DHS panel says 2020 vote was 'most secure in American history'
The statement directly contradicts the most recent in a raft of conspiracy theories put forth by President Donald Trump stating that a voting machine vendor secretly changed votes.
Poll workers check mail-in ballots. (Photo credit: Trevor Bexon/Shutterstock.com)
An election security team led by a senior Department of Homeland Security official stressed in a Nov. 12 press release that the 2020 general election "was the most secure in American history."
In bold type, the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council, a team working under the aegis of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at DHS, stated that, "[t]here is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised."
The statement directly contradicts the most recent in a raft of conspiracy theories put forth by President Donald Trump stating that a voting machine vendor secretly changed votes. This and other claims by Trump have been tagged as "disputed" under a new policy by Twitter to point to potential election misinformation.
The statement is attributed to CISA assistant director Bob Kolasky and other members of the executive committee, which includes Benjamin Hovland, the chair of the Election Assistance Commission, and Maggie Toulouse Oliver, New Mexico's secretary of state and president of the National Association of Secretaries of State.
"When states have close elections, many will recount ballots. All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary. This is an added benefit for security and resilience," the statement reads. "This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors."
The news comes amid reports in Reuters and elsewhere that CISA Director Chris Krebs expects to be asked to resign or to be fired by the Trump administration. Bryan Ware, CISA's assistant director for Cybersecurity is leaving the agency on Friday -- a move first reported by Cyberscoop. According to a Reuters report, Ware was asked to resign.
CISA has been aggressive in combatting misinformation about voting fraud in the wake of the Nov. 3 elections, and Krebs has been out in front on social media to call attention to specific conspiracy theories being peddled on social media – including some promulgated by Trump himself.