INDIANAPOLIS — The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is working to combat doubt and uncertainty about the security of U.S. elections.
"There is no evidence that malicious actors changed, altered, deleted, or had any material impact on the outcome of the 2020 election,” Jen Easterly, the Director of CISA said. “That has been validated time and time again including in dozens of court cases and in multiple Intel assessments."
CISA addressed the steps the agency has taken leading up to November 5th.
"The election stakeholder community and election officials have never been better prepared to deliver safe, secure, free, and fair elections for the American people,” Easterly said.
With the election just around the corner, stress levels are at an all-time high and a senior researcher at Tufts University says that stress is highest among young people.
"LGBTQ+ youth, also women, as well as we are starting to see patterns where the youth of color,” Sara Suzuki a Senior Researcher at Tufts University said. “Those three groups were experiencing higher levels of stress during the election."
Suzuki, who has been studying election stress on young people since 2020, says rhetoric targeting the political involvement of those groups and access to voting, both play roles. Suzuki says voters must be critical of where they get their information and encourages them to lean on support groups to reduce stress.
"Be engaged with peers who are like-minded,” Suzuki said. “Be engaged with spaces where adult mentors could facilitate dialogue about the things you care about."
CISA says the agency is prepared for challenges following Election Day. They hope that Americans can come together and understand that counting votes takes time.
"It may take a couple of days to a couple weeks to do the final certification that has to be done,” Easterly said
CISA is encouraging Americans who have questions about election security to visit their website. The agency recommends getting voting information from your local and state election officials.
To read Suzuki’s research click hereand here.
WRTV has a compiled a list of information, dates and locations Hoosier voters should know ahead of Election Day.
