Election Protection

Election Protection discovered Facebook and Twitter posts doxxing south Florida election officials. The posts target Brenda Snipes, the Supervisor of Elections of Broward County, and Susan Bucher, the Supervisor of Elections of Palm Beach County. Both are women of color. The posts disclose the officials’ names, addresses, phone numbers, photos, and photos of their homes. Election Protection immediately reported this content to Facebook and Twitter, who promptly removed it from their sites. Election Protection also notified Ms. Snipes and Ms. Bucher directly and reported this incident to the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice.

We call on all Americans to repudiate this political hate in each and every conversation with family, friend, and colleagues. We cannot ignore the racist and intolerant invective we see in politics, repeated by some news commentators, and flourishing online.  Our own president needs to repudiate this hate speech and own his own very significant contributions to setting the tone that makes people think it is okay to vilify and attack politicians, judges, reporters and others who they don’t agree with.

It was almost two years ago that we first became aware of attacks on our election system by Russia. As we approach 2018, Americans understandably want to know about cybersecurity, what is being done to strengthen the integrity of our elections. Today, a congressional briefing with leading experts makes these complex issues accessible and understandable. A link to a Facebook Live recording is available for you to watch and share with others.

As a bipartisan collection of senators reaffirms the continuing threat of Russian interference in our elections, the president insists the man behind those attacks is "fine."

Damon Effingham, acting director of the government watchdog group Common Cause, described the incident as "a catastrophic failure" of access to voting. "For decades, the MVA has been one of the main avenues for Americans to register to vote," Effingham said in a statement. "Tonight's news represents a catastrophic failure by the MVA in their duty to ensure every eligible Marylander has access to their right to vote." Effingham pointed out that the provisional ballots won't be counted until the second Wednesday after Tuesday's primary.