Authorities are currently investigating in a few states whether local officials were involved in security breaches at their election offices. Some have expressed doubts about the 2020 presidential election. Information gleaned through the breaches has led to conspiracy theories being promoted by former President Donald Trump’s allies.
Adding to the worry is a wave this year of candidates for state- and local office offices who echo Trump’s false claims regarding his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (a Democrat who was formerly a law school dean) said that putting them in positions of power over elections is like putting arsonists under the command of a fire department.
Experts agree that insider threats are a constant concern. Ryan Macias advises federal, state, and local officials on election security. Prior to that, the main focus was on what a part-time or volunteer poll worker could do to a county system or polling place. The potential damage extends to the very core of democracy, which is the ability to hold fair elections.
Macias stated that “Since 2020 the coordinated efforts to have threat actor run for office, apply as election officials, and volunteer as a voter worker or observer should all be considered national security concerns.”
Insider attacks can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive information and even the planting of malware in election systems.
Although insider threats can be the most difficult to prevent, Macias stated that there are measures in place to help recover from such an attack. The majority of the country relies on paper voting machines or paper ballots. Therefore, each vote should be recorded in paper. Post-election checks are also designed to detect possible manipulations or discrepancies in votes.
Voters in 25 states will vote this year for their chief election officer. Several races include candidates who contest the outcome of 2020’s presidential contest, despite the absence of evidence of widespread fraud or coordinated schemes to steal the election.
Voters will also decide who will run the local elections and become the next county clerk. These local election offices have been the victims of security breaches.
Authorities in Mesa County are investigating whether unauthorized people gained access to the county’s voting equipment. After the county’s voting system passwords were posted on a conservative website, state officials started investigating. Each county has its own passwords that are kept by the state. Officials identified them as being from Mesa County where Trump won almost 63% of the vote.
Tina Peters, a Republican who was elected in 2018, then attended a “cybersymposium” hosted at MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. Lindell has attempted to prove that the voting system was somehow manipulated to favor Democrats.
A copy of Mesa County’s election management software, which is used to design ballots, configure voting machines, and count the results was distributed at that event. Experts consider the unauthorised release to be serious as it could provide a “practice area” for vulnerability testing.
Peters stated in an interview that she made a copy of the county voting system hard drive in order to preserve evidence of “how you get to an election result, who came in and who made changes, and who did what.”
Peters stated to The Associated Press that he didn’t enter to investigate conspiracy theories. It’s only my responsibility to preserve, and it is solely mine to protect, election records.”
The case is being reviewed by a grand jury in Mesa County. Peters announced plans to run as secretary of state and oversee elections in Colorado.
State officials in Colorado are also investigating the claims of an Elbert County election clerk, southeast of Denver that he made two copies last summer of a voting system hard disk.
Dallas Schroeder’s attorney wrote to the state to state his belief that he was under a “statutory obligation to preserve election records”; he was also concerned that state officials might visit to prepare for 2021 elections, “might erase and alter electronic records of November 2020.”
After the 2020 elections in Colorado and elsewhere, there has not been any evidence of widespread fraud or other major irregularities.
Federal and state authorities in Ohio are investigating after network data purportedly derived from the Lake County Board of Elections, suburban Cleveland, was made online. This data was also available to other people who wanted to prove that the 2020 election had been manipulated.
An analysis by the state determined that the data was not from the Board of Elections but instead a network that manages other county businesses. Former Republican state legislator Frank LaRose is Ohio’s chief election officer. He said that the data showed “innocuous traffic,” between a county computer, and a printer. However, it was used to suggest something more sinister.
LaRose stated that they grabbed the document and said, “Oh, look! Here’s evidence!” “It was evidence of absolutely nothing and they were not even close to the Board of Elections.
The Michigan secretary of state’s office announced recently that there was a security breach at Roscommon County’s election office. This is in the northern part of Michigan. It is believed that someone gained unauthorized access to the voting systems. The state authorities are currently investigating.
Experts say these kinds of security breaches are rare and that most election officials, who are neutral and experienced professionals who observe the rules and don’t believe in conspiracy theories, have not been involved.
They said that any official who is found to have undermined elections or violated the law should be held responsible. In any of the violations being investigated in Michigan, Ohio, and Colorado, no charges have been filed.
Matt Masterson, an ex-top election security official under the Trump administration, stated that “one of the keys to fighting insider threats is that consequences are available.”
Federal officials responsible for election security have trained officials about ways to limit access to voting systems in order to lessen the possibility of insider threats.
Ohio state election officials gave credit to additional cybersecurity measures in 2019 for preventing an attempted breach in Lake County. This was despite Trump’s victories in 2016 and 2020. To better protect election-related systems, a state order required that they be isolated from the county networks.
Benson stated that her Michigan office is “keeping an eye — closer than ever” on local election officials. She is ready to stop any attempt to compromise election security.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced recently a temporary set of rules that she claimed were intended to address “emerging cybersecurity risks,” specifically citing cases in Elbert and Mesa counties.
These new rules limit the access of county employees to the election management software and require that they are identified in the security plan filed with state. Anyone present at an election must provide proof of background checks.
“Undoubtedly, there will be more insider threats to follow,” stated Griswold (a Democrat). “States must prepare themselves.”
