WHAT’S THE STORY?
TODAY is the day of reckoning for US politics as Americans go to the polls to decide between Donald Trump’s take-no-prisoners rhetoric and the Democrats’ turbo-charged campaign to end the Republicans’ monopoly.
READ MORE: Mid-term elections are like a referendum on me, says Donald Trump
What has been described as a “blue wave” could help Democrats seize control of at least one chamber of US congress, but two years after Trump swept to power, only one thing is certain – these will be the most secure midterm polls in American political history after the controversy surrounding claims that Russia conspired to help him win in 2016.
Officials have said they do not anticipate any specific threat to the polls, but the Pentagon has experts on standby for any cybersecurity scare, with as many as 100 people ready to support the election-day efforts of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS).
“If called upon, we would operate under DHS authority so there would not be any independent DoD [Department of Defence] teams,” said Edwin Wilson, who oversees DHS cybersecurity policy.
“We would operate in concert with DHS for incident response for election security.”
WILL IT AFFECT TURNOUT?
IT could. Spurious claims that votes were changed last time or Russia has already hacked the midterms have led some to doubt the integrity of the polls.
More importantly, the potential of a security breach gives voters another reason to opt out – only around 40% of eligible voters participate in US midterms.
But Jeanette Manfra, an assistant secretary at the DHS, said the federal government has planned when and how it would use Pentagon resources in the hours and days immediately after an attack.
“We are not going to be able to help for every single incident, nor do I think it is our job,” she said, adding that their preparatory work has focused on the legal and policy issues of a cyberattack.
Research has shown around half of Americans do not trust their elections to be fair and accurate and part of the blame falls to Trump, with his claims about them being “rigged”.
COULD TEAM TRUMP LOSE?
IF Democrats win control of the House of Representatives, which both sides think likely, they could derail Trump’s legislative agenda for the next two years, but they would also win subpoena power to investigate his many personal and professional faux pas.
At least one prominent ally fears that losing even one chamber could be disastrous.
Amy Kremer, a Tea Party activist who leads Women for Trump, said: “If they take back the house, he essentially will become a lame-duck president, and he won’t win re-election.
“They will do anything and everything they can to impeach him.”
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