2 DHS Executive Committees Call 2020 Election the 'Most Secure in American History'
Two executive committees called the 2020 U.S. election the "most secure in American history" on Thursday, contradicting President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud and other voting irregularities.
The members of the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) Executive Committee, along with the members of the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinate Council (SCC), released the joint statement responding indirectly to Trump's claims. Both committees fall under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
"The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history," the statement reads. "Right now, across the country, election officials are reviewing and double checking the entire election process prior to finalizing the result.
"There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised."
While the statement does not name Trump explicitly, it seems to address the numerous claims made by the president and his associates before, during and after the election. Trump has alleged without substantial evidence that the Democratic Party tried to "steal" the election by way of widespread voter fraud and other irregularities.
"If you count the legal votes, I easily win," Trump said November 5. "This is a case where they're trying to steal an election. They're trying to rig an election, and we can't let that happen."
Trump tweeted Thursday morning in all caps, "REPORT: DOMINION DELETED 2.7 MILLION TRUMP VOTES NATIONWIDE. DATA ANALYSIS FINDS 221,000 PENNSYLVANIA VOTES SWITCHED FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP TO BIDEN. 941,000 TRUMP VOTES DELETED. STATES USING DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS SWITCHED 435,000 VOTES FROM TRUMP TO BIDEN," citing One America News Network (OAN).
But there has yet to be any evidence to show widespread voter fraud caused by Dominion Voting Systems, which is used in 28 states across the U.S., or any system, for that matter.
Newsweek contacted the Trump campaign for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.
The Associated Press and other national media outlets called the election on Saturday for Trump's Democratic opponent Joe Biden, who received 290 electoral votes in addition to leading the president by more than 5 million popular votes.
But Trump hasn't yet conceded, and his re-election campaign has instead filed multiple lawsuits in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan and Pennsylvania—all states in which the president has lost or appears to be losing.
The margin of votes separating Trump from Biden was extremely narrow in several states, presenting the possibility of a recount.
"When states have close elections, many will recount ballots," the GCC/SCC statement reads. "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."
Georgia is the only state so far to announce such a measure, reviewing ballots by hand in all 159 counties. Officials with Georgia's secretary of state described the process as technically an audit and not a recount, though it would essentially have the same effect, the New York Times reported.
Counties are being told to audit every vote cast and tally a new result by midnight on November 18, just two days before the state's November 20 deadline to certify its results, according to the Times.
Georgia's first vote tally placed Biden ahead by more than 14,000 votes, and election observers do not anticipate a recount will alter the outcome, the Times reported.
