Newsletter: How the US is ‘unilaterally disarming’ against foreign election interference
How the US is ‘unilaterally disarming’ against foreign election interference
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) has had great success fighting foreign election interference, supporting physical security and cybersecurity for election offices and fighting election disinformation. Since its founding in 2018 under the first Trump administration, the agency has been widely regarded as nonpartisan. CISA stood up for election security and the work of election officials, particularly in 2020 and 2024. Top election officials and experts across the country are concerned about recently announced staffing and program cuts, targeting the agency’s work that protects election infrastructure and identifies disinformation campaigns. CEIR Executive Director David Becker told CBS News that these cuts will “only embolden attackers.”
Other initiatives fighting foreign election interference have also faced cuts. The FBI Foreign Influence Task Force, formed in 2016 to address and uncover attacks and election disinformation campaigns by foreign adversaries, was disbanded. Additionally, the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or EI-ISAC, a partnership that works closely with election officials across the country to support election cybersecurity, was defunded.
Becker told StateScoop, “American elections should be for Americans. They should not be for foreign adversaries to mislead the American people. And that was something we all agreed upon on a bipartisan basis, apparently up until recently.”
EOLDN helps election officials facing federal targeting
As the challenges facing election administration continue to evolve, CEIR remains steadfast in our dedication to supporting this profession and those who choose to undertake it.
In recent months, election officials have voiced a new concern: targeting by the federal government, simply for running transparent and fair elections. In preparation, the Election Official Legal Defense Network (EOLDN), a project of CEIR that matches election workers with pro bono attorneys, is ready to support election officials facing federal targeting.
EOLDN has launched a large-scale recruitment campaign, searching for additional attorneys who may be able to support an election official facing targeting by, for example, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or Congress.
Election officials are invited to request legal support, and attorneys and law firms can learn about joining the network on EOLDN’s website.
Seminar: ‘Can democracy survive the 21st century?’
CEIR Executive Director David Becker will be moderating the Aspen Institute Socrates Spring Seminar, titled “Can democracy survive the 21st century?,” from March 28-31st in Aspen, CO. For more information on the seminar content and tuition, please visit the Aspen Institute website. We hope you can join us!
‘Undemocratic’ and ‘radical’: Losing candidate challenges 65,000 NC ballots
North Carolina’s Supreme Court race this year was very close with an initial count showing a 734-vote margin. Despite two recounts confirming that margin, certification is still on hold. The losing candidate has gone to extreme measures, challenging the eligibility of 65,000 voters in hopes that enough would be disqualified to overturn the results. CEIR’s David Becker said, “It goes beyond almost any lawsuit that I’ve seen before in challenging an election.” Now, the case is before the state Court of Appeals.
NC voter lists are public, so both candidates had the opportunity to bring these claims well before the election, demonstrating that the losing candidate’s concern is not election integrity but the election results.