US: Despite threats, foreign hackers didn’t disrupt election
FILE - In this June 9, 2020, file photo, election workers process mail-in ballots during a nearly all-mail primary election in Las Vegas. A surge of absentee ballots during last year's election led to concerns that a larger percentage of mailed ballots could be rejected for arriving past the deadline, not having a voter's signature or some other reason. An analysis by The Associated Press shows that didn't happen.[AP Photo/John Locher, File]
U.S. officials found no evidence that foreign actors changed votes or otherwise disrupted the voting process in last November’s presidential election, according to government reports Tuesday affirming the integrity of the contest won by President Joe Biden.
But U.S. officials say they did track a “broader array” of foreign countries who took steps to influence the election than in past cycles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized influence operations aimed at harming Biden’s candidacy and supporting Republican Donald Trump, the incumbent, but Russian hackers did not make persistent efforts to break into election infrastructure, unlike past elections, according to a report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Iran, for its part, conducted a covert influence campaign aimed at undermining Trump’s reelection prospects, according to the intelligence report, while China did not meddle on either side in a likely reflection of its desire for a stable relationship with the U.S.