FBI Investigates Robocalls Trying to Suppress Votes Across U.S.
Written by SOURCE on November 3, 2020
The FBI is looking into robocalls made to citizens across the country trying to suppress their votes, a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security told Reuters on Tuesday.
Officials in Michigan have revealed that voters in Flint—one of the areas in the state that typically votes Democrat—have been receiving automated calls telling them to go to the polls a day after the election to avoid long lines.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer claimed officials would “work quickly to stamp out misinformation.”
“Obviously this is FALSE and an effort to suppress the vote,” Michigan’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, tweeted after disclosing that she has also received these reports. “No long lines and today is the last day to vote. Don’t believe the lies.”
The people of Michigan aren’t the only ones to be victimized by these calls. Citizens in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio, and other states have also received calls telling them similar information. As a result, the FBI has stepped in to help the respective state authorities investigate these voter suppression tactics.
These calls come as the Trump administration takes precaution for possible foreign interference in the elections. Per the Daily Beast, Director of the Office of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe announced in late October that his office and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) discovered attempts from Russia and Iran to compromise the election. Both federal and state officials warn voters not to listen to this false information and to hit the polls as previously scheduled.
