown out the chirping of crickets as time ticks away.
We’ll ignore Trump’s blatherings on illegal voting because it’s not real, but we’ll also ignore the very real domestic election rigging… gerrymandering, voter disenfranchisement, voter purging, vote machine manipulation, and all the rest. These are just as big a threat to election integrity as the foreign influence, perhaps bigger, but let’s just talk about them foreigners this time…
What happened in 2016
A Timeline Showing the Full Scale of Russia’s Unprecedented Interference in the 2016 Election, and Its Aftermath, Yourish, Buchanan, and Watkins in the New York Times, Sep 2018
2016 Presidential Campaign Hacking Fast Facts, CNN Library, May 2019
The Mueller Report, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Mar 2019
Mueller’s Report Shows All The Ways Russia Interfered In 2016 Presidential Election, Miles Parks on NPR, Apr 2019
Trump dissolves voter fraud commission; adviser says it went ‘off the rails’, Landers, Watkins, Liptak on CNN, Jan 2018
Russia, Trump, and the 2016 U.S. Election, ‘backgrounder’ by Jonathan Masters at Council on Foreign Relations, Feb 2018
How Russia Helped Swing the Election for Trump, Jane Mayer in The New Yorker, Sep 2018
‘Putin Has Won’: Mueller Report Details the Ways Russia Interfered in the 2016 Election, Dustin Volz and Alan Cullison in the Wall Street Journal, Apr 2019
How Much Did Russian Interference Affect The 2016 Election? Nate Silver on FiveThirtyEight, Feb 2018
What we know about Russia’s interference in the US election, Luke Harding in The Guardian, Dec 2016
Russia Targeted Election Systems in All 50 States, Report Finds, David Sanger and Catie Edmondson in New York Times, Jul 2019
What’s on tap for 2020
Why November 4, 2020 could be a very bad day, Chris Cillizza on CNN, Aug 2019
Our elections are still vulnerable to Russian interference, Max Boot and Max Bergmann in Washington Post, Mar 2019
What You Need To Know About Foreign Interference And The 2020 Election, Philip Ewing on NPR, Sep 2019
U.S. attorney warns of possible Russian interference in 2020 elections, Rachel Weiner in Washington Post, Sep 209
In Push for 2020 Election Security, Top Official Was Warned: Don’t Tell Trump, Schmitt, Sanger, and Haberman in New York Times, Apr 2019
How Disinformation Could Sway The 2020 Election, CrooksAndLiars, Sep 2019
Russian interference, 2020, Steve LeVine on Axios, Aug 2019
Trump casts doubt on Russian interference in 2020 election, Ken Dilanian on NBC News, Aug 2019
Russia Is Going to Up Its Game for the 2020 Elections, Matt Laslo on Wired, Jul 2019
Russian hackers likely to target Florida again in 2020 election, experts warn, Peter Stone in The Guardian, Aug 2019
Here’s What Foreign Interference Will Look Like in 2020, Uri Friedman in The Atlantic, Aug 2019
What can be done
How to Stop Russia From Attacking and Influencing the 2020 Election, David Corn in Mother Jones, Sep 2019
Secure Our Vote, website
Russia’s Prepared to Interfere in 2020. Will the U.S. Be Ready? Stanley McChrystal and David Eichenbaum in Politico, Jul 2019
Securing American Elections From Foreign Interference, website, Brennan Center for Justice
How to Prevent the Next Election Disaster, Joshua Geltzer and Jake Sullivan on Politico, Jan 2019
Election Security, website, Homeland Security
US sets up new task force to fight Russian election interference, Laura Hautala on CNet, Aug 2019
F.B.I. Warns of Russian Interference in 2020 Race and Boosts Counterintelligence Operations, Julian Barnes and Adam Goldman in New York Times, Apr 2019
What hasn’t been done
Federal Election Commission To Effectively Shut Down. Now What? Dave Levinthal, Center for Public Integrity
It’s going to be a crisis’: Turning out the lights at the undermanned FEC, Dartunorro Clark on NBC News, Aug 2019
C.I.A. Informant Extracted From Russia Had Sent Secrets to U.S. for Decades, Barnes, Goldman, and Sanger on NBC News, Sep 2019
GOP’s inaction on Russian interference makes virtual caucuses impossible for 2020, Denis McDonough on CNN Opinion, Aug 2019
Republicans Are Doing a Good Job Blocking Efforts to Fight Russian Meddling in 2020, Ryan Bort in Rolling Stone, Jul 2019
Republicans are still blocking election security bills after Mueller’s testimony, Li Zhou on Vox, Jul 2019
The U.S. still hasn’t done nearly enough to stop election interference, Washington Post editorial board, Jun 2019
AP Explains: Congress’ fight over election security bills, Mary Clare Jalonick on AP, Aug 2019
Congress is running out of time to secure the 2020 elections, Makena Kelly on The Verge, Jul 2019
Mueller Feared Election Tampering Is ‘New Normal,’ GOP Helps Ensure It Is, Matt Stieb on New York Intelligencer, Jul 2019
Republicans block $250 million to beef up election security, Christal Hayes on USA Today, Aug 2018
Divided Congress can’t agree on fix for ‘dangerous’ Russian election meddling, Wise, Lowry, and Clark at McClatchy, Apr 2019
McConnell bristles at ‘hyperventilating hacks’ criticizing his blocking of election security legislation, Katherine Tully-McManus on Roll Call, Jul 2019
New Election Security Bills Face a One-Man Roadblock: Mitch McConnell, Nicholas Fandos at New York Times, Jun 2019
