San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has joined more than three dozen cybersecurity experts and professional security organizations in calling for the White House to keep politics out of securing this month’s election. Election security officials and computer security experts must be able to tell the truth about the security of Americans’ votes without fear of retribution.

The experts and organizations were moved to action after reports that the White House is pressuring the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and its director Chris Krebs, to change CISA’s reports on election security. CISA has pushed back against baseless allegations of voter fraud and security problems—including many promoted by President Trump— through its “Rumor Control” website, and recently published a statement renouncing “unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections.”

“Elections are partisan by their very nature, but the workings of the machinery that helps us cast and count votes should be completely independent,” said EFF Deputy Executive Director Kurt Opsahl. “Election security is vital to our right to choose our government, and we can’t let the White House stop experts from telling the truth about where we stand.”

Just yesterday, another group of cybersecurity and election security experts issued an open letter, warning that claims of voter fraud in this month’s election are “unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent.” Some of today’s letter signers also joined yesterday’s effort.

“Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy. Americans must be able to trust the experts when they say there is—or isn’t—a problem,” said Opsahl. “The White House should reverse course and support election security, as well as the processes and people who safeguard our vote.”

For the full open letter:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/elections-are-partisan-affairs-election-security-isnt