Disinformation is Biggest Threat to Election Security, Experts Tell Congress

August 4, 2020

StateScoop

Online campaigns aimed at misleading the public about the voting process, particularly the availability of mail-in ballots or tallying of votes, is the biggest digital threat to election security this year, a panel of experts told members of Congress on Tuesday. Speaking to an online session of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, witnesses said state and local election officials need to make sure not only that their IT assets like voter registration databases are well-defended, but that the public’s trust is protected, too.

“It’s not just the cast and count of the vote,” said John Gilligan, the president and chief executive of the Center for Internet Security. “It’s what’s the confidence level the American public has in the system?”