Midwest Secretaries of State Hold Election Summit on Security and Integrity in Nebraska • Nebraska Examiner

Still, trust in elections remains critical, Pate said, and secretaries of state are doing everything they can to maintain integrity and security.

“It is imperative that Americans and Iowans have confidence in these election results, because if they do not believe the day after the election that this is their governor, their senator or their president, our republic has fallen without a single bullet being fired . said Pate. “This is unacceptable, so we will continue to be vigilant and do what we can on our front lines.”

Director Jen Easterly from the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agencysaid CISA, stands “shoulder to shoulder” with election officials across the country. She said she has “tremendous confidence” in the US elections.

Easterly said it was CISA founded in 2018 by a former U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in part due to foreign attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election, and after the election the infrastructure was designated as “critical” infrastructure.

Safety protocols and training

The agency helps state and local election officials prepare for all threats, including ransomware. physical threats and threats from foreign adversaries (such as Russia, Iran and China). Support services provided by the agency include security assessments, hypothetical scenario training, and de-escalation and anti-active shooter incident training, Easterly said.

“Ultimately, we know the elections will be safe. You will be safe. You will be free. They will be fair. But there will be things that go wrong,” Easterly said. “The good news is that while these disruptions are problematic, they do not impact how votes are counted and cast.”

Evnen said that over the past two years, Nebraska has worked with CISA, including weekly scans of all 93 Nebraska County election websites for vulnerabilities, providing local officials with “.gov” emails and website addresses, and setting up, among other things internal protocols for daily and congressional elections. today’s security.

“These are important steps we are taking across Nebraska to ensure our cyber infrastructure is protected,” Evnen said.

Pate said these steps are national standards as officials “plan for the worst and hope for the best.”

Elections for “We the People”

All five secretaries of state who worked with NCITE this week are elected Republicans, and Ashcroft said the officials aren’t just serving Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians or other third parties in their respective states.

He said that when officials do their jobs well, they are the basketball referee or linesman of a football game that “no one notices.”

The Secretaries of State and Easterly invited other people to participate in the election process, such as as poll workers, observers, and anyone with questions.

“We run elections for the people of the states,” Ashcroft said. “We are holding elections for our government because this is how ‘we the people’ decide whether our republic moves forward.”

Ashcroft added that no matter who wins or loses or what issues exist or fail, “at the end of the day, the American people can drink the beverage of their choice and either celebrate or feel pity, but realize that they are part of it.” “The decision was that their votes counted and that the votes made a difference.”

Election officials noted that it was typical for “official” results not to be finalized until a week after Election Day, but said that was due in part to the need to process provisional ballots and complete the “audits.” needed to ensure accurate results, especially in close races, or perhaps manually counting some ballots.

But most election results are typically available within hours of polls closing on Election Day, secretaries of state said through their jurisdictions.

“I believe in getting quick results, so do my colleagues, but we all believe in doing it right and we believe in making sure that every American, no matter where Uncle Sam sent them, has the right to ours “To participate in the elections.” said Ashcroft, referring to foreign voters.

Johnson, of South Dakota, said the “biggest concern” about the general election is the time between polls closing and the final release of results. She said officials are developing scenarios with public safety teams to ensure post-election events run smoothly and on time.

“Protecting the voting process and its moderators is a collaborative process, and we have full confidence in our state’s ability to overcome any disruptions,” Johnson said.

NCITE Research

Gina Ligon, director of NCITE at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said the center, which includes 38 partner universities, is working on four projects, such as tracking threats to election workers from federal charges and possible threats from new technologies.

Ligon said the federal charges are the “tip of the iceberg” because the federal charges are a “really high bar” while other NCITE investigations involve threats or violence specifically against election officials in swing states, including Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia.

These states have seen the largest data spikes in recent years, Ligon said.

This project extends to Nebraska, in part with the competitiveness of Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District for president. According to Ligon, there are currently no federal charges.

Additional research from the University of Arkansas includes interviews with poll workers who faced threats of violence. Initial research has shown that women do not always report violence when they are victims of violence, Ligon said, and that people do not understand when they exceed First Amendment protections from anger to prohibited threats.

“As much as people say this is nothing new – ‘we’ve seen this happen for a long time’ – our data just doesn’t support it,” Ligon said.

“It’s up to all of us”

Easterly said there have been no specific election threats from terrorists, although she noted that federal authorities have thwarted apparent plans to hold an election Oklahoma City man on Tuesday and accused him of allegedly planning a terrorist attack in support of ISIS on election day.

“If we see more things from the terror landscape, we will make sure that election officials are informed immediately,” Easterly said.

Easterly said the period between Election Day on Nov. 5 and the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20 will be crucial. She said foreign adversaries would seek to create a “wedge” and seek to “destroy our institutions” or sow discord while each milestone of certification and validation is met.

“So it’s up to all of us as Americans — as secretary [Ashcroft] said, “We the people” – this election is for us,” Easterly said. “It is up to all of us to do our part to protect and preserve our democracy.”

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