Super Tuesday marks first major security test of 2020

Tuesday’s presidential primaries across 14 states mark first major security test since 2018 midterm elections, with state and local election officials saying y are prepared to deal with everything from equipment problems to false information about coronavirus.

States have been racing to shore up cybersecurity defenses, replace aging and vulnerable voting equipment and train for worst-case scenarios since it became clear that Russia h launched a

In 2016, Russians weaponized social media to sow discord among Americans, scanned state and local election systems for cyber vulnerabilities and deployed targeted release of stolen campaign emails and documents.

U.S. intelligence chiefs have warned that foreign interference remains a threat for 2020 election. And recent outbreak of a new virus could present a b actor with an opening to spre false information to keep voters away from polls.

One California county has sought to dress concerns over coronavirus by sending bottles of hand sanitizer to polling places and asking poll workers to post fliers from public health department on how to avoid spreing virus. Jesse Salinas, chief elections official in Yolo County, California, said a few poll workers have backed out over concerns but most understand threat is relatively low. county h reported cases as of Monday morning.

“We are hoping people remain calm and still participate in election process,” Salinas said.

California is also a heavy absentee/mailed ballots state, so most people will be eir mailing or dropping off ir ballots, which creates or challenges. Election officials have been warning public t to expect complete ufficial results on Tuesday night, and that results could fluctuate as ballots come in and are counted over several days. Ballots postmarked on primary day will be counted as long as y are received within three days. Election officials have up to 30 days to certify official count.

This year’s voting got off to a rocky start, but t because of any foreign interference. A mobile app deployed in Iowa by state Democratic Party failed spectacularly night of Feb. 3 caucuses and delayed reporting of initial results for nearly 24 hours. Subsequent voting in three states occurred without major problems.

Unlike Iowa caucuses, which were run by state parties, state and local election officials will be ministering Tuesday’s elections in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Coloro, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, rth Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia.

“Texas voters can rest assured ... that our office and those of local and county elections officials are committed to working hand in hand to ensure smooth elections as well as integrity of our electoral process,” said Stephen Chang, spokesman for Texas Secretary of State’s Office.

states vary considerably in ir use of techlogy to run elections. Some utilize computerized voter lists kwn as electronic pollbooks to check in voters, while ors rely on paper. Voters in a few places will be using new electronic voting machines that produce a paper record of voter selections while some voters in Texas, Tennessee and Oklahoma will be using older ones considered vulnerable by election security experts.

In California, a new publicly owned computerized voting system — first of its kind in nation — will face a crucial test in Los Angeles County, nation’s largest elections jurisdiction with 5.4 million registered voters.

new system won conditional state approval despite serious security and technical issues, with county ordered to offer all voters option of using hand-marked paper ballots. An estimated 63 percent of voters were alrey expected to vote by mail using hand-marked paper ballots. Such ballots are considered most reliable by election security experts because paper can’t be hacked — or altered by programming errors.