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13th Nov 2020

Senior US voting officials say presidential election was “the most secure in American history”

Conor Heneghan

19 in 90

The National Association of State Election Directors in the US released a firm statement after another spate of disputed claims of election fraud from Donald Trump.

Last week’s US presidential election has been described as “the most secure in history” in a statement by the professional association for state election directors in all 50 states in the US.

The statement has followed a series of baseless claims about election fraud in a number of states by Donald Trump, who has refused to acknowledge the victory of President-elect Joe Biden since it was called at the weekend.

Prior to and since Biden’s victory, Trump has made a series of baseless claims about electoral fraud, primarily on Twitter, where those claims have been flagged as ‘disputed’ or contained a disclaimer to clarify that ‘official sources called this election differently’.

As recently as Thursday night, Trump claimed that “tens of thousands of votes” were stolen from him and given to Joe Biden as a result of the “horrible, inaccurate and anything but secure Dominion Voting System” used in several states.

Pouring more cold water on Trump’s claims, the 3 November election has been described as “the most secure in American history” in a statement by the non-partisan body responsible for administering elections in the US.

“The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history,” a statement by The National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) read.

“Right now, across the country, election officials are reviewing and double checking the entire election process prior to finalising the result.

“When states have close elections, many will recount ballots. All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary.

“This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors. There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.

“Other security measures like pre-election testing, state certification of voting equipment, and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s (EAC) certification of voting equipment help to build additional confidence in the voting systems used in 2020.

“While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too.

“When you have questions, turn to elections officials as trusted voices as they administer elections.”

Although counting is still continuing in the election, victory for Joe Biden appears to be growing more emphatic by the day, with the President-elect projected to win the key battleground state of Arizona, which would bring him to 290 electoral college votes, 20 more than the 270 required, with Trump having claimed 217.

Biden is also ahead in the popular vote by approximately 5.2 million votes (3.4%).

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