State election officials say federal agencies have failed to provide necessary security assistance for the midterm elections.
No federal support, state election officials fear interference
States allege that CISA, a bipartisan federal agency created after the 2016 election to prevent election interference, is being obstructed by the Trump administration.
State election officials do not expect the federal government to reliably share election threat information during midterm elections, according to internal documents from the National Association of Secretaries of State obtained exclusively by USA TODAY.
“Federal agencies are not viewed by states as a reliable and sufficient option as a national hub for sharing election threat information,” the bipartisan association said in a March 27 memo. It added that “states do not expect these entities to reliably share the information they receive.”
The concerns reflect a widespread loss of trust in election officials following layoffs, funding cuts and organizational changes at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Since 2018, the agency has been the primary conduit for election security briefings and cyber assistance.
For months, election officials have been working across party and state lines with nonprofit and technology companies to create alternative channels to share intelligence and cybersecurity support. Several officials said the effort is unlikely to match the federal system it seeks to replace.
“I think we can get by until 2026,” said Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat. “I think it’s enough, but it’s never equal.” “You’re talking about a real possibility that something could slip through the cracks. There are a lot more cracks than there used to be.”
The March 27 memo summarizes a recent meeting between the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Officials that included threat intelligence teams from Microsoft and Google.
Republican and Democratic leaders of the National Association of Secretaries of State signed the memo.
Mississippi Republican Secretary of State Michael Watson, the association’s president, responded on March 27, “It’s just a quick review, but I don’t see a problem with it.”
The staff of the president-elect, Democratic Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, responded positively on March 30th.
This memo and other documents were obtained through a records request by Property of the People. The National Security Transparency nonprofit shared them exclusively with USA TODAY.
“The documents make clear that even Republican leaders are being forced into industrial arms to protect America’s votes from the Trump administration’s continued interference with election infrastructure,” said Ryan Shapiro, executive director of Property of the People.
On March 11, Watson and the association’s board asked the White House to continue providing threat intelligence to state and local election officials.
“There continues to be uncertainty regarding the availability of federal services for the 2026 election year, particularly regarding the sharing of election threat information. I have been in contact with the Department of Justice and the Acting Director of CISA in recent days, and I hope these conversations continue,” Watson said in a staff statement.
CISA responded to requests to address concerns with a statement summarizing CISA’s responsibilities.
“We are committed to supporting state and local election officials to protect election infrastructure and protect our democracy,” it said in part.
The agency did not respond to requests for examples of its work with states in 2026.
federal government withdrawal
Fontes said both Republican and Democratic-led states have seen a significant drop in support from CISA over the past year.
“You can’t get any information, you can’t get support, you can’t get help,” he said. “CISA has basically been watered down as far as support for election administration is concerned.”
USA TODAY contacted more than a dozen Democratic and Republican state secretaries for this story. No Republicans were available for interviews, but two staff members acknowledged that the federal government had ended much of the pre-election coordination it once did with states.
Since President Trump signed the law in 2018, CISA has become a conduit for the federal government to distribute election security resources, including threat awareness training and classified briefings on foreign attempts to interfere in elections. It also provides cyber and in-person security assistance and the ability to monitor election-related websites for potential attacks in real time.
But the Department of Homeland Security laid off one-third of CISA employees in 2025 through buyouts, early retirements, forced reassignments, and outright layoffs. It later eliminated millions of dollars in funding for several state and election infrastructure information sharing programs. The move effectively dismantled the infrastructure that alerts election officials to potential cyber threats. CISA does not yet have a Senate-confirmed director.
Since returning to office, President Trump has called for the “nationalization” of elections and is working to overhaul the administration of elections in the United States. Meanwhile, his administration has sued states for access to voter rolls, and the FBI has seized 2020 election materials in Georgia and Arizona. He has talked about sending the National Guard and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to polling places and encouraging states to train election workers on what to do.
David Becker, founder and executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, a nonpartisan nonprofit that works with election officials to strengthen election security and integrity, said the move makes many election officials of both parties nervous about trusting the federal government.
“I don’t know of a single jurisdiction that is looking to the federal government as a leader, as an expert, as a partner. In fact, they are preparing for the opposite,” Becker said.
Information sharing initiatives
State officials say nonprofit and private sector partners are becoming more important as federal aid recedes.
The National Association of Secretaries of State, which has long been a forum for secretaries to discuss election security threats, is stepping up its efforts this year, said spokesman John Milhofer.
Another internal email sent March 30 says the association doesn’t want to over-promise what it can do compared to what the federal government has done in the past.
“We are basically encouraging everyone to share everything depending on their comfort level with each organization in each state. Unfortunately, I think NASS and NASED are the only options to ensure sharing with other states this year, but there’s not much you can do (other than make connections) when it comes to incident response,” the report said.
Fontes said state officials are relying not only on their relationships with each other, but also on the national guardrails they have already put in place.
“I was hurt and spent a lot of time and energy trying to get things back on track,” he said.
Maine Secretary of State Shena Bellows, a Democrat, said states are now paying costs that used to be borne by the federal government and that they often learn about cyber incidents through news reports rather than federal briefings.
“They have continued to send the message that states are self-reliant,” Bellows said.
For example, he said, election officials were not given confidential briefings about whether Iran was stepping up efforts to interfere in the election as the war continues.
Working with the private sector and nonprofit partners should help fill in the gaps, she said, “but there’s no question that this is really a function that the federal government should provide.”
Hobbs and other state election officials said they feel effectively isolated at a time when nation-states are pouring untold resources into interfering with U.S. elections.
“They’re putting all these resources into it, and we’re going to have to fight separately. The 50 states and territories will be fighting separately. We’re trying to come together as much as possible. We’re doing our best, but it would be great if the government could add another layer of protection to that,” Hobbs said.
Private technology companies enter the picture
The email, dated March 27, also said that major tech companies that track threats targeting domestic and international elections, including Microsoft, Google, Cloudflare and Halcion, intend to brief election officials about the threats throughout the year. NASS already offers briefings from private companies and is planning a series on election threats this year.
Officials welcomed the increased help from private companies, but said it cannot replicate the intelligence-gathering capabilities of agencies such as the FBI, National Security Agency and DHS. Hobbs said the difference is that federal agencies often alert states to threats before an attack occurs.
For example, Hobbs said that in 2023, he received a call in the middle of the night from the director of CISA. Federal agencies detected unusual activity from foreign IP addresses accessing websites in Clark County, Washington, including the elections section.
Mr. Hobbs disconnected the state’s voter database from the site and dispatched a rapid response team to fix the gap where foreign users slipped through. The website was back up within 100 hours.
Even if the same thing happened before the 2026 midterm elections, such a call would not occur. Hobbs said he’s concerned about the possibility of a cyber attack and that without the “security blanket” of federal assistance, election officials wouldn’t even know.
