WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Federal election officials said this year, the election is running relatively smoothly for the 160 million Americans expected to vote.
“Whatever issues that have come up across the spectrum, election officials have plans in place and have prepared for that,” said U.S. Election Assistance Commission Chairman Benjamin Hovland.
Local election officials have reported some hiccups. A county in Pennsylvania reported software malfunctions, but expected every vote would count. Cities in Missouri reported flooding and power outages. Hovland said these types of issues happen every election cycle and he doesn’t expect they’ll change the result.
“By and large, everything we’ve seen so far this morning will likely not have any significant impact,” Hovland said.
Across the country, election workers have also dealt with threats of violence. At the U.S. Capitol, police arrested a man they say had a torch and a flare gun.
The FBI also reported bomb threats in several states. Investigators said the threats are not credible. The FBI said they likely came from Russia.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned foreign adversaries are trying harder to influence our elections this year. Federal officials said those include Russia and Iran.
“It is a greater scope and scale of foreign influence operations we have seen in 2024 than in prior cycles,” said Cait Conley from CISA.
Former President Donald Trump, who claimed the election in 2020 was rigged, said, so far this year, he thinks the election has been fair.
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