OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The University of Southern California hosted a virtual forum with experts and politicians Thursday to talk about cyber-security. It was a chance to identify the problem and find possible solutions.
“Disinformation is one of the most significant threats we are facing right now. It strikes right at something voters really need and that’s facts”
Secretary of State of Colorado Jena Griswold says disinformation helped spur the insurrection of the US capitol in January, she pointed to congressmembers like Paul Gosar and Lauren Boebert who put out disinformation themselves.
“Who are spreading lies about 2020 and the electoral process for really their own partisan politics,” said Griswold.
Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon said replacing outdated voting machines and doing pre-election cyber-checks would help ensure safe elections.
He also pointed to China, and specifically Russia, who targeted American elections with disinformation.
“I believe their misinformation campaign was unconscionable. I consider it to be a form of information warfare that has fueled mistrust and lack of civility among Americans across political and social spectrums,” said Bacon.
We also saw several Iowa officials including US Senator Joni Ernst and Secretary of State Paul Pate, with Pate meticulously going through ways Iowa keeps elections secure, saying all 99 counties go through training and procedures to make that happen.
“My job is to ensure the integrity of the vote is maintained and we continue to work with all 99 counties to ensure that every Iowans vote is protected,” said Pate.
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft says he’s hoping their legislature will vote to make Missourians only vote on paper ballots.
“As we’re trying to go to hand-marked paper ballots. If the voter gets a paper ballot they fill it in themselves, that ballot was act, they don't have to worry about that,” said Ashcroft.
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