The Trump administration has begun to dismantle the state’s defense against foreign interference in the vote, a drastic hideaway that surprised national and local election officials.

The administration has closed last week with the FBI’s Foreign Impact Task Force cut Over 100 positions in US cybersecurity and infrastructure security agencies. President Donald Trump signed the law in 2018. Among its goals is to help state and local officials protect their voting system.

Secretaries of state and city clerks fear that these moves could put voter registration databases and other important election systems at risk, putting the lives of election officials at risk.

In Pennsylvania, Republican Secretary Al Schmidt said the nation needs federal assistance to protect elections from bad actors both abroad and within.

“It’s stupid and inefficient to think that each state should pursue this on its own,” he told Stateline. “It’s very likely that the enemies we may encounter in Pennsylvania are the same things we encounter in Michigan, Georgia and Arizona.”

Officials from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA, and other federal agencies were not particularly present at the State Winter National Conference Association held earlier this month in Washington, D.C. The same federal partner has been providing hacking tests for the election system, assessing the physical security of election offices, and conducting exercises to prepare local officials for the election day crisis. did.

But the Trump administration believes these services are going too far.

February 5th NoteUS Attorney General Pam Bondy said the administration is dismantling the FBI task force. The task force was launched in 2017 by the then director of Trump candidate Christopher Ray.

Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem at a confirmation hearing last month I said The CISA is “a lot off.” She added, “They use their resources in ways that were never intended.” While agencies need to protect the country’s critical infrastructure, the work to combat disinformation has been far too far, she said.

This reflects the language of the conservative heritage foundation Project 2025 A document that promotes many of the Trump administration’s policies. “To the left is a weapon [CISA] “To censor speeches and to impact elections at the expense of ensuring a cyber domain and critical infrastructure.”

But election officials warn that there is a direct correlation between election disinformation and political violence.

Federal officials have led an investigation into the roughly 20 death threats received by Colorado Democratic Secretary Jena Griswold in the past 18 months, Griswold said. Federal and Colorado officials also worked together on social media disinformation and mass phishing scams.

“Trump makes it easier for foreign enemies to attack our elections and democracy,” Griswold said in an interview. “He incited all this violence, attacked our electoral system, and now he’s using the federal government to undermine us.”

Colorado, she said, could rely on private vendors to look for weaknesses in probe systems, for example. But states will be difficult to replicate the training, testing and intelligence of federal partners.

However, some election leaders are not worried.

“Kentucky has no elections scheduled for 2025. There is no immediate concern that the agency’s restructuring is pending,” Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams told Stateline in an email.

Elections under attack

Since the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign, the federal government has recognized that it has overlooked security risks in the electoral system, and is a lawyer for election and government programs at the Brennan Centre Derektysler said he is a left-leaning democracy. Research Institute.

Additionally, the federal government said it has realized that election officials working in 10,000 local offices are not frontline national security experts. On their own, local officials are unable to address greater security risks or discover coordinated attacks in some states, Tissler said.

Much of the federal government’s expertise and training came through the CISA, Tissler said.

“Foreign interferers are generally not trying to interfere in Illinois or Texas elections. They are trying to interfere in American elections,” he said. “Anywhere threats affect all states. It’s important that information is not confined to the state line.”

Voting locations in several states during the November presidential election I received it The threat of bombs that dates back to Russia. That’s what the Oregon and Washington voted dropboxes were I set it on fireand video I’m drawing it incorrectly Election workers destroying votes were widely circulated.

The fact that these attacks have not had a meaningful effect on election outcomes may be due to the amount of preparation and training that has emerged from federal aid in recent years, Democrat Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said Ta.

Certainly, the foundation of the right trend for the defense of democracy praise The cooperation of federal, state and local partners on election security to attenuate the effects of foreign interference in presidential elections found that the enemy had no “significant” impact on the outcome.

When Bellows took office in 2021, federal national security authorities led state officials in emergency response training. After Bellows completed her training, she claimed that state store clerks, local emergency responders and law enforcement officers were also involved.

Additionally, Maine coordinated with the FBI to provide de-escalation training to local store clerks and teach them how to get a way to prevent the situation, including disruption from belligerent voters. In 2022, CISA officials traveled to state towns and cities to assess the physical safety of polling stations and store clerk offices.

Bellows said he is most grateful for the federal help she got when she received a massive flood of death threats last year, members of her family were docked, and her home wasted It was done.

“I deeply believe that what’s going on is to steal the security infrastructure of the election that exists and take away the vast amount of knowledge and expertise in the name of this political battle. I’m worried,” she told Stateline.

In Ingham County, Michigan, Clerk Barb Byram invited two federal employees to come to the court office in southeastern Lansing to assess their physical safety last year. Birum has received county funding to make improvements, including adding ballistic film to security cameras and office windows.

“Federal support will be overlooked,” she said. “The Trump administration appears to be doing everything it can to promote foreign interference in our elections. We must remain vigilant.”

Scott McDonnell, a clerk in Dane County, Wisconsin, frequently speaks with the Department of Homeland Security to identify cybersecurity threats, including alerts about certain software vulnerabilities and other attacks around the country. I did. Losing that support could encourage more interference, he said.

“I think that’s a terrible idea,” he said. “How can we hope that someone like me here in Dane County can handle that kind of thing?”

The state fills the gap

Local election officials are nervous and uncertain about reducing security in federal elections, as president and CEO of Verification Voting, a nonprofit that works with state and local election officials to keep their voting systems safe. One Pamela Smith said.

The election threat landscape is “extreme,” she said. And while it’s not a major election year, a quieter era is when election offices can prepare and perfect their practices, she said.

“It’s a hideaway and it’s really wise,” she said. “It’s a bit of a saying that the bank will have a late day on Tuesday. I’ll let the security guards go home.”

The Fed will issue harsh warnings to state election officials before November

With the federal government escape, states need to provide these types of programs and support, said Tammy Patrick, chief program officer at the National Elections Association, which trains and supports local officials.

“There’s going to be a big gap that the state is trying to fill,” she said. “Some of them may be refined enough to do some of them, but there will be some really different applications across the country, who can fill those gaps. I think so.”

Bill Eckblad, Minnesota election security navigator, relies on the federal government to learn about election safety and potential threat ropes, helping local election offices with better cyber practices and statewide They helped staff update with the latest phishing attempts.

He feels disappointed to see the federal government retreat and fears he will not have access to intelligence about foreign threats. However, after working with the federal government for five years, he hopes his state has built up resilience.

“We’ve come a long way,” he said. “We can move forward with or without a partnership we have enjoyed in the past.”

(Stateline) It is a nonprofit news network that is part of the state newsroom and supports a coalition of grants and donors as a public charity of 501C(3). Stateline maintains editorial independence. For questions, please contact editor Scott S. Greenberger. [email protected]. )