Trump Claims Voting Machine Vulnerability as Federal Agencies Skip NASS Conference

State election officials gathered in Rapid City for the National Association of Secretaries of State summer conference, where they noted a significant absence of federal partners. Representatives from the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI, the Justice Department, and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission were missing from the event. This lack of cooperation follows the Trump administration's firing of U.S. Election Assistance Commission commissioners earlier in July.

During the conference, Donald Trump delivered a primetime speech claiming that voting machines are vulnerable. This rhetoric coincided with warnings from state officials about the security gaps created by the federal absence. Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon and Connecticut Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas argued that the lack of government-grade intelligence assessments and foreign actor monitoring creates national unevenness and security risks ahead of the midterm elections.

In contrast, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose dismissed the importance of the missing federal briefings, stating they had limited value. While some officials seek ways to replace these assessments, others warn that private vendors cannot replicate the specific intelligence capabilities of the U.S. government.