ATLANTA For election officials preparing forthe 2024 presidential election, the list of security challenges just keeps growing.
Many ofthe concerns from four years agopersist: the potential for cyberattacks targeting voter registration systems or websites that report unofficial results, and equipment problems or human errors being amplified by those seeking to undermine confidence in the outcome.
Add to that the fresh risks that have developed sincethe 2020 electionandthe false claimsof widespread fraud being spread by former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies.Death threatsdirected at election workers and breaches of voting equipment inside election offices have raised questions aboutsafetyandsecurity. Some states have altered their voting and election laws,expanded legislative controlof local elections andadded penaltiesfor election workers who violate rules.
The turmoil has contributed to a wave of retirements and resignations among election staff, creating a vacuum of institutional knowledge in some local election offices.
With Trump running again andalready warningthat the 2024 vote is on its way to being another rigged election, election workers are bracing for a difficult year that will have no margin for error.
Foreign threats
National security experts have warned for years that foreign governments primarily Russia, China and Iran want to undermine the U.S. and see elections as a pathway to do it.
In 2016, Russia sought to interfere witha multi-pronged effortthat includedaccessing and releasing Democratic emailsand scanningstate voter registration systemsfor vulnerabilities. Four years later,Iranian hackersobtained voter data and used it to send misleading emails.
In 2022, there were multiple instances in whichhackers linked to Iran, China and Russiaconnected to election infrastructure, scanned state government websites and copied voter information, according to a recent declassified report.
While there has been no evidence of any compromises affecting the integrity of U.S. elections, experts say those countries are more motivated than ever given tensions across the globe.
Election 2024 may be the first presidential election during which multiple authoritarian actors simultaneously attempt to interfere with and influence an election outcome, Microsoft warned in a November threat assessment.
The company said it was unlikely that Russia, China and Iran would sit out next years contest because the stakes are simply too high. The report saidRussia remainsthe most committed and capable threat to the 2024 election, with the Kremlin seeing next years vote as a must-win political warfare battle that could determine the outcome ofits war against Ukraine.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said she believes foreign adversaries have a greater incentive than ever before to get involved in the upcoming elections.
Were going to do everything we can to be prepared, but we are facing well-funded, serious adversaries, and that requires all of us to be clear-eyed about those challenges — and for voters to also know that there are foreign actors that want to influence their vote to further their own goals and not Americas, she said.
Election system vulnerabilities
Many ofthe conspiracy theoriesthat have persisted sinceTrump lostthe2020 presidential electionto Democrat Joe Biden relate to voting technology and claims that equipment was manipulated to steal the vote. There is no evidence of manipulation, and the systems have safeguards to detect problems.
An intensive effort has been underway for several years to build defenses aroundvoting machinesand tabulators and develop plans to recover if tampering occurs. Experts are particularly concerned about non-voting systems such asvoter registration databases, electronicpoll booksand websites that report results because they rely oninternet connections.
Experts have warned that a well-timed attack, perhaps using ransomware that locks up computers until payments are made or systems are restored from backups, could disrupt election operations.
Many local election offices have been moving their systems off countywide networks to protect them, but not all have. In early September, election officials in Hinds County, Mississippi, were preparing for statewide elections when everything came to an abrupt halt.
Workers in the election office were unable to access their computers for about three weeks.The breachof the county’s computers caused a slight delay in processing voter registration forms and pushed back training for poll workers.
Local election offices, particularly in rural areas, often struggle to secure enough funding, personnel and cybersecurity expertise. Hinds County Election Commissioner Shirley Varnado said it was a wonderful idea to have their election office networks separated from the county but would take money they dont have.
That should be done, but were in a building without heat or air, she said.
Election integrity groups say more needs to be done and point to a series ofvoting system breachessince the 2020 election that have resulted in proprietary software being distributed among various Trump allies. Theywant a federal investigationand for authorities to force anyone with copies to hand them over.
They also worry about technical failures, noting an incident last November in which some votes ina Pennsylvania judicial racewere flipped. The prevalence of false election claims has made it difficult to raise valid criticisms, said Susan Greenhalgh, a senior adviser on election security with Free Speech For People, a left-leaning nonprofit focused on election and campaign finance reforms.
Our election system is not perfect,” Greenhalgh said. “There are a lot of things that need to be and should be improved.
Increased protections
Improvements since the 2016 election, in which Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton, include replacing outdated and vulnerable voting machines that lacked paper records of every vote cast. In 2020, an estimated 93% of ballots cast nationwide produced a paper record, up from 82% four years earlier.
After 2016, election systems were added to the list ofcritical infrastructurein the U.S. that also includes dams, banks and nuclear power plants.
In 2018, Congress established theU.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which provides security reviews. CISA Director Jen Easterly launched a cyber defense initiative in 2021 and last summer said10 new regional election security adviserswould be hired to work directly with local election offices.
Theres just been so much that has transformed the face of election infrastructure security over the past seven years, Easterly said in an interview last August. In a space where people can sometimes get pretty down, I think we should be optimistic.
Larry Norden, an election expert with the Brennan Center for Justice, said he sees massive progress” but also saidturnover in local election officeshas diminished institutional knowledge.
Just 29% of local election officials surveyed this year for the Brennan Center were aware of CISA routine vulnerability scans, and just 31% were aware of the agencys physical security assessments.
There was not nearly as much awareness of the services that are offered as I think there should be, Norden said. Its not surprising, but it means theres work to do.
Perfect storm
Staffing has long been a challenge for local election offices, which rely on both permanent and temporary workers, including those who staff some 80,000 polling locations nationally on Election Day.
But 2020 was a tipping point, with coronavirus pandemic-related challenges before the presidential vote and everything that followed: death threats, a flood of information requests from election skeptics, hostile county boards and new laws that impose fines or criminal penalties on election officials for violating rules. That contributed to a wave of retirements and resignations among election officials. Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson said two-thirds of county clerks there are new since the 2020 election.
This all combines into this perfect storm, said Henderson, a Republican. Its a real challenge.
Insider threats the possibility that someone working in an election office could tamper with systems or provide access to them poses another concern. To address this, election officials have been boosting security around key equipment by limiting access and adding surveillance cameras.
Meanwhile,the threats and harassmenthave continued. Georgias Fulton County, a target of various 2020 election conspiracy theories, was one of several election offices in Novembersent envelopescontaining a powdery substance that in some cases tested positive for fentanyl.
The letters are another reminder of the charged environment surrounding U.S. elections heading into 2024. Despite all the challenges, Henderson said election officials are doing everything they can to prepare.
When you have a human-run system, there will be human error. Thats just part of it, she said. But were working hard to make sure that we mitigate those human errors and mitigate the risks and continually improve our processes so that people can have the confidence that when they vote, only eligible voters are voting, and when they vote, their votes count accurately.
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