Susannah Goodman

On Election Day, we were bracing for widespread attempts at election interference. Instead, what transpired was a relatively smooth Election Day. Unfortunately, recent cuts by the Trump administration to critical support for state and local election offices will make it harder to ensure future elections go as smoothy.

Agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have cut millions of dollars from the programs that have helped repel cyberattacks, influence operations and physical threat attacks from hostile foreign governments such as China, Russia and Iran. Because of these cuts, state and local election officials now face sophisticated foreign intelligence agencies seeking to influence our election results with significantly less federal support.

Hostile countries have been attacking our election infrastructure for years. A network of federal agencies working with our election officials has helped thwart those attacks. At Common Cause, we see the effectiveness of this network firsthand. We co-lead the Election Protection Coalition to help Americans navigate the voting process and cast their ballots without obstruction, confusion or intimidation. We deploy thousands of volunteers at polling places, monitor social media for harmful election disinformation, and recruit legal experts to staff the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline.

Our program is more effective and our votes are more secure because of the efforts of the federal government to keep hostile actors at bay.

In this past election, there were no widescale power outages caused by cyberattacks, voter registration databases did not go offline, voter check-in systems worked, and voters could cast ballots for the candidates of their choosing. This occurred because federal agencies were working to protect state and local governments from cyberattacks, physical threats and foreign interference.

–On Election Day in 2024, multiple bomb threats were called into election offices from Georgia to Pennsylvania to Florida. Instead of creating panic and confusion, election officials calmly responded — sometimes closing temporarily to sweep the site. It was widely understood that the bomb threats were perpetrated by a foreign nation, according to the FBI.

–Before Election Day, Georgia was hit by a major cyberattack. The state repelled the attack, and business continued as usual. States have worked closely with the federal government and used its resources to prepare for and fight off these attacks.

–Before the election, a video circulated showing an individual ripping up ballots in Pennsylvania. Government agencies, including the FBI and CISA, quickly attributed the video to a country intent on sowing distrust in our elections and discredited it. Left unaddressed, this video would have stoked fear and doubts among voters.

Unfortunately, the Trump administration is dismantling many systems that allowed for those and countless other successes.

–The FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, which helped flag the fake ballot destruction video, has been disbanded. The task force has helped flag numerous foreign government-funded campaigns to deceive American voters. Frank Figliuzzi, former head of FBI counterintelligence, stated, “It’s now a free-for-all for foreign intel services seeking influence.”

—More than 100 employees have been fired from CISA.

–A network that provided real-time threat alerts to election officials and incident response has been disbanded and defunded. The network, called the Election Infrastructure and Information Sharing and Analysis Center, had been housed at the Center for Internet Security. Almost half of the Center for Internet Security funding, $10 million, has been eliminated.

Election officials, especially from smaller jurisdictions, are concerned that losing federal support could incentivize more interference.

The American public’s ability to have their voices heard on and before Election Day is at significant risk. Much is threatened without critical cooperation between the intelligence community, state and local elections officials, and law enforcement on specific threats and attacks.

State and local officials need federal assistance to contend with sophisticated election attacks by Russia, China and Iran.

Elections are being held nationwide this year — in red and blue localities. The Trump administration must reverse course on these dangerous steps. Not doing so would be a dereliction of its constitutional duty to provide for the common defense.

Congress must pressure the administration to backtrack, and it must pass legislation to safeguard and fund our elections.

Susannah Goodman is the director of the Election Security Program at Common Cause. She wrote this for InsideSources.com.