The United States is again thinking about the fight against election interference: the House of Representatives of the Congress passed a bill to reform some provisions of the American electoral system. Writes about this The Hill.
The publication explains that the bill obliges state governments to allocate additional resources to counter external threats related to elections. In addition, US residents should be offered the opportunity to vote by mail or early – 15 days before the start of the election. The authors of the document also propose to create independent commissions to “cut” electoral districts, and to make election day a day off for federal employees.
Supporters of the initiative believe this is an important step in restoring faith in the electoral system. Now the bill will be considered by the Senate. The Hill notes that it is unlikely that he will be accepted in the upper house, since this already happened two years ago.
The issue of combating potential interference by other countries in American elections has been raised on several occasions. In mid-January, the director of US National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, said China was actively interfering in the November 2020 elections. And the director of the US National Center for Counterintelligence and Security, William Evanina, argued that not only China, but also Russia and Iran tried to influence the outcome of the vote. At the same time, he noted that he himself was not personally a witness, victim or participant in any attempts to interfere.
