WASHINGTON – The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a statement Thursday claiming the 2020 presidential election was “the most secure" election "in American history.”
Together with the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council, U.S. Election Assistance Commission, National Association of Secretaries of State, National Association of State Election Directors and the members of the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council, CISA issued the following statement Thursday:
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"The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. Right now, across the country, election officials are reviewing and double checking the entire election process prior to finalizing the result.
"When states have close elections, many will recount ballots. All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary. This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors. There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.
"Other security measures like pre-election testing, state certification of voting equipment, and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s (EAC) certification of voting equipment help to build additional confidence in the voting systems used in 2020.
“While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too. When you have questions, turn to elections officials as trusted voices as they administer elections.”
CISA, an agency that operates under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, made the announcement as President Donald Trump’s campaign for reelection initiates several legal battles over election security and voter fraud throughout the country.
The agency’s statement directly contradicts the rhetoric being pushed by Trump and his campaign, which alleges rampant voter fraud occurred throughout the U.S.
Trump has constantly insisted, without evidence, that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him -- even when election officials nationwide from both parties say there has been no conspiracy. Democrat Joe Biden was declared president-elect on Saturday, Nov. 7.
In Michigan, Trump and his team have filed a lawsuit in an effort to halt the state’s certification of its election results. The latest lawsuit included hundreds of claims asserting that GOP poll watchers were excluded from counting rooms or saw illegal activity in the count in the state.
Though these individuals have claimed they were not allowed to enter ballot-counting rooms, as it has been repeatedly explained, it was discovered that the number of poll watchers from both parties had already exceeded the legal limit allowed in the room at one time. That is why those individuals were not allowed entry.
The Trump campaign is suing Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson along with the Wayne County and the Michigan Board of Canvassers, which are in charge of reviewing elections. While the case is filed in the state’s Western District, which does not encompass Wayne County, the campaign is more likely to find a sympathetic judge there as opposed to the Eastern District.
On Wednesday, Trump went after Benson on Twitter with another false claim of voter fraud, arguing that “Nobody wants to report that Pennsylvania and Michigan didn’t allow our Poll Watchers and/or Vote Observers to Watch or Observe."
Benson replied to the tweet and said the reason why “nobody wants to report that is because it’s not true.” She included a link to her office’s fact-checking page that explains there were hundreds of Republican challengers and poll watchers at the ballot counting in Michigan.
Benson also clarified another tweet from the president in which he falsely claimed voting software from the company Dominion deleted hundreds of thousands of votes for the president. A clerk in Antrim County failed to update the software, which caused it to incorrectly record votes. The human error was discovered and corrected.