Zimbabwe: Tensions rise amid vote rigging fears | The Guardian

Tensions are rising in Zimbabwe as opposition fears intensify that the election count will be rigged, monitors warn of possible violence if the results are contested and authorities brace for protests. Millions of people voted peacefully on Monday in the first election since the army removed Robert Mugabe from power last year. Long queues of voters formed outside polling stations and turnout was recorded at 75%. The opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, said early on Tuesday that he was “winning resoundingly”, a claim repeated by senior officials over the course of the day. His supporters gathered at their party’s headquarters in the capital during the afternoon, celebrating victory despite the lack of official results.

National: Facebook Identifies an Active Political Influence Campaign Using Fake Accounts | The New York Times

Facebook said on Tuesday that it had identified a political influence campaign that was potentially built to disrupt the midterm elections, with the company detecting and removing 32 pages and fake accounts that had engaged in activity around divisive social issues. The company did not definitively link the campaign to Russia. But Facebook officials said some of the tools and techniques used by the accounts were similar to those used by the Internet Research Agency, the Kremlin-linked group that was at the center of an indictment this year alleging interference in the 2016 presidential election. Facebook said it had discovered coordinated activity around issues like a sequel to last year’s deadly “Unite the Right” white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va. Activity was also detected around #AbolishICE, a left-wing campaign on social media that seeks to end the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

National: Whoever Is Trying to Hack America’s Elections Is Getting Smarter | Vanity Fair

Earlier this month, when Facebook executives were asked whether the company had detected any sign of foreign interference in the rapidly approaching 2018 midterm elections, the company hedged. “We know that Russians and other bad actors are going to continue to try to abuse our platform,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, told reporters on a call. “We are continually looking for that type of activity, and as and when we find things, which we think is inevitable, we’ll notify law enforcement, and where we can, the public.” As it turns out, Facebook was already well on its way to identifying a new threat. On Tuesday, the company announced it had detected a campaign to influence November elections by targeting divisive social issues, similar to the effort put forth by the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency in the run-up to the 2016 election. “We’re still in the very early stages of our investigation and don’t have all the facts—including who may be behind this,” the company wrote in a blog post. But, the post continued, “It’s clear that whoever set up these accounts went to much greater lengths to obscure their true identities than the Russian-based Internet Research Agency has in the past.”

National: The McCaskill Hack May Have Been Averted, But Cybersecurity Gaps Remain on Capitol Hill | Government Technology

That could mean the money Congress poured into improved training and a more robust information security posture for staff is working. But the legislative branch is still playing catch up to get ahead of threats. McCaskill’s staff may have been better prepared than others on Capitol Hill. She has advocated improved information security fluency and, as the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, she has pushed for a more robust information security workforce. The House mandated information security training for all employees in early 2015. All staffers who have a House network username and password must complete annual training.

National: DHS launches a new cyber hub to coordinate against threats to US infrastructure | TechCrunch

Among the many things the current administration has been criticized for is its lack of a unified strategy to combat cyber threats, especially in light of ongoing election interference and psy ops perpetrated by Russia. The Department of Homeland Security is advancing the ball with the creation of the National Risk Management Center, intended on protecting critical infrastructure from attacks and subversion by online adversaries. The NRMC was announced today at a cyber summit in New York held by the agency, where DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen explained the purpose and justification for this new entity. Remarkably, she directly contradicted the ongoing soft-pedaling by the Executive of Russian operations targeting the country. “Let me be clear: Our intelligence community had it right. It was the Russians. It was directed from the highest levels. And we cannot and will not allow it to happen again,” she said.

National: The 2020 Census Is in Trouble | The Atlantic

Nobody will write songs about the census. Among the fabled pillars underpinning the country’s democracy, the great American head count is often relegated to a dusty corner. In the nine interstitial years between each tally, analysis and development of a more perfect instrument take place mostly hidden from public view. There have been only 22 U.S. censuses—Presidents Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson never administered one—but the rarity of the event has not assigned it a special blue-moon-like significance among the public. For most people, the census is a vague, decennial annoyance, nothing more. But the census is vital to the country’s functioning. It’s not just a count of all households or a measure of American characteristics. It’s also an augur of political, economic, and cultural forces—a predictor and an allocator of power. In times of social upheaval—between political parties, whites and nonwhites, urban and rural areas, economic elites and the working class—the census can function almost like an umpire. And today, when each of these intertwined conflicts is escalating, the incentive and ambition for working the ref are greater than they’ve ever been.

National: Pence says ‘Russia meddled’ in 2016 elections, explains security plans | CNBC

Vice President Mike Pence described several new initiatives meant to prevent cyberattacks against U.S. elections systems on Tuesday. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has formed a foreign influence task force, he said, aimed at investigating sources of nation-state backed election influence. DHS has launched the elections information sharing and analysis center, which includes participation from U.S. secretaries of state with the goal of sharing threat information to “help prevent attacks before they happen.” Pence said the moves would “elevate American security.”

Arkansas: Attorney general approves form of proposal to change legislative redistricting | Arkansas Blog

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge yesterday approved the form of a proposed constitutional amendment to change the way congressional and legislative districts are drawn every 10 years. This is a good idea, if far removed from reality at this moment. The proposal was submitted by Skip Cook on behalf of Arkansans for Governmental Reform. He’s been active in politics, particularly as a term limits advocate. He’s taking up here an idea that has had growing support around the U.S. — independent districting commissions.  They are meant to cure partisan gerrymandering and, in some places, have produced cohesive, geographically sensible district lines that have cut both ways in impact on partisan interests.

Michigan: Court: Michigan voters will decide redistricting proposal | Associated Press

Michigan voters this fall will get to decide whether to change how their state’s congressional and legislative districts are drawn, the state Supreme Court ruled late Tuesday. In a 4-3 decision, the justices rejected a lawsuit challenging an anti-gerrymandering ballot measure, meaning it will go to a statewide vote in November. The constitutional amendment, if approved, would entrust redistricting to an independent commission instead of the Legislature and governor. It is a bid to stop partisan gerrymandering, the process of a political party drawing electoral maps to maintain or expand its hold on power. Michigan Republicans controlled redistricting after the 2010 and 2000 censuses. They have nine of Michigan’s 14 U.S. House districts and hold 27-10 and 63-46 majorities in the state Senate and state House, respectively.

Vermont: Ahead of Primary, Officials Tighten Election Security | NECN

Primary day in Vermont is Aug. 14, with a host of races on the ballot — including Democrats making their pick for their gubernatorial candidate in November, and the incumbent Republican governor facing a challenge from within his own party. Behind the scenes, election officials say they are increasingly focused on securing the vote from hackers. Even in tiny Montpelier, so far from Washington, election meddling is on the mind of some voters, after near-daily headlines of Russia’s campaign to influence the 2016 elections. “Hopefully they have better things to do,” voter Bill Provost said of election hackers from Russia or elsewhere.

Wisconsin: Activists push Wisconsin to audit voting machines in advance of 2018 midterms | Daily Dot

As reports of Russian interference in the 2016 election (and continued potential interference in American election matters) keep bubbling up, Wisconsin, a key swing state, has learned its voting machines appear to be vulnerable to hacking. Five elections experts told the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism that the state’s voting systems are able to be hacked, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism reports. According to the report, our increasingly “modern” voting systems are subject to a variety of issues that can affect election outcomes. While outside hacking is one possibility, human error, dust bunnies on the machines’ optical scanners, and other issues are commonplace. A number of activists are pushing for more stringent election audits in order to ensure that votes are counted accurately and reflect voters’ choices.

Australia: Cyber security experts warn Australia not immune from election meddling via Facebook | ABC

Facebook’s latest move to shut down accounts involved in interference in the US democratic process has prompted concern about possible election meddling in Australia. A former cyber security expert with the US State Department today issued a stark warning to Australians: we are not immune to the threat. Black Elevation, Mindful Being and Resisters are the names of just a few Facebook pages that had thousands of followers Facebook said were possibly linked to Russia, and involved in co-ordinated, inauthentic behaviour.

Cambodia: Dissenting Voters Find Ways to Say ‘None of the Above’ | The New York Times

One Cambodian voter defaced his or her ballot with a lively reference to a dog’s anatomy. Others ticked every single box, or crossed out the entire ballot. Still others drew pictures of the sun, the symbol of the outlawed main opposition party. After Sunday’s general election, which was roundly condemned as a sham by Western governments and human rights groups, Cambodia is all but officially a one-party state. The Cambodian People’s Party of Hun Sen, the longtime prime minister, claims it captured every one of the 125 seats in Parliament. But the second-largest number of votes went to a surprising beneficiary: no one. Around 600,000 Cambodian voters, or 8.6 percent of the electorate, cast inadmissible ballots, according to the National Election Committee.

Comoros: President wins controversial vote extending his powers | AFP

Voters in Comoros overwhelmingly backed controversial constitutional reforms that would allow President Azali Assoumani to run for another term, an electoral official said Monday, following a referendum boycotted by the opposition. The Indian Ocean archipelago has a long history of instability and risks renewed unrest after Assoumani banned demonstrations and the opposition called Monday’s vote “illegal”. “I’ll give you the national results… ‘Yes,’ 172,240 votes, which is 92.74 percent. ‘No,’ 13,338 votes, which is 7.26 percent,” the president of the Comoros National Electoral Commission (CENI), Ahmed Mohamed Djaza, told a briefing in the capital Moroni. Turnout was 63.9 percent, he added.

Mali: Third candidate claims place in Mali election run-off | Reuters

Three candidates in Mali’s presidential election claimed on Tuesday to have made it into a two-candidate run-off vote, adding to confusion over a poll beset by claims of irregularities and armed attacks that prevented thousands from voting.  Candidates are forbidden by law to announce results before they are officially published and by 8 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Tuesday, there was no sign of the Ministry of Territorial Administration releasing any, which did little to calm tensions. Rival parties have given differing outlooks based on their own polling, raising the political heat in the mostly desert country, already under threat from ethnic and Islamist violence.

Zimbabwe: Rivals claim victory amid Zimbabwean election delays | The Telegraph

Zimbabwe’s government has warned candidates could be jailed for prematurely announcing election results after Nelson Chamisa’s opposition MDC Alliance claimed to have won the general election and suggested it would call supporters on to the streets if the official result favoured Emmerson Mnangagwa, the president. Mr Chamisa, a 40-year-old lawyer and preacher, said he was “winning resoundingly” as counting got under way and called on the country’s electoral commission to “perform their constitutional duty to officially announce the people’s election results”. But Zimbabwe’s electoral authorities had announced the results from just seven parliamentary constituencies by Tuesday evening, and made no comment on the outcome of the presidential race. Zimbabwean law forbids anyone other than the electoral commission from announcing results.

Zimbabwe: Tensions rise amid vote rigging fears | The Guardian

Tensions are rising in Zimbabwe as opposition fears intensify that the election count will be rigged, monitors warn of possible violence if the results are contested and authorities brace for protests. Millions of people voted peacefully on Monday in the first election since the army removed Robert Mugabe from power last year. Long queues of voters formed outside polling stations and turnout was recorded at 75%. The opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, said early on Tuesday that he was “winning resoundingly”, a claim repeated by senior officials over the course of the day. His supporters gathered at their party’s headquarters in the capital during the afternoon, celebrating victory despite the lack of official results.