International observers will monitor U.S. elections next month for signs of impropriety, they said this week, following increasing fears stoked by Donald Trump that the election could be “rigged.”
The 57-country Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said that it is launching a mission looking at Election Day, following an invitation from Washington.
{mosads}The OSCE has assessed elections in the U.S. since 2002. But its results may play a more prominent role this year, given the increasing charges from Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, that the election could be unfairly swayed.
“I’m telling you, Nov. 8, we better be careful, because that election is going to be rigged,” Trump said on Fox News in August. “And I hope the Republicans are watching closely, or it’s going to be taken away from us.”
His concerns have been widely dismissed by President Obama and other U.S. officials. Some critics of the GOP nominee’s comments warn that they threaten to do deep damage to the integrity of the U.S. voting process, which has been largely held as sacrosanct throughout much of the nation’s history.
“If Mr. Trump is suggesting a conspiracy theory that is being propagated across the country … that’s ridiculous,” Obama said in August.
During the first presidential debate of 2016 last week, Trump said he would accept the outcome of the election, no matter the results.
This week, a team of 12 OSCE experts began work on the U.S. review in Washington. The organization, which observes elections around the globe, will send 26 observers throughout the country over the next month to see if elections live up to international standards. In the days before Election Day, the OSCE is hoping to send an additional 400 short-term observers to monitor events.
The monitors will follow campaigns, election offices and the government up to and on Election Day.
On Nov. 9, they will publish a preliminary report about their findings. A final report will follow two months later.
Hackers believed to be linked to Russia have targeted multiple political parties and election offices in recent months, but there is so far no evidence that they have successfully manipulated digital voter files or systems. Because of the decentralized nature of U.S. elections — which are run by a series of cities, states and other small governments — it would be incredibly difficult for domestic or foreign troublemakers to meaningfully interfere with the digital voting database.
Yet the hacks may be part of a calibrated campaign to sow doubt in the election, the top U.S. intelligence official said in September, which could allow voters to question the results.