By implementing a new voting system, taking steps to transition San Mateo County to an all-mailed ballot voting model and hiring more elections staff members, officials at the San Mateo County Elections Office hope to continue keeping a growing number of risks at bay for upcoming elections.
Following reports of sophisticated cyberattacks targeting the public and private sectors and the rise in the use of ransomware to compromise local government operations, among other threats, elections officials are intensifying their focus on working with agencies at all levels of government to protect San Mateo County’s elections infrastructure, noted Chief Elections Officer Mark Church in an email.
Though he said ballots cast during the 2016 presidential election were not compromised or changed, Church acknowledged the damage done by the intrusion into voter databases by nation-state criminals attempting to undermine the nation’s democratic institutions. With reports of instances in states other than California when voter registration databases were scanned and altered and evidence malicious actors disseminated misinformation on social media, public…
