Feds: Voting is safe and secure INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The federal agency Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Friday said voters are safe and secure during a press conference. Federal agencies are working with local polling centers to ensure every vote counts. “Election infrastructure has never been more secure no matter who you vote for. You can have confidence your vote will be counted as cast,” said Jen Easterly, director at CISA. At the County-Council Building, Brent Stinson, the deputy director for the Marion County Election Board, said CISA was present to ensure poll workers were properly trained in everything from de-escalation tactics to testing voting systems. “They looked at our voting locations for election day to give a physical evaluation,” Stinson said. “We also had a tabletop exercise earlier in the summer to train the staff. We utilized resources like how to de-escalate anybody who may come to a polling location that might be upset.” Feds said local machines are not connected to the Internet, meaning it can’t be hacked. Early in-person voters hold on to their ballot. The only time their ballot is out of their hands is when it is sealed in an enveloped by an election worker. However, the voter watches the entire time. The voter then takes their vote and drops their ballot into a box. That box, at the end of the day, is placed in a secured locked vault. The ballots in the box won’t be counted until Election Day. All polling locations will have a police presence. A deputy from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office is present when the centers are open, and Stinson said during Election Day, all polling centers will be high priority for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. This after election workers were threatened during the 2020 election. “To be a poll worker in a democracy comes with risks, and they’re willing to take that risk so people can vote,” Stinson said. As for mail-in ballots. Stinson said, “Here in Marion County, we may be the only county in the state that employs intelligent mail barcode from the post office. So, we can track someone’s ballot from any post office from our facility to when it’s on its way back.” Officials did stress that there are real foreign threats from Russia, China, and Iran to compromise the election, but because elections are managed locally, it will be harder for foreign adversaries to infiltrate. Each ballot has a paper record that can be counted and recounted as a check.“I felt safe, secure,” said Eric Harned, an early voter. “I’m happy with the simplicity, especially being a first-time voter, not knowing what to expect. Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.