'The Trust Has Been Absolutely Destroyed'

"The email that federal law enforcement sent this week to the nation's top election administrators would have been routine just a few years ago. "Your election partners," the Tuesday missive from FBI Election Executive Kellie Hardiman read, "would like to invite you to a call where we can discuss preparations for the cycle." But multiple secretaries of state who received the document told us they viewed it as a threat, given recent events."

"The FBI had just seized 2020 election materials in Georgia, and President Trump had announced his desire to "nationalize" elections, a state responsibility under the U.S. Constitution. The Department of Justice has sued more than 20 states to obtain their election rolls, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is conducting an investigation of U.S. voting technology. The upshot is that a yearslong partnership between state and federal authorities-in which the feds have provided assistance on election security and protected"

Federal law enforcement invited top election administrators to a preparatory call, but many state officials perceived the outreach as threatening. Recent federal actions—an FBI seizure of 2020 materials in Georgia, DOJ lawsuits seeking voter rolls in over 20 states, and an ODNI investigation of voting technology—have heightened suspicion. A long-standing cooperative relationship, where federal agencies aided election security and protected local systems, is fraying. Secretaries of state from both parties report that trust has been destroyed. With midterm elections approaching and presidential rhetoric questioning result legitimacy, federal-state cooperation on election security faces significant strain.

Read at The Atlantic