UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — With the midterm elections just weeks away, fewer than half of American voters expect the elections will be free and fair, according to a poll released last month by the University of California, San Diego, Center for Transparent and Trusted Elections. Concerns reported include interference at the polls and the effects of deepfakes and artificial intelligence.
Chris Krebs, the former head of the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), will visit Penn State University Park to discuss these threats and more in a public lecture Oct. 29 at 4 p.m. in the Greg Sutliff Auditorium, 118 Katz Building. The event is sponsored by the McCourtney Institute for Democracy with support from the College of Information Sciences and Technology, Rock Ethics Institute and School of International Affairs.
According to the Center for Transparent and Trusted Elections’s poll, 63% of Democrats, 58% of Republicans, and 49% of independents are “somewhat” or “very” confident that votes in the midterm election will be counted as cast nationwide. Trust among each group has declined sharply since the 2024 election, the center reported.
From 2018 through 2020, Krebs oversaw CISA’s efforts to manage risk to the nation’s businesses and government agencies, bringing together partners to collectively defend against cyber and physical threats — including elections. He also started the Rumor Control program, which was designed to counter disinformation campaigns.
Krebs now serves as a CBS News contributor and founding partner of the Krebs Stamos Group. In a July appearance on CBS News's Face the Nation, Krebs called on the federal government to ensure that state and local election officials has the resources they needed to carry out elections in November and beyond.
"We need to give them the funding and the resources they need to modernize their election system and get the people out there that conduct these safe, convenient and secure elections," Krebs said.
Election officials and voting rights organizations fear this lack of trust and increased political polarization will lead to more challenges to election results or even acts of violence at polling places. The Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University found that 54% of local elected officials reported experiencing at least one form of hostility in the first quarter of 2026.
On Face the Nation, Krebs highlighted the need for the federal government to share intelligence about threats of violence with state and local officials so they can take the necessary steps to protect election administration staff and volunteers at the polls on Election Day. As CISA director during the 2020 election, Krebs said he and his team conducted 33 classified briefings with election officials about potential threats.
"If there's intelligence that needs to be shared with the states, get it to them," Krebs said.
Krebs’s lecture on “Safeguarding Democracy: Addressing Risks to the 2026 Midterm Elections” is free and open to the public. Visit the McCourtney Institute for Democracy website for additional information.