--- title: 2016 Election: Russian Hackers 'Could Fake Electoral Fraud' description: U.S. officials say that Russian hackers could undermine public confidence in the Nov. 8 election by falsifying evidence of voter fraud canonical: https://time.com/4539904/fake-voter-fraud-russia-us-election-hack-warning/ author: Kevin Lui article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-21T03:03:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:26.623Z article:section: Politics og:title: Russian Hackers 'Could Fake U.S. Electoral Fraud' og:description: U.S. officials issue warning for Nov. 8 election og:url: https://time.com/4539904/fake-voter-fraud-russia-us-election-hack-warning/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95d10a9d6d8cfeb1/6988aaffcd1bbae4bf702ca7/gettyimages-614182108.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4748 og:image:height: 2671 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-ELECTION og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Russian Hackers 'Could Fake U.S. Electoral Fraud' twitter:description: U.S. officials issue warning for Nov. 8 election twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95d10a9d6d8cfeb1/6988aaffcd1bbae4bf702ca7/gettyimages-614182108.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Russian Hackers Could Fake Evidence of Electoral Fraud, Warn U.S. Officials > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Kevin Lui](https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Oct 21, 2016 3:03 AM UTC  A voter casts a ballot in a booth at an absentee voting station in Fairfax, Virginia, Oct. 12, 2016\. The general election takes place Nov. 8, 2016. A voter casts a ballot in a booth at an absentee voting station in Fairfax, Virginia, Oct. 12, 2016\. The general election takes place Nov. 8, 2016.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images by [Kevin Lui](https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Oct 21, 2016 3:03 AM UTC Cybersecurity surrounding the U.S. electoral system has been a focus this election cycle, not least since Russian hackers have actually found their way into [the Democratic Party’s network](http://time.com/4372161/democratic-national-committee-hackers/) and [state voter rolls](http://time.com/4472169/russian-hackers-arizona-voter-registration/), and WikiLeaks has apparently [obtained and published emails](http://time.com/4523749/hillary-clinton-wikileaks-leaked-emails-john-podesta/) allegedly belonging to Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. Republican nominee Donald Trump has [repeatedly](http://time.com/4532679/donald-trump-election-rigged/) [claimed](http://time.com/4433984/donald-trump-general-election-rigged/) — [without any evidence whatsoever](http://time.com/4498995/voting-hackers-safety-security-polling-station/) — that the election might be “rigged” against him. As he [cast uncertainty](http://time.com/4537908/donald-trump-election-results/) over whether he would accept the Nov. 8 vote’s result in Wednesday’s final televised presidential debate, U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement sources are warning that Russian hackers could undermine the American public’s trust in the electoral process by posting fake evidence of voter fraud online. **Read More:** [_Donald Trump’s ‘Rigged’ Election Talk Amounts to Voter Suppression_](http://time.com/4533254/donald-trump-rigged-election-voter-suppression/) Reuters [reports](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-cyber-idUSKCN12L011) Thursday that these officials, speaking on conditions of anonymity, said that hackers affiliated to Russian intelligence agencies could produce fake documents purporting to show signs of electoral rigging and disseminate them online, in the hopes of creating public perception of widespread foul play in the general election. They said that, while there was no evidence of such a scheme in the works, state and local authorities were warned to be ready and take precautions against hacking attempts. These officials also stressed that the large and dispersed electoral operation — conducted locally by states and local authorities instead of a centralized U.S. federal government operation — means that hackers would be unable to actually alter the election’s outcome. \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-cyber-idUSKCN12L011)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4539904/fake-voter-fraud-russia-us-election-hack-warning/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4539904/fake-voter-fraud-russia-us-election-hack-warning/"},"headline":"Russian Hackers Could Fake Evidence of Electoral Fraud, Warn U.S. Officials","datePublished":"2016-10-21T03:03:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:26.623Z","description":"Fabricated documents purporting to show rigged voting could be posted to create public distrust, say law enforcement and intelligence officials","url":"https://time.com/4539904/fake-voter-fraud-russia-us-election-hack-warning/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","cybersecurity"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95d10a9d6d8cfeb1/6988aaffcd1bbae4bf702ca7/gettyimages-614182108.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kevin Lui","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95d10a9d6d8cfeb1/6988aaffcd1bbae4bf702ca7/gettyimages-614182108.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-VOTE-ELECTION","caption":"US-VOTE-ELECTION","creditText":"Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4539904/fake-voter-fraud-russia-us-election-hack-warning/","name":"Russian Hackers Could Fake Evidence of Electoral Fraud, Warn U.S. Officials"}}]}] ```