Skip to main content

Episode 4: All Things Elections

All Things Elections

Show Tile for All Things Elections

Suspected meddling during the 2016 presidential election led to a controversial Department of Homeland Security designation of elections as critical infrastructure. This federal foray into election security met with initial criticism and concerns about the appropriate role between local, state, and federal government officials in keeping the electoral process secure. In just about a year and a half since that announcement was made, DHS and its affiliates have made a lot of progress.

This month’s podcast with two DHS officials includes discussion about the reasons behind the critical designation—“the Russian government at the highest levels was interested in particulars of our voting process”—and why Americans might feel more confident about the system today—“we haven’t seen…specific and credible threats to election infrastructure since 2016.” Hosts Democracy Project director, Dr. John Fortier and Democracy Project Associate Director, Matthew Weil are joined by DHS Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection (acting), Bob Kolasky and DHS Senior Cybersecurity Advisor, Matthew Masterson to touch on where risk in the system is most worrisome and how to combat it ahead of 2018.

This podcast can also be found on Apple PodcastsStitcher and Google Play.

Tags