Around this time in 2016, Matt Dunlap felt like heavy objects were falling out of the sky. “The FBI and Homeland Security were making these broad pronouncements about outside interference, and they weren’t talking to election officials,” said Dunlap, Maine’s secretary of state.Two years after U.S. intelligence agencies said they were confident the Russian government was interfering with the presidential election, 47 percent of people who responded to a recent national poll said they believe that the Russians will try again in the Tuesday midterms.
But this year, Dunlap told the Bangor Daily News, things are different and election officials are better prepared.
The secretary of state said his office has been in “constant contact” with federal agencies about election security and is working closely with Facebook. The social media site has “really tightened up its rules” about sharing campaign and election information, said Dunlap, a Democrat who served on but later sued President Donald Trump’s voting security commission.
Mainers, he said, can have confidence in their election system — primarily because it remains low tech — but also shouldn’t hesitate to reach out to local or state officials if they’re seeing information that gives them pause.
“If you hear something [questionable], before you act on it by marking a ballot in a way you had not intended, your first line of defense is to talk to your local election official,” Dunlap said. “If you hear a rumor and act on it without getting some clarity on whether it’s real information or not, then you’ve fallen into the trap.”
Election officials in Maine and around the country have increased their focus on cyber security during the past two years. Likewise, voting integrity has garnered greater attention from the news media — including the Bangor Daily News, which will be looking out for poll problems as part of the Electionland initiative.
But Dunlap said that Maine is actually “far better positioned” than most states because it still relies on paper ballots.
“There’s nothing there really to hack,” he said.
Voters with questions or concerns about the elections can call the secretary of state’s elections division at 207-624-7650.
This story appears through a media sharing agreement with Bangor Daily News.