By Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Over the past few weeks, I have given considerable thought to the message I want to convey to Vermonters on this important topic.
The world of cybersecurity has changed significantly for election officials over the last five years. Turn back to September of 2017, when Department of Homeland Security officials confirmed what we had suspected for months: Russian cyber actors had attacked our elections in an attempt to unduly influence the outcome.
This reality changing announcement kicked off a years-long public education campaign that continues today about the many layers of robust cyber security we have in place protecting elections. From the ‘gold standard’ voter marker paper ballot we use in Vermont, to post-election audits, strict chain of custody procedures, routine penetration testing, threat prevention, detection and mitigation, multifactor authentication, and state and federal partnerships, my goal has always been to be transparent and give Vermont voters the information they need to feel confident in the security and integrity of our elections.
This won’t be the last time you’ll hear me say the phrase “cybersecurity is a race without a finish line.”
This threat landscape is ever-evolving, but rather than talk about the protections we have in place for election systems, I want to discuss a threat that is as, if not more, dangerous to fair elections. It just so happens it is one we can all play a role in defeating. Election disinformation threatens to rip our country in two if we do not join together to do something.
Red or blue, it doesn’t matter: how can we expect to have civil conversations when swirling around us everywhere we turn we see conspiracy theories, offensive memes, and outright lies designed to warp our own perceptions of the democratic process until we turn on each other?
It has been almost a year since the 2020 General Election, and the results were carefully and deliberately certified by Democrat, Republican, and non-partisan election officials across the country, but it doesn’t feel that way when I go online. Instead, I see the same old disproven conspiracy theories, designed to appeal to those who didn’t like the outcome and spread in an effort to weaken our confidence in American democracy.
At best, bad actors push false rhetoric that leaves us badly informed. At worst, disinformation and deliberately misleading mal-information leads to abusive and threatening behaviors, including death threats and physical violence.
We are teetering on a knife edge, and if we are to find our way off, it needs to be together. I hope you will use this Cybersecurity Awareness Month as a reminder to look only to primary, official sources for your information. The talking heads in our news feeds don’t count: it is on all of us to verify the information we hear before promoting it ourselves. If you’re skeptical, or have questions, reach out to those who have answers. You can call or email my office anytime, and we will gladly answer your questions to best of our ability.
Disagreeing with each other through civil discourse, based on facts and evidence, is the minimum standard we must consider in order to return to a healthy democracy. Please join me: be skeptical about what you read online and think before you link!
Categories: Commentary
Vermont Citizens,
Should any of us trust and/or listen to advice from Secretary Condos on cyber-security? From my view, this is a sad and fake attempt of assurance from Secretary Condos. We don’t need empty words from our Elected Officials who CONTROL OUR ELECTIONS. Show us THE RECEIPTS SECRETARY CONDOS. WE NEED CONCRETE PROOF. DO AN OUTSIDE AUDIT.
This article has Secretary Condos joining in with the gas lighting and lies, hoping you will all tell your lying eyes you didn’t see what you saw in the November 2020 Election. ALL the freely available evidence, investigations, audits and the proof that has come out since, is just made up and all conspiracy theories.
Be sure to recognize, Condos is just doing his job as part of the Elitist Hierarchy. They are all members of the same Lying, Agenda Driven, Political Machine. Condos and his Cabal of Associates in the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office have shown us they don’t care or Believe in our US and/or Vermont Constitutions, Our Individual Freedoms or Free and Fair Elections.
Let’s Look at the Actions of Secretary Condos:
1.) This is the man who took away local control of Election Ballots from Town Clerks and Citizens in
every Vermont City and Town.
2.) This is the man who led the replacement of the Vermont Citizen counting of Ballots by
mandating the use of voting tabulator machines in Vermont.
3.) This is the man who has ignored and brushed off all of the issues with the voting
tabulator machines in Vermont.
4.) This is the man who instituted the Mass Mailing of Ballots to ALL names on every checklist
in Vermont for the November 2020 Election.
5.) This is the man who has his own office and staff audit themselves and then give assurance
that ALL IS FINE when asked by Citizens about Election issues and tabulating machines.
6.) This is the man who ignored ALL of the Undeliverable and returned Mass Mailed Ballots in
Vermont.
7.) This is the man who then instituted the PERMANENCY OF THE MASS MAILING OF
ELECTION BALLOTS TO ALL NAMES ON EVERY CHECKLIST IN VERMONT FOR ALL
FUTURE ELECTIONS.
8.) Does the system Secretary Condos has in place allow Non-Citizens to register and vote in
Vermont? Ask him?
DON”T WORRY VERMONT VOTERS AND CITIZENS!
SECRETARY CONDOS HAS EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL!
Antifa, which is now “VT Antifascist Network”, directed by Marina Brown, holds sessions on cyber security and hacking.
I wonder if this happened in Vermont? Or how many other states, but I forgot there’s no voter fraud. However, there seems to be lots of election official fraud.
https://thelibertydaily.com/bombshell-press-conference-wisconsin-sheriff-shows-massive-voter-fraud-in-nursing-homes-helped-steal-2020-election/
If you want to hear some REAL TRUTH about the November 2020 Election, listen to the great speech at the link below.
https://radiopatriot.net/2021/10/25/bannon-lincoln-day-dinner-pima-county-az-keynote-address/
So enjoy when they double down on deception with projection. Treasonous evil man.
BE AWARE!! CONDOS IS A GAS LIGHTING PROJECTOR!!
EVIL LIARS AND TRAITORS like Condos are the REAL INSURRECTIONISTS. They hate our CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC AND CITIZEN FREEDOMS. They hold positions in our government to work at trying to destroy it from the inside out.