DHS Says Voting Systems Not Compromised, Amid Departures at CISA

Two election committees of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a joint statement on Thursday saying there was no evidence of voting systems being compromised, noting that the recent election “was the most secure in American history.”

The statement comes from the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) Executive Committee — which includes the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) — and the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council (SCC).

“When states have close elections, many will recount ballots. All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary. This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors. There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” the statement, posted on CISA’s website, reads.

“Other security measures like pre-election testing, state certification of voting equipment, and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s (EAC) certification of voting equipment help to build additional confidence in the voting systems used in 2020.

“While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too,” the committees told the public.

The statement was released following apparently unfounded allegations of election fraud made by the Trump administration and its supporters.

It also follows reports of CISA officials departing. Bryan Ware, assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, is leaving the agency on Friday and some unconfirmed reports say the White House has asked him to resign.

There have also been reports that Christopher Krebs, the director of CISA, expects to be fired by the White House.

CISA has set up a Rumor Control website whose goal is to debunk misinformation regarding the election. The website addresses rumors related to bad actors changing election results, the DHS and CISA printing ballots with security measures, the election process being hacked or compromised if the results reported on election night change over the following days, defaced election websites resulting in a compromised election, and voter registration database leaks, among many others.

Reuters reported that the White House did not like some of the content posted on the Rumor Control website and demanded that CISA edit or delete information. The agency has refused to do so.

Several officials, including senators Ron Wyden and Mark Warner, have praised Krebs for his role in protecting the elections following the news of his possible ousting.

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