Foreign actors, notably Russia, Iran and China, have a history of attempting to meddle in US elections. A new article by Josh Rudolph and published looks at the avenues of foreign meddling in US elections and closing them. Here is an excerpt:

In his farewell address, President George Washington warned about “the insidious wiles of foreign influence.” In Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) recent statement supporting some provisions in the For the People Act (S. 1), he voiced a modern echo of Washington by warning that “the lack of transparency in many campaign finance rules provides multiple avenues for foreign and national adversaries to meddle in the American political system.” That is why Manchin supports the DISCLOSE Act and Honest Ads Act, which would impose financial transparency on “dark money” non-profits and online political advertisements, respectively.

Manchin is right.

The most comprehensive research on covert foreign money identified more than 100 cases — totaling more than $300 million over the past decade — of authoritarian regimes such as Russia and China funneling money into democratic processes as a geopolitical weapon. And the even greater scandal is how much of that is legal, as 83 percent of this activity was enabled by seven statutory loopholes.

Read the full story here. Also, visit the main Democracy Chronicles section on American Democracy or our articles on Money Politics and Worldwide Corruption.