The 2024 AWC Annual Conference in Vancouver covered a wide range of important topics for issues that impact cities. One of the issues at the core of our political system is the maintenance of free and fair elections from the local level all the way through to the federal level. Both foreign and domestic actors may try to disrupt or interfere with our election system, and local governments can take steps to ensure the integrity of elections. This year’s conference featured a session titled Federal election crimes and election infrastructure security.
The speakers for the session included election crime investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and security advisors from the federal Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). CISA is responsible for securing the nation’s critical infrastructure, including elections systems.
Our speakers gave a great talk on risks facing election systems nationwide, responding to election crimes, and strategies and tools for protecting our election systems from bad actors. Here are a few highlights from their presentation:
- Foreign influence. Foreign powers are expected to try to interfere with U.S. elections in 2024, including from interference and influence efforts by Russia, China, and Iran. The expected contentiousness of the 2024 election cycle feeds into the perception that the U.S. could be particularly vulnerable this year.
- Tools for securing elections. CISA has tools and training available to help local governments protect their elections systems, including providing physical security assessments, offering cybersecurity advice, and guidance and training on protecting election infrastructure from insider threats, physical compromise of ballots, and cyber threats. Including election drop box security considerations.
- Election Crimes Coordinators Program. The FBI investigates certain voter/ballot fraud crimes, civil rights violations, and campaign finance violations. The FBI also has created a “Threats to Election Workers Task Force” to help identify, investigate, and mitigate threats against elections workers.
If you want to learn more about what your city can do to better safeguard elections, you can reach out to our speakers at the contact information below: