Neither former President Barack Obama nor his administration alerted state election officials about Russian attempts to interfere with election systems, according to Denise Merrill, National Association of Secretaries of State president and Connecticut's secretary of state.
"We did ask," Merrill told The Daily Caller News Foundation's Investigative Group on Wednesday.
"Over and over again, they did say there was no credible threat that they had found. And they said that right through the election, and the next administration reiterated that. Over and over again when we asked, we were told there was no actual threat that they knew of," Merrill told the Daily Caller.
Prior to the November 2016 election, Merrill said state officials were "not told in advance" about any Russian interference. She added that no state election officials were told about threats to election machinery.
"There is strong speculation there, but nothing has actually happened," Merrill said, noting that such reports damage public confidence in elections.
"These kind of stories make the public think there should be a lack of trust in their elections. And that shouldn't be the case. This is the most destructive thing about this."
People add up the election results around the U.S., not machines, Merrill said.
"Most states have paper ballots that you vote on. There is always a paper backup of the voter registration lists," she added.
Earlier in May, Merrill slammed President Donald Trump's plan to create a panel to review possible voter fraud.
"The specter of voter fraud has served as an excuse to disenfranchise tens of thousands of eligible voters. I hope that this investigation is not a fig leaf for voter suppression and intimidation," she said in a Hartford Courant report.
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