SAN FRANCISCO — A Twitter account linked to Russia has called on hackers monitor the US elections and made claims that the person behind the account has registered as an independent election observer.

Guccifer 2.0, a figure which US intelligence officials and private cybersecurity companies believe was created as a Russian government-backed propaganda effort, tweeted Friday that "Democrats may rig the #Elections2016." In an attached Wordpress blog post, the account claimed Democrats would use "software installed in the [Federal Election Commission (FEC)] networks by the large IT companies." The claim makes little sense given that the FEC is tasked with monitoring campaign finance information in the run-up to the elections, but has no role in election administration on November 8.

There have been previous claims, largely spread by fake news sites, that voting machines will be rigged or possible hacked with previously installed software. Those claims, however, have been widely discredited given the number of times machines are tested prior to use by Republican and Democratic Party officials, and the fact that they are never connected to the internet.

In a subsequent tweet, Guccifer 2.0 encouraged hackers to join in monitoring the vote on November 8, though it was unclear if the call was for interference, intimidation, or observation of the vote.