Overview
- President Donald Trump publicly declassified and cited intelligence that he says shows U.S. election systems are exposed to foreign hacking and influence, but the White House has provided limited detail to state officials and outside experts.
- Former CISA chief Chris Krebs and other election-security experts say they have seen no evidence that foreign actors changed vote totals and note routine classified briefings and federal outreach that once existed have largely stopped under the current administration.
- DHS and the Justice Department have urged states to use the federal SAVE system to screen voter citizenship and warned of fines, penalties, or prosecution for noncompliance, while experts caution SAVE has incomplete data and can misidentify citizens.
- State election officials report uneven or absent federal outreach on the recent claims, and some states are pursuing their own protections such as laws limiting federal agents at polling places and New York’s one-year moratorium on large-scale data centers.
- Senators have signaled oversight fights over intelligence appointments and declassification choices, a dispute that raises stakes for election administration and trust in federal help with about 100 days to go before the midterm contests.