State officials are at the core of 2020 election security

(AP) SPRINGFIELD, Va. – Past and present national security leaders are urging state elections officials to consider themselves linchpins in efforts to defend U.S. elections from an attack by Russia, China or other foreign threats. Officials from 24 states recently gathered near the nation’s capital for training by a Harvard-affiliated democracy project. The key message: Developing a military mindset will help them protect the integrity of the vote. The need for such training reflects how worries have grown in the aftermath of the 2016 election, when Russian military agents targeted voting systems across the U.S. as part of a broad effort to influence the presidential election.