Page 8A
ELECTION 2016
East Oregonian
FBI: Effort
made to lower
Clinton email
classiication
WASHINGTON (AP) —
A senior State Department
oficial asked the FBI last
year to help reduce the
classiication of an email
from
Hillary
Clinton’s
private server, according to
FBI investigative iles made
public Monday. It was to be
part of a bargain that would
have allowed the FBI to
deploy more agents in foreign
countries, according to the
iles.
It was not immediately
clear whether the State
Department
oficial
or
someone at the FBI irst raised
the prospect of a bargain over
the email’s classiication.
The bureau records, citing
an FBI oficial whose name
was censored, said Under-
secretary for Management
Patrick F. Kennedy sought
assistance in exchange for a
“quid pro quo.”
But the FBI said Monday
it was the now-retired FBI
oficial who irst asked
Kennedy about deploying
more agents overseas. The
State Department said the
same.
The
FBI
ultimately
rejected the idea, which
would have allowed the
State Department to archive
a message related to the
2012 attacks on the U.S.
diplomatic compound in
Benghazi, Libya, in the
basement of its Washington
headquarters “never to be
seen again,” according to the
FBI iles.
The email described
reports in November 2012 that
Libyan police were arresting
suspects in the attack. It had
been forwarded to Clinton’s
private email address by Jake
Sullivan, one of her top aides
and the department’s director
of policy planning, who was
using his government email
account.
Republicans seized on
the report as collusion within
the Obama administration
to protect Clinton, now the
Democratic
presidential
nominee.
“CORRUPTION
CONFIRMED: FBI conirms
State Dept. offered ‘quid pro
quo’ to cover up classiied
emails,” read a tweet from
Team Trump, retweeted by
the candidate.
Clinton spokesman Brian
Fallon said the campaign
had never been part of any
such discussion about email
classiications.
Kennedy was a close aide
to Clinton during her tenure
as the nation’s top diplomat
between 2009 and early 2013.
He had served in his position
since November 2007 under
President George W. Bush.
According to the FBI
records, a bureau oficial
said Kennedy “asked his
assistance in altering the
email’s classiication in
exchange for a ‘quid pro
quo,”’ and that in exchange,
“State would reciprocate by
allowing the FBI to place
more agents in countries
where they are presently
forbidden.”
“Although there was
never a quid pro quo, these
allegations were nonetheless
referred to the appropriate
oficials for review,” the FBI
said in a statement Monday.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
No evidence of ‘rigged’ U.S. elections
more than 9,000 election jurisdic-
tions and hundreds of thousands of
polling places.
That also holds true for any effort
by hackers to inluence this year’s
presidential election. Experts say
it’s unlikely a hacker could change
votes, but one might be able to
delete voters from registration iles,
triggering confusion and long lines
at the polls.
By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY
Associated Press
ATLANTA — Donald Trump
has repeatedly warned of a “rigged”
election, saying large-scale voter
fraud is happening in the U.S. and
suggesting it will affect the outcome
of this year’s presidential race. There
is no evidence that such widespread
fraud exists.
Trump’s comments have alarmed
voting rights experts and civil rights
groups, who say they threaten to
undermine faith in the nation’s elec-
tions. Meanwhile, House Speaker
Paul Ryan and other Republicans are
expressing conidence in the voting
systems, while state election ofi-
cials are saying they are committed
to conducting fair and impartial
elections.
It’s worth noting, too, that 29 of
the nation’s secretaries of state are
Republican.
Here’s a look at what Trump has
been saying, along with historical
data about voter fraud and what this
could mean for Election Day.
What Trump has said
In recent weeks, Trump has
repeatedly raised questions about
the integrity of the nation’s voting
systems and called for his supporters
to monitor polling places in “certain
areas” to guard against voter fraud.
He’s made the comments during
campaign stops in battleground
states such as Michigan and Penn-
sylvania, singling out Philadelphia
as a city to watch.
Recently, Trump sent a series
of tweets in which he called
Republican leaders “naive” for
dismissing his claims of widespread
voter fraud and saying the election
is being rigged “by the dishonest
and distorted media” for Democrat
Hillary Clinton.
Trump’s supporters appear to
share his concerns. A poll last month
by the Associated Press-NORC
Center for Public Affairs Research
found half of all those with a favor-
able opinion of Trump said they
have little to no conidence in the
integrity of the vote count.
What measures exist to
protect against fraud?
AP Photo/ Evan Vucci
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to the Re-
publican Hindu Coalition, Saturday in Edison, N.J.
Is voter fraud a
widespread problem?
No. While there have been
isolated cases of voter fraud in the
U.S., there is no evidence of it being
a widespread problem as Trump
suggests.
The type of fraud that Trump
appears to be talking about would
involve people casting ballots who
know they are not eligible to vote, as
well as people impersonating others
to cast ballots for their preferred
candidate. Experts say this would be
an ineficient way to rig an election,
given the fraud would have to be
conducted one voter at a time, and
would only be effective in places
where the race is close enough that
the outcome could be swayed.
Studies have shown voter imper-
sonation to be quite rare. In one study,
a Loyola Law School professor
found 31 instances involving allega-
tions of voter impersonation out of
1 billion votes cast in U.S. elections
between 2000 and 2014. Another
study by the Brennan Center for
Justice at New York University
Law School found many reports of
people voting twice or ballots being
cast on behalf of dead people were
largely the result of clerical errors
that suggested wrongdoing when
none had occurred.
“Voter fraud is so incredibly rare
that it has no impact on the integrity
of our elections,” said Wendy Weiser,
head of the democracy program at
the Brennan Center. “You are more
likely to be struck by lightning, more
likely to see a UFO, than to be a
victim of voter fraud.”
In Philadelphia on Monday,
Republican election commissioner
Al Schmidt dismissed the idea that
election fraud could take place in the
nation’s ifth-largest city. “The real
threat to the integrity of elections is
irresponsible accusations that under-
mine conidence in the electoral
process,” he said.
State election oficials have
several measures in place to protect
the integrity of their voting systems,
and both political parties have a
vested interest in making sure the
outcome is fair.
Voting machines are not
connected to the internet, and the
vast majority of ballots will be cast
on systems that allow for a paper
record to verify electronic results.
The process of counting the votes
is not done on systems connected to
the internet and tabulation systems
are not connected to a single
network, according to the National
Association of Secretaries of State.
As in past presidential elections,
individual campaigns, political
parties and special interest and civil
rights groups will have operations
designed to assist voters and monitor
for any problems at the polls.
What is election fraud?
Does voter ID combat
voter fraud?
Other types of fraud are possible,
such as voting machines being inten-
tionally manipulated to report false
results. So-called “ballot stufing”
would be considered election fraud,
rather than voter fraud, because it
would be orchestrated by someone
involved in administering the elec-
tion or someone who has gained
access to the election administration
system.
Experts say federal elections
would be much more dificult to
inluence this way because of the
broad, decentralized nature of the
nation’s voting systems. There are
There have been efforts in recent
years, largely in Republican-led
states, to pass laws requiring voters
to show photo identiication at the
polls. Supporters say such laws are
needed to combat voter fraud, while
critics argue the laws disproportion-
ately affect minorities and the poor
who may face challenges obtaining
a government-issued photo ID.
Courts have recently agreed. In
striking down parts of a voter ID
law in North Carolina this year, a
federal appeals court judge wrote
they “target African Americans with
almost surgical precision.”
State battles are hot; election isn’t just about White House
By DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press
JEFFERSON
CITY,
Mo. — Years of losses have
left Democrats at historic
lows in state legislatures.
But now they’re seeking
to wrest control of as many
as a dozen chambers from
Republicans, a key step in
gaining more inluence in
redistricting.
The battle for state-
house control is playing
out in more than half the
states with tens of millions
of dollars of planned polit-
ical spending before the
Nov. 8 general election.
Democrats are hoping
the turmoil surrounding
Donald Trump’s presiden-
tial campaign can boost
their fortunes in down-
ballot races, although
Hillary Clinton remains
unpopular in many Repub-
lican-leaning regions.
“When you go district
by district, when you look
at where all these races
are, we’re in a highly
competitive environment,”
said Matt Walter, president
of the Republican State
Leadership Committee.
“A volatile environ-
ment” is how it’s described
by his counterpart Jessica
Conident Clinton expanding
her campaign into ‘red’ states
WHITE PLAINS, New York (AP) — Hillary Clinton is
advancing into states the Democrats haven’t won in decades,
conidently expanding her offensive against Donald Trump
and aiming to help her party win back control of Congress.
There’s a new $2 million push in Arizona, aides said
Monday, including a campaign stop in Phoenix by irst
lady Michelle Obama, one of Clinton’s most effective
surrogates. An additional $1 million is going into efforts in
Missouri and Indiana, both states with competitive Senate
races, a small amount of TV time is being bought in Texas
and media appearances are scheduled in Utah.
Post, executive director of
the Democratic Legislative
Campaign Committee.
Money spent on TV
advertising
for
state
House and Senate races is
up more than 50 percent
compared with the same
point in 2014, according
to an analysis conducted
for The Associated Press
by the Center for Public
Integrity of data from
the media-tracking irm
Kantar Media/CMAG.
With gridlock in
Washington,
states
increasingly are where
policies are adopted on
major issues such as gun
rights, marijuana use,
minimum wages and the
regulation of businesses
in the new economy, such
as ride-sharing services
and online fantasy sports.
Also at stake is redis-
tricting control. The party
that controls legislatures
and governorships during
the 2020 Census will
have the upper hand in
G O O D
redrawing congressional
and
state
legislative
districts in those states.
Controlling those bound-
aries can ensure a political
advantage for the next
decade.
Republicans
now
control 69 of the 99 state
legislative chambers —
their most ever. (Nebraska
is the only state with
just a single legislative
chamber.)
That GOP advantage
also means more seats to
defend.
National Democratic
and Republican groups
are particularly focused on
27 states where they hope
either to lip control of a
chamber or cut into the
opposing party’s majority
with an eye toward greater
gains in the future.
S H E P H E R D
The
Democratic
Legislative
Campaign
Committee says it expects
to win control of between
eight and 12 new cham-
bers and has highlighted
52
“essential
races,”
including many in presi-
dential battleground states.
The GOP’s Walter
acknowledges
Repub-
licans may see a slight
overall decline, but he says
they still could win several
new chambers, including
the Kentucky House,
the lone Democratic-led
chamber in the Southeast.
The Republican State
Leadership
Committee
has been running TV ads
portraying
Democratic
Kentucky House Speaker
Greg Stumbo as a Clinton
ally intent on putting coal
miners out of work.
W O M E N ’ S
C E N T E R
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