The US election was largely trouble-free, but a flood of misinformation raises future concerns

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The US election was largely trouble-free, but a flood of misinformation raises future concerns

2024-11-09 00:38 Last Updated At：00:40

WASHINGTON (AP) — A relatively trouble-free presidential election was good news for those working to restore faith in the system. Less encouraging was a flood of misinformation that sought to undermine trust in voting and sow chaos, something experts say is likely to get worse in the years ahead.

The most significant test for officials on Election Day was a series of bomb threats reported in five battleground states, some of which forced polling places to be evacuated temporarily. The day otherwise played out like most other election days, with only routine problems, and former President Donald Trump's commanding lead allowed the presidential race to be called early Wednesday morning.

“High turnout and wide margins – that’s all we ever hope for,” said Zach Manifold, the elections supervisor in Gwinnett County, Georgia.

The more than 84 million people who voted early, either in person or by mail, eased the crush on Tuesday and provided election workers with more flexibility to respond to unexpected problems.

“Yesterday and the election season was a wonderful example of how early voting is so important to maintain security, and how it actually minimized and mitigated some of the threats that we saw,” David Becker, a former U.S. Justice Department attorney who leads the Center for Election Innovation and Research, said the day after Election Day.

When the bomb threats came in – starting early in the day in the Atlanta area and then spreading to Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — election officials were prepared. They had spent the better part of the year meeting with local law enforcement, training through various scenarios and updating their emergency plans.

"I saw professionals all across the country saying, ‘OK, here’s what we’re going to do,'” said Carolina Lopez, a former local election official who leads the Partnership for Large Election Jurisdictions.

The FBI said the threats appeared to originate from Russian email domains, though federal cybersecurity officials cautioned the culprits were not necessarily Russian.

Interference from Russia and other foreign adversaries was a constant theme running through election season.

Russia, Iran and China steadily increased their use of English-language disinformation in the months leading up to Election Day, Their motives varied, but their tactics were similar: using networks of bogus social media accounts and websites to spread content designed to erode confidence in election security and American democracy.

Russia was particularly audacious, creating and spreading staged videos that aimed to smear Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The Kremlin’s efforts this year also involved paying a Tennessee media company $10 million to produce pro-Russian content.

“Russia clearly interfered in this election,” said Brian Taylor, a political science professor and Russia expert at Syracuse University. He said Russia’s objectives were to “help Trump and to sow chaos more generally — although there is no evidence that their activities changed the outcome.”

Experts say America’s adversaries are playing a long game, using disinformation to undermine Americans' confidence in their own country and gradually diminish U.S. power. Russia, in particular, preferred Trump as a candidate because he is seen as less likely to support assistance for Ukraine, said Emerson Brooking, resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, which tracks foreign disinformation.

“None of this goes away after Election Day,” Brooking said. “What are Russia’s goals? It wasn’t to elect President Trump, but to steer the United States in a particular direction. Trump’s election is one step in that process.”

Russia, Iran and China have rejected allegations they sought to meddle with the U.S. election.

Steve Simon, president of the National Association of Secretaries of State, praised the quick work done by federal agencies to call out the disinformation. He said federal officials had within a day identified Russia as being behind a viral video purporting to show voter fraud in Georgia.

“The nature of their response and the timeliness of their response really helped confront and limit the influence of those messages,” said Simon, who serves as Minnesota’s top state election official.

Kim Wyman, a former official with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the agency had proven its value this year given the meddling by other countries.

“What was certainly demonstrated in this election is that foreign adversaries have not stopped trying to have an impact in U.S. elections, and we anticipate that will continue in the future,” said Wyman, who also served as Washington’s secretary of state.

She said she'd like the Republican-controlled Congress to continue supporting CISA and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, which works with states to improve election operations and certifies voting systems.

Voting rights groups said they hoped an election with no major problems would temper talk about making widespread changes to voting procedures. During the campaign, Trump and his allies had spoken of a desire for a single day of voting, pushing false claims of widespread voter fraud with mail ballots. It's not clear whether that talk will continue, given that Republicans flocked to early voting this year after Trump encouraged it.

The president-elect has been spreading election lies for years related to his re-election loss in 2020. He repeatedly questioned voting procedures and accused Democrats of cheating before and during Election Day, but stopped making those claims once he took the lead.

“I’m hopeful that we’ll keep the things in place that work for the vast majorities of voters,” said Jay Young, senior director of voting and democracy with Common Cause.

Young said he would be concerned about any effort to restrict voting based on false claims, such as the one peddled by Republicans this year that large numbers of noncitizens were voting. Republicans in Congress have been pushing legislation on the issue.

“There is a lot of noise out there that is not based in fact,” Young said. “It’s my job, frankly, to make sure my organization and the groups that we are part of, that we can’t let someone try to seize on a moment in time to achieve a political end.”

Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed to this report.

Yoon replaces the defense minister as South Korea's parliament moves to vote on their impeachments

2024-12-05 20:08 Last Updated At：20:10

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president replaced his defense minister Thursday as opposition parties moved to impeach both men over the stunning-but-brief imposition of martial law that brought armed troops into Seoul streets.

The Democratic Party and other small opposition parties submitted a joint motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday over his martial law declaration the previous night. Martial law lasted about six hours, as the National Assembly quickly voted to overrule the president, forcing his Cabinet to lift it before daybreak Wednesday.

Jo Seoung-lae, spokesperson of the Democratic Party, said it will push for a National Assembly vote on Yoon's impeachment motion on Saturday, calling his martial law declaration an “unconstitutional, illegal rebellion or coup.”

On Thursday, Yoon’s office said he decided to replace Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun with Choi Byung Hyuk, a retired general who is South Korea’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Yoon’s office didn’t provide any further comments by him. He hasn’t appeared in public since his televised announcement that martial law was lifted.

The opposition parties earlier submitted a motion to impeach Kim, alleging he recommended that Yoon impose martial law. Kim had offered to resign and apologized for causing disruption and concern to the public. Kim said that “all troops who performed duties related to martial law were acting on my instructions, and all responsibility lies with me,” according to the Defense Ministry.

During a parliamentary hearing Thursday, Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho said the decision to deploy troops at the National Assembly came from Kim Yong Hyun. Army chief of staff Park An-su, who served as head of the martial law command, said he didn't know how the troops were sent to parliament.

Kim Seon Ho also said he wasn’t informed about Yoon’s decision to impose martial law until the announcement was reported by the media. He said he didn’t know who wrote the military proclamation announced after Yoon’s martial law declaration, which stated that the activities of political parties would be suspended. Park said he proposed a legal review of the proclamation to Kim Yong Hyun, and Kim said a review had been completed.

“I had fundamentally opposed the deployment of troops over this martial law and I expressed a negative opinion about it,” Kim Seon Ho said. “I would like to apologize to our citizens once again, and, on a personal level, I feel devastated.”

Prosecutors in Seoul said they imposed an overseas travel ban on Kim Yong Hyun on Thursday.

Separately, opposition parties on Thursday voted to impeach Choe Jae-hae, chairman of South Korea's auditing board, and three senior public prosecutors. The four will be suspended until the Constitutional Court rules whether to remove them from office. Members of Yoon's governing People Power Party boycotted the votes, leaving the totals far over the threshold to impeach them.

Choe has been accused of softening a review of Yoon’s 2022 decision to move the presidential office from a downtown palace to the Defense Ministry compound, which critics saw as inexplicable waste of money. The prosecutors face accusations that they watered down an investigation into suspected stock price manipulation involving Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee.

During his martial law announcement, Yoon described the Democratic Party’s continued attempts to impeach senior officials and prosecutors as “anti-state activities” and “paralyzing the government.”

The PPP said Thursday it has decided to oppose the motion to impeach Yoon. Observers say it could boycott a floor vote or cast ballots against the motion.

Impeaching the president would require support from two-thirds of the National Assembly, or 200 of its 300 members. The opposition parties together have 192 seats. Parliament's rejection of martial law passed unanimously Wednesday with support from 18 PPP lawmakers who belong to an anti-Yoon faction in the party.

But PPP leader Han Dong-hun, head of the anti-Yoon faction, told reporters Thursday he would work to defeat the impeachment motion even though he criticized Yoon’s declaration as “unconstitutional.” Han said there is a need to “prevent damage to citizens and supporters caused by unprepared chaos.”

Experts say PPP factions could unite to avoid what happened after the 2016 impeachment of conservative President Park Geun-hye with the votes of some lawmakers in her own party. After she was removed from office, the liberals easily won the presidency in a by-election as conservatives remained in disarray. She went to prison but was eventually pardoned.

If Yoon is impeached, he would be suspended until the Constitutional Court rules on whether to remove him from office or restore his presidential power. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo would take over presidential responsibilities.

The impeachment motion against Yoon says he failed to meet the constitutional requirement that martial law should only be considered in wartime or a comparable severe crisis. It alleges he attempted a “self-coup” by mobilizing the military and that suspending political party activities and deploying troops to seal the National Assembly amounted to rebellion.

Thousands of protesters marched in Seoul's streets Wednesday, carrying candles and signs calling for Yoon to step down, and another large anti-government gathering was expected Thursday evening.

Reflecting the country’s deeply polarized politics, hundreds of Yoon’s conservative supporters rallied in downtown Seoul on Thursday afternoon, holding signs criticizing Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, seen as a potential successor to Yoon despite facing trials over various corruption allegations.

With Yoon’s declaration sparking concerns about South Korea’s democratic status, officials have been trying to mitigate backlash.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jaewoong said the ministry sent diplomatic notes to foreign missions emphasizing that martial law was lifted through democratic procedures and that travel advisories need not change, as public safety remains stable.

When asked about the U.S. Embassy in Seoul's move this week to cancel routine consular operations, including visa and passport interviews, based on its assessment that South Korea’s “situation remains fluid,” Lee said Seoul was maintaining “necessary communication” with the Americans. The U.S. Embassy later on Thursday said those services were resumed.

Yoon’s martial law declaration came hours after his summit with Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov, who traveled to Seoul on an official visit. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson reportedly canceled a plan to visit South Korea this week.

“We are continuously trying to ensure a seamless and consistent implementation of our ministry’s diplomatic policies,” Lee said.

The US election was largely trouble-free, but a flood of misinformation raises future concerns

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The US election was largely trouble-free, but a flood of misinformation raises future concerns

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Yoon replaces the defense minister as South Korea's parliament moves to vote on their impeachments

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