Our work on the 2020 U.S. elections.
Hamilton Toplines: October 10-16, 2020
The New York Post’s publication of salacious and unverified personal materials from a laptop allegedly owned by Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, was covered extensively by Russian state media, which focused both on the “explosive” contents of the story, as [...]
Bret Schafer in NY Daily News: The Hack-and-Leak Conundrum: There’s No Good Way to Combat the Latest Form of Dirty Trick
Partisanship has made it more difficult for social media platforms to react to hacked and leaked materials, Media and Digital Disinformation Fellow Bret Schafer argues in New York Daily News. Baked into Russia’s hybrid warfare strategy is the ide [...]
David Levine Discusses Election Integrity on BBC World News
Elections Integrity Fellow David Levine talked to BBC World News about election security and the upcoming presidential elections. [...]
Jessica Brandt Discusses Foreign Interference in the Election on Smart Talk
U.S. intelligence agencies say that Russia, China and probably Iran are trying to interfere with the 2020 presidential election. A recent poll found 59 % of Americans believe foreign governments are trying to interfere. One of the strategies used to [...]
David Levine Discusses Cybersecurity and the 2020 Election with The Fulcrum
ASD Elections Integrity Fellow David Levine discussed Microsoft's preemptive strike on the ransomware botnet TrickBot and what it means for election security in 2020 with The Fulcrum's Jeff Plungis. [...]
Reporting the Vote: Rachael Dean Wilson with CBS News’ Caitlin Conant and Jennifer De Pinto on Getting the Story Right
The media plays an essential role in every democracy; but in an election season marked with uncertainty on many different levels, the responsibility of the press corps to preserve the truth while getting the story right is even greater. Now armed wi [...]
David Levine on Posting Ballot Selfies on NBC New York
Posting photos of a marked ballot is illegal in 27 states, including New York and New Jersey. Elections Integrity Fellow David Levine spoke to NBC New York about the legality and security of "ballot selfies." [...]
Leaks, Lies, and Altered Tape: Russia’s Maturing Information Manipulation Playbook
Russia’s disinformation tactics, techniques, and procedures are evolving. Stakeholders of all types—journalists, regulators, and researchers—must see the full picture of Russian activity as it is changing to anticipate what might be to come. Intro [...]
October Surprise: Simulating a Foreign Interference Crisis on the Eve of the 2020 Election
Executive Summary The United States, like many other democracies, faces concerted and sophisticated operations aimed at disrupting, delegitimizing, and in some cases altering the outcomes of its elections. While foreign interference operations are [...]
Debating the Debates: How Russian, Chinese, and Iranian State-Backed Media Covered the U.S. First Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates
Overview On September 29, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden sparred in the first of three (now two) presidential debates. The event, which was labelled a “debacle” and a “total disaster” by the U.S. news media, unsurprisingl [...]
Securing the 2020 Presidential Election
From logistical challenges to disinformation campaigns and attacks undermining the integrity of the election process, the 2020 Presidential Election—set against the backdrop of a global pandemic—promises to be unlike any other U.S. election in histo [...]
Cyberattacks, Foreign Interference, and Digital Infrastructure: Conducting Secure Elections Amid a Pandemic
ASD’s Elections Integrity Fellow David Levine and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems’ Director for Europe and Eurasia Beata Martin-Rozumilowicz provide a guide to help election officials in the United States and Europe conduct secur [...]