Election security officials reject Donald Trump's voter fraud claim

State and federal election officials, along with experts in the private sector, said they had “utmost confidence in the security and integrity” of the November 3 vote, as President Donald Trump continues to make unfounded claims of fraud and key security officials involved in protecting elections leave the administration or expect to be fired.

“The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history,” the officials said in a statement Thursday. “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

The statement acknowledged the “many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections” and urged Americans to turn to election administrators and officials for accurate information.

The statement was signed by officials from the Elections Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council, which shares information among state, local and federal officials, and the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council, which includes election infrastructure owners and operators.

Among the 10 signatories were Benjamin Hovland, who chairs the US Election Assistance Commission, and Bob Kolasky, the assistant director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security.
 

Biden cements victory with Arizona

President-elect Joe Biden cemented his US electoral victory by capturing the battleground state of Arizona late on Thursday, but the official transition to his administration remains stalled as President Donald Trump refuses to accept defeat.

Biden was projected to win Arizona after more than a week of vote counting from the November 3 election, Edison Research said. He becomes only the second Democratic presidential candidate in seven decades to win the traditionally Republican state.

Biden's win in Arizona gives him 290 electoral votes in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the winner. Biden had already cleared the 270 vote threshold to win the election, setting him on course to be sworn in on January 20. Arizona has not voted for a Democrat for president since 1996. In 2016, Trump beat Hillary Clinton there. Reuters