Officials across the country say they are confident in the integrity of the pending election

With the upcoming presidential election predicted to be extremely close, and the control of Congress and numerous state and local governments also on the ballot, people are rightfully concerned about making sure that their vote will count. Those concerns are compounded by the fact that much of the work of election officials across the country is unpublicized, and there is also a lot of misinformation and disinformation surrounding voting this year.

Because of all of those factors, I was extremely fortunate to be asked to moderate a series of webinars, town halls and fireside chats with election officials from around the country who are working tirelessly to ensure that the integrity of the election is maintained, that every vote will count and that the safety and security of both the ballots and poll workers remains a top priority. My talks with election officials over the past few months included those from federal, state and local governments and also the private sector. Everyone I spoke with was highly aware of a multitude of potential threats targeting the pending election, but also confident that their planning, sometimes years in the making, would allow them to overcome any challenge.

Keeping an eye on threats across all 50 states is Ben Hovland, the Chairman of the US Elections Assistance Commission, a federal organization that was created by Congress after the problems with the presidential election of 2000 to help states with voting technology, funding and security.

“In the aftermath of the 2016 election you saw a real increased focus on cybersecurity, not that it had not always been there, but when you are dealing with nation state adversaries, that is a level of sophistication and resources that really demands extra attention,” Hovland said during a fireside chat with me on FedInsider. “And after 2020, we had increased talk about mis- and disinformation, and from the challenges of that false and misleading information, we are also seeing things like physical threats and harassment that grow out of that.”

Physical security as an emerging concern

Physical security for elections is a relatively new concern, or at least one that is getting increased scrutiny this year. I got to see the danger first hand: During a preshow meeting for an election security discussion I was moderating, an actual attack unfolded right there in front of me on the Zoom meeting. 

Mark Earley, the Supervisor of Elections for Leon County, Florida was talking with me about the threats to the election this year when someone in his office opened an absentee ballot that was filled with a mysterious white powder. 

The election office had previously planned for that as one of many potential scenarios that could disrupt the election. As such, they quickly swung into action, shutting down the building’s HVAC unit so as not to spread the substance throughout the facility, having officials get Narcan doses ready, alerting state officials about the incident and having the local fire department respond to the potential hazardous materials emergency in full protective gear.

“When that happened, our plan kicked in and we followed the protocol,” Earley said. “And I think that demonstrates the importance of having those kinds of plans in place.”

By having a plan in place to deal with what would have been an unthinkable type of attack just a few years ago, the incident in Leon County was addressed quickly. There is an early voting site in the same building where the attack took place, but it was not disrupted and voting was never halted. And thankfully, the powder was tested and found to be harmless. Even though it turned out to be a hoax, the incident clearly demonstrated the potential danger that election officials are facing this year.

This is especially true in so-called battleground states, where a few hundred votes could swing the presidential election one way or another. That is why the state of Georgia is putting a big emphasis on keeping voters and poll workers safe alongside the ballots and voting machines this year.

“The physical security of our equipment and the physical security of our people, including election officials, their staff and poll workers is critical,” said Blake Evans, elections director for the Georgia Secretary of State, during another election security event I moderated last month. According to Evans, that includes working with both local and federal partners to ensure that the pending election is safe for both voters and their ballots.

Another subset of physical security, and one that the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State Election Security Navigator Bill Ekblad believes will be critical this year, is countering those who seek to disrupt the operation of polling places. This can include everything from someone who actively seeks to make things hard for election workers to someone who refuses to remove campaign-related clothing inside polling locations. 

“One of the things we can do to help out our election officials includes de-escalation training and teaching them how to talk with someone who might come to the polling place to try and make things difficult,” Ekblad said.

The goal, according to Ekblad, is to do everything possible to try and make sure that a disruptive situation does not become one that endangers physical security, if at all possible.

And should something escalate to a more dangerous situation, poll workers need to know exactly who they can turn to for immediate help, which in most cases will include local law enforcement. As such, it’s important to make sure that law enforcement officials, including people like county sheriffs and state police officers, are part of the election planning process right from the beginning. And according to top Wisconsin election official Meagan Wolfe, that includes running drills and exercises with law enforcement alongside poll workers and other election officials. 

“We hold exercises in the state of Wisconsin that include municipal, county and state election officials and then also include law enforcement from the local, state and federal level where they are all in the room together and can talk through these things,” Wolfe said. “And then we also provide materials to our local election officials so that they can do their own exercises with their local law enforcement officers too.”

Wolfe said it’s good to include local law enforcement because they will often be the first responders to an incident. As such, it’s important for sheriff’s deputies and other local police officers to know things like where all of the local polling places are located and who the poll workers and election judges are. Then, if something happens, they can respond quickly to resolve any issues.

The threat of misinformation and disinformation rises 

Beyond physical security, there is also concern among voters that their vote might not count, which is a fear that those pushing disinformation are ready to exploit. That happened to some extent in Georgia during the last presidential election. So this year, Evans and other state officials are working very hard to make the process as transparent as possible. That includes quickly publicizing and correcting any minor errors to prevent them from becoming fodder for a disinformation campaign. 

“Our processes are very transparent, which is a good thing,” Evans said. “But one of the concerns that I have occasionally is that some normal, small processing error that a county election official makes may be misconstrued and presented using disinformation as fraud. So, we have to make sure that we are expanding and improving processes.”

Maryland State Administrator of Elections Jared DeMarinis agrees that a key to preventing any mis- or disinformation campaigns from getting a foothold is to address every incident surrounding elections as quickly and as transparently as possible, including how the situation gets resolved.

“I think that if anything occurs with your security, you have to be open and transparent about it, announcing it as quickly as possible,” DeMarinis said. “Because if you delay, that is when conspiracy theories come about. So, if there is ever an issue, address it right away and invite people in because that builds trust and confidence.”

In fact, the large focus on cybersecurity surrounding elections in recent years combined with the closed and distributed nature of elections systems makes any direct attack against the voting infrastructure unlikely. Instead, the emphasis of a lot of state and local officials this year is on combating mis- and disinformation campaigns, which could potentially disrupt an election at the state or local level without ever touching an actual voting machine.

Constance L. Hargrove, the elections administrator for Pima County, Arizona, believes that disinformation campaigns are able to find some success because people don’t really know the details about how the election process works, and how their local cities and counties contribute to national elections. “Providing more transparency and education to the voters is important, as is allowing them to visit to our offices and tour them to see how everything works,” Hargrove said during another webinar discussion earlier this year. “Here in Pima County, we have central counting where all the ballots are counted here in my office, so we set up public windows where people can look at every process that we do. I think that helps a lot with countering disinformation.”

Misinformation is also a concern for Pennsylvania Department of State Deputy Secretary for Elections and Commissions Jonathan Marks, who is helping to preside over the election in one of the largest of the so-called swing states this year. He is especially concerned now because the rise of generative artificial intelligence has made everything from disinformation campaigns on social media to outright deepfakes featuring politicians much more realistic and easier to create. Pennsylvania is taking the threat of AI-generated disinformation so seriously that it founded the AI Governance Board to educate both government employees and the public in the state about the threats posed by AI and how to avoid getting ensnared by them.

“We wanted to make sure that commonwealth employees understood and knew how to use the new tools at least as effectively as our adversaries,” Marks said. “And that involves having us as well as our partners in law enforcement using AI to monitor the internet and social media to quickly identify disinformation so that we can respond to it. That enables us to better educate our fellow Pennsylvanians on the threats posed by AI and show them how to direct their questions about something they see to trusted sources like the Department of State or their own county election offices.”

Using every resource to improve election security

Not every state or local jurisdiction has a treasure trove of money to spend on election security, but there are still many things that can be done to help improve the integrity and safety of the pending election. And in some ways, according to North Carolina State Board of Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell, fostering solid partnerships with other state officials as well as federal agencies can be just as valuable as spending a lot of money.

“I don’t want to say that we did not spend money on elections as there has certainly been federal dollars that we have been able to apply to some of our efforts,” Bell said. “But at the end of the day, partnerships with other organizations are also resources that we don’t have to spend money on. We can use their expertise, lock arms and work together on our efforts. And that is one thing that I would encourage my colleagues in other states to do.”

Ricky Hatch, the clerk/auditor of Weber County, Utah, agrees with Bell. While having a lot of resources available is nice, having solid partners that you can rely on can also really pay off when trying to secure and protect an election.

“Remember that you are not alone,” Hatch said. “If you are a local official, work with your state elections office. That is crucial. They understand the state and your county and can offer a lot of additional resources.” 

Hatch also recommends that local election officials make use of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, which has a website with lots of training videos, advice and even printed materials that can be customized for individual counties. He recommends joining the commission’s national elections discussion board where local officials can network and ask specific questions about election security and other issues. And there are also other federal resources, such as those provided by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which can be a big help.

“There are a whole bunch of entities out there that are dedicated to supporting elections,” Hatch said. “And virtually everything from them is free.” 

And while there will certainly be challenges with the pending election, either in terms of cybersecurity, physical security or even AI-generated misinformation campaigns, there are also thousands of dedicated election officials who are not only committed to providing a fair election process, but who have trained for years to mitigate every conceivable disruptive activity.

Hovland said that all of the amazing work and training being done by election officials makes him confident that everyone is doing everything possible to ensure that the pending election goes smoothly despite increasingly challenging circumstances. 

“There really has been a big demand on the election community that really required a lot of extra hours,” Hovland said. “But as I travel across the country, I am heartened to see the work that our election officials are doing. Preparation goes into every election, but certainly with the upcoming election in November, everyone is working to ensure that it is administered in a free, fair and accurate way.”

John Breeden II is an award-winning journalist and reviewer with over 20 years of experience covering technology. He is the CEO of the Tech Writers Bureau, a group that creates technological thought leadership content for organizations of all sizes. Twitter: @LabGuys