Des Moines, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa State Capitol) – Officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency say election systems are more secure than ever, but at the same time the threats they see are more complex than ever. He said that it has become.
“No matter who you vote for, you can be confident that your vote will be counted as cast,” said CISA Director Jen Easterly.
Voting machines are not connected to the internet, Easterly said, meaning 97% of registered Americans will have a paper record to verify when voting. She said since 2020, election officials across the country have increased security measures, both physical and cyber, to protect against breaches.
“This includes pre-election equipment testing and post-election audits to ensure accuracy,” Easterly said.
Here in Iowa, officials insist the election will be held. The state requires photo ID and uses paper ballots.
Additionally, the state’s vote tabulation machines are not connected to the internet, so malicious actors cannot interfere with the results. These tabulations were tested before early voting began, and a statewide audit will be conducted after the election.
Easterly says foreign adversaries such as China, Russia and Iran are conducting cyberattacks on election websites but cannot interfere with or influence election results.
Easterly added that these countries are participating in a misinformation campaign. She says these countries are “spoofing” or imitating real news sites like the Washington Post and Fox News. They spread false and misleading articles on sites and social media about voter fraud, dead voters, and non-citizen votes.
Easterly said the goal of these countries is to reduce people’s trust in electoral systems and governments and to tear them apart.
CISA Senior Advisor and Director of Election Security and Resilience Kate Conley said election officials remain aware of the threat posed by conspiracy theorists who falsely believe there was widespread fraud in the last presidential election. .
“We are wiretapping phone calls targeting election workers in their homes, putting them, their families, and first responders at risk. “We’ve seen letters containing dangerous substances being mailed to election offices,” Conley said.
Easterly said there will likely be some issues as usual on Election Day, but election officials are preparing for potential disruptions and how to deal with them.
“There will be hiccups. There will be chaos. Someone may forget their polling place key, polling places may open late. Power, storms may cause outages, polling places may be moved. The good news is that while these types of incidents are devastating, they can affect Americans’ ability to vote and their votes to be counted. “It’s not going to have an impact,” Conley said.
View the full press conference
CISA officials say election systems are more secure than ever, but at the same time the threats they see are more complex than ever.
Both CISA and the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office have websites with information about how elections are administered and kept secure.
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Connor Hendricks covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email conner.hendricks@gray.tv. Follow him on Facebook at Conner Hendricks TV or X/Twitter @connerreports.
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