With the New Mexico primary elections on June 4, expect to see the usual ads and memes making claims that range from the somewhat plausible to the downright fantastical to the lunatic fringe.
International powers continue to work to influence the elections, some experts say.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence declassified its Intelligence Community Assessment of Foreign Threats to the 2022 U.S. Elections in December.
The assessment was coordinated across the United States intelligence community and addresses foreign influence on the 2022 midterm elections.
The classified report was completed and distributed Dec. 22, 2022, according to an ODNI news release.
“We share our assessment and the accompanying material to help inform the American public about foreign influence efforts, including attempts by foreign actors to induce friction and undermine confidence in the electoral process that underpins our democracy,” Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said in the press release. “As global barriers to entry lower and accessibility rises, such influence efforts remain a continuing challenge for our country, and an informed understanding of the problem can serve as one defense.”
The assessment had four main findings. The first found that China “tacitly approved”efforts to attempt to influence some midterm elections involving both major political parties.
The intelligence community has “high confidence” that “People’s Republic of China intelligence officers, diplomats and other influence actors probably viewed some election influence activities as consistent with Beijing’s standing guidance to counter US politicians viewed as anti-China and to support others viewed as pro-China,” the assessment states.
The second finding showed that Iran intended to exploit “perceived social divisions and undermine confidence in US democratic institutions” during the 2022 election cycle.
The third finding was an assessment that the Russian Federation sought to “denigrate the Democratic Party before the midterm elections and undermine confidence in the election, most likely to undermine US support for Ukraine.”
The intelligence community has “high confidence in the assessment since Russian intelligence services “conducted extensive research and analysis of US audiences to inform their election-related efforts, including identifying target demographics and the narratives and platforms they perceived would appeal to these audiences.”
The fourth finding was that other foreign actors tried to undermine US politicians seeking reelection on a smaller scale and more narrowly targeted than those done by China, Iran and Russia, the assessment states.
“We assess that the aggregate scale and scope of foreign activity targeting the US midterm elections exceeded what we detected during the previous midterm elections in 2018,” the assessment stated.
There was not an observed directive from any foreign leader to “undertake a comprehensive, whole-of-government influence campaign, something not seen since 2016.”
The observed actions were below what is expected to be seen during presidential election years; the intelligence community “identified a diverse and growing group of foreign actors… engaging in such operations, including China’s greater willingness to conduct election influence activities than in past cycles,” the assessment states.
This means that “perceptions that election influence activity has been normalized,” the assessment states.The New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office set up a Rumor vs. Reality page to debunk misinformation and disinformation about New Mexico’s elections. Topics include election integrity, post-election audits, paper ballot usage and voter roll maintenance.
