San Diego, California - With less than 60 days to go until Election Day 2020 this November 3rd, every American has a role to play in protecting the election from threats against the democratic process. Nationwide, the FBI has initiated public awareness messaging about election security at fbi.gov and across our social media platforms.
The goal of this social media campaign is to increase public awareness about threats to the upcoming election and to inform Americans how they can help the FBI ensure election security. These threats include crimes the FBI has been charged with investigating for decades, including campaign finance crimes; voter/ballot fraud; civil rights violations, unique cyber threats targeting the election process; and the potential for foreign influence on the democratic process, elected officials and institutions.
“In these uncertain times, the FBI remains steadfast in its efforts to protect and defend the United States and its people from election interference by criminals operating from near or far, at the ballot box or via cyber space,” said Suzanne Turner, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Diego Field Office. “This includes safeguarding our elections to ensure fairness and to prevent influence by foreign governments who wish to leverage relationships via threats or bribery for their own political motives or national interests.”
“Free and fair elections are critical to our democracy,” said United States Attorney Robert Brewer. “As our nation nears the November 3 general election, my office will continue to work with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, United States Postal Inspection Service, and state and local partners to protect the voting public from all manner of threats—both foreign and domestic—that could compromise the balloting process.”
The FBI is the primary investigative agency responsible for engaging with election security counterparts to coordinate strategies and to safeguard election integrity. The FBI is also the lead federal agency for identifying and combating malign foreign influence operations targeting our democratic institutions and values through the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF). The FITF brings together all FBI authorities and capabilities from multiple divisions to include Counterintelligence; Cyber; Criminal; and Counterterrorism.
The FITF is committed to providing accessible tools and resources to all levels of government through both in-person briefs and online tools, such as our Protected Voices campaign, found at www.fbi.gov/protectedvoices. Protected Voices is a public facing initiative, which provides political campaigns, organizations, and other election security stakeholders with tools and resources to protect against malign foreign influence and cyber security threats.
In addition to protecting the November 2020 election, the FITF remains focused on persistent malign foreign influence efforts targeting our democratic institutions and processes outside of election events and works closely to address threats targeting the democratic process and American elections.
In San Diego, election security information and educational resources about how to protect your voice can be found by following the FBI at @FBISanDiego.