Election Officials Sound Alarm on Strained Federal Ties

Wesley Wilcox, a Republican who serves as supervisor of elections in Marion County, Florida, doesn’t mince words about his relationship with Washington. “There’s no sort of level of trust or anything else at this point in time” between his office and federal partners, he told POLITICO’s Morning Cybersecurity newsletter. Coming from a member of the president’s own party, that’s a striking admission as the midterms approach.

The frayed relationship matters. State and local officials have spent years preparing for bomb threats at polling places, large-scale disinformation campaigns and state-backed hacking. Federal agencies once helped with that work. Now, officials in both parties say the partnership has soured.

A Partnership Under Strain

During its second term, the Trump administration has sought more federal control over state election administration, according to the newsletter. It cited the president’s February call for Republicans to “nationalize” U.S. elections, a March executive order restricting mail-in voting, and a nationwide push to access voter rolls in every state and check them against a federal immigration database. That effort has reportedly faced scrutiny over purging eligible voters from state rolls.

The Department of Homeland Security rejected the premise outright. “The assertion that DHS is attempting to exert more federal control over elections heading into the November midterms is totally false,” the department said in a statement.

State officials aren’t buying it. “Our No. 1 risk at this point is the federal government,” said Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Colorado was one of 15 states DHS flagged this summer to watch for “vulnerabilities in upholding election integrity.” Griswold said federal officials wouldn’t be welcome inside Colorado’s Cyber Command Center, which the Colorado National Guard stands up every election to protect election infrastructure from cyber threats. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told CNN the administration had stopped providing state officials with election-security briefings.

Federal Capacity Cut Back

Last year, the administration made steep cuts to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s personnel and funding, including its election-security work. States were left increasingly responsible for protecting their own systems.

CISA has since announced some of its first public election-security actions since the cuts, including a 13-page plan released late last month outlining free resources for state and local election offices. Some officials said it arrived too close to the midterms to help. “The latest CISA plan is a day late and millions of dollars short,” said Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat. “The states and localities are going to ensure that there’s a free, safe and secure midterm election, despite absence or interference from the federal government.”

The administration has also moved to relitigate the 2020 election, which federal agencies and state election offices have repeatedly called “the most secure in American history.” In February, the FBI seized years-old ballots from Fulton County, Georgia. In a July address, the president highlighted Chinese efforts to access voter rolls and risks involving voting machines but offered no evidence that the 2020 election was stolen.

Some state officials fear the doubt-sowing itself is the danger. “The biggest disservice to our country is to have people disengage with the civic process,” said Delaware Secretary of State Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez, who co-chairs the state’s Task Force on Free, Fair and Secure Elections.

Security Concerns Beyond the Ballot

The newsletter flagged other threats to federal and public systems. The Coast Guard is reviewing whether to keep ships controlled by the China Ocean Shipping Company, or COSCO, in its Qualship 21 program, which gives vessels preferential treatment, including fewer port inspections. Almost a dozen COSCO-operated ships were enrolled as of the week of the report. The review followed a September Reuters report alleging COSCO used hidden equipment to intercept military communications off U.S. coasts, and came a day after Reps. Rick Crawford, John Moolenaar and Carlos Gimenez, all Republicans, wrote to DHS. The Coast Guard said its leadership had “directed an immediate review.”

Hackers stole personal data on all 7 million students enrolled in California public schools over the past three school years from the Educational Testing Service, a contractor to the state education department. The exposed data included names, addresses, demographic information and disability status. Separate attacks hit the Transportation Department’s safety agency contact center, government websites used to transmit bankruptcy notices to federal courts, and the FBI’s online jobs portal. The group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the FBI breach.

Why This Matters:

Election administration in the United States rests with states and counties; the federal government was meant to support them, not control them. When officials in both parties say that support has eroded, local budgets and staff carry the practical burden. They now bear more of the cost of defending against hostile hackers and foreign adversaries. The newsletter’s other items, from Chinese-controlled ships under scrutiny to millions of students’ records exposed, show how real the threats are. Voter confidence depends on clear, accountable lines of authority and evidence-based claims. If trust between levels of government keeps breaking down, states may need to rely more heavily on their own resources, and Congress may face pressure to clarify who is responsible for what before the next cycle.