Learn about election security in upcoming DeKalb panel

DeKALB – DeKalb County residents are invited to attend a virtual panel ahead of the November election to learn more about secure elections and how to detect misinformation.

The online event, dubbed “Election Integrity vs. Election Disinformation: What Can You Do,” will begin at 7 p.m. Sept. 25. It’s hosted by the League of Women Voters of DeKalb County and WNIJ, which is part of Northern Public Radio.

The panel will be livestreamed via WNIJ for all who wish to tune in live. Submit questions for the panelists at wnij.org/election, or watch the livestream the night of at www.wnij.org.

Participants include DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder Tasha Sims and Matt Dietrich, spokesperson for the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Dietrich is expected to walk participants through steps that the state has taken to improve election security. Sims will talk about local election security, according to the League of Women Voters.

Election officials across the state have assured voters in past years that their tallies are safe and securely counted after a 2016 data breach before the general election was linked to the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into Russian meddling of U.S. elections, The Associated Press reported.

Officials discovered in summer 2016 that a hacker had downloaded information on up to 76,000 Illinois voters in what federal authorities allege was a concentrated attack by Russian intelligence agents, but whether they penetrated states other than Illinois has never been determined.

State officials notified those affected, and there’s no indication that voting that fall was affected.

The state of Illinois has spent millions of dollars in the almost 10 years since then shoring up election system security and working with clerks in towns and cities across the state on messaging to assure voters that their ballot is safe to cast.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.