Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate paid a visit to Adel yesterday morning to meet with the media and poll officials in what was the first of several stops between now and Election Day to talk about cyber security.
Pate and Dallas County Auditor Julia Helm talked about the steps the State and County take to ensure there’s no meddling in the election, which he says has been of great concern to voters around the country. “When we started this election cycle, we knew that we were going to be dealing with cyber security because of the last presidential election. And we have been addressing a lot of those issues. But the other piece of this, and one that came through loud and clear — both from local organizations who are involved in elections and promoting voter activity, and on the national level — has been that we needed to do more to communicate to the voters that the integrity is there, that we’re doing our job, and that you can’t tell them enough of what we’re doing.”
Pate emphasized that Iowa utilizes paper ballots and the tabulation machines are not connected to the internet, so there is no chance of any cyber tampering with the election itself. However, he also warns voters to be careful what they hear about the election via social media or digital contact from people not associated with county auditor offices. Pate advises people to contact the Dallas County Auditor’s Office if they need any additional information or have questions about the election.
Click the link below to view a video about election security in Iowa as prepared by the Secretary of State’s Office.