U.S. cybersecurity chief says election systems have 'never been more secure'

Amid widespread concerns of outside interference influencing the results this year’s presidential election, the head of the country’s cybersecurity agency says election infrastructure is more secure than ever.

State and local election officials across the country have made big improvements to strengthen both physical and cyber security at polling and voting locations to preserve election integrity, said Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, in an interview with Weekend Edition.

After Russia's attempts to influence the U.S. presidential election in 2016, CISA was created to work with state and local officials to make sure voting machines aren’t vulnerable to hacks.

“I can say with confidence based on all the work that we've done together since 2016, that election infrastructure has never been more secure,” Easterly said. “There are cyber threats, there are physical threats to election officials, but we're at a point now with our election infrastructure secure and the election community prepared to meet the moment on the 5th of November.”

Her confidence in election integrity comes as intelligence officials warn that foreign adversaries — mainly Russia, Iran and China — are stepping up efforts to undermine voter trust in the democratic process, sway voters and inflame partisan divisions.

Most Americans are concerned about voter fraud in this year’s general election, fueled by election misinformation and distrust in free and fair elections, according to a recent NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. Republicans, who account for most of the concerned voters, are leading the trend, inspired by former President Donald Trump’s continued false claims that vote rigging is rampant and the reason he lost the 2020 election.

Widespread voter fraud is rare, and a slew of audits and investigations have confirmed the results of the election four years ago. Even so, election officials across the country have been busy debunking voter fraud conspiracy theories.

Some election administrators have been subject to death threats in the face of public erosion of trust in their work.

Pushing false election fraud theories is “essentially doing our adversaries' job for them,” Easterly said. “And it's doing a massive disservice to the hundreds of thousands of election officials across the nation because it's leading to threats of violence and creating real mistrust and stoking partisan discord. That's exactly what our foreign adversaries want.”

The director said the federal agency has worked with local officials to install safety measures at election sites such as panic buttons and bulletproof glass.

Easterly said it’s important for Americans to be patient while awaiting the official outcome of the Nov. 5 election.

“We know that this election is probably going to be very close and elections don't end when the polls close,” she said. “It actually may take days to weeks to actually fully count and audit and certify the vote.”

“In that zone of uncertainty,” she added, “that's where our foreign adversaries are going to do their best to influence Americans to undermine our belief in the legitimacy of the process."

Martin Patience and Shannon Rhoades produced and edited this interview for broadcast.