(TNS) — Local elections officials were reminded of a new and different challenge facing the country’s election systems on Wednesday at Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea’s virtual summit on cybersecurity.

The reminder came from James Ludes. The director of Salve Regina University’s Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy talked about former President Donald Trump’s rejection of the 2020 presidential election results.

This was on the back end of Ludes’ extensive presentation on Russia-based efforts to undermine the U.S. election system.

“I think we have to talk about the elephant in the room,” Ludes said to 150 elections officials and information-technology professionals.

Trump’s allegations of election fraud and cheating have “intertwined with and reinforced” narratives advanced by foreigners to the point that it’s “difficult to determine who the first mover is,” Ludes said.

He told the crowd he is terrified by an alignment between narratives propagated by foreigners and those amplified by “domestic sources.”

“Sincerely, it terrifies me,” he said. “The former president of the United States continues to push a big lie in rallies across the country and in statements that America’s election was corrupt and that he was cheated out of victory in 2020. We have to have confidence in our electoral outcomes. It’s one of the reasons the work that you do is frankly sacred.”

Ludes, who holds a Phd from Georgetown University, has extensive experience researching disinformation campaigns run by foreign entities, including Russian intelligence services.

His background working on President Barack Obama’s transition team was acknowledged. Ludes cited a report from the bipartisan U.S. Senate Select Committee On Intelligence as a source for his comments on Russian influence campaigns and efforts to undermine U.S. elections.

During her comments, Gorbea said her goal for the summit was to provide an academic-based perspective on what’s happening in the greater context. “When we talk about cybersecurity, it can get overwhelming particularly with all the noise on the partisan side,” she said.

The summit, which included an hour-long private briefing from the FBI, included a presentation by a representative of a Johnston company, Protocol Networks, that is assessing canvassers’ local computer networks for Gorbea’s office.

Afterward, several local elections officials acknowledged the challenging environment for managing elections, from foreign threats to the corrosive effects of endless speculation, without evidence, about fraud in the 2020 election.

Tracy Nelson, Newport’s election administrator, emphasized the importance of controlled processes for managing ballot drop boxes. Only two people, she and another staff member, have keys to the boxes, she said.

“We do our jobs professionally, thoroughly, and we take it from there,” Nelson said.

Michael Narducci, manager of Woonsocket’s Board of Elections, said he wasn’t shocked by Ludes’ remarks.

He and Nelson both emphasized the work that has already been done to strengthen Rhode Island’s system, which Ludes lauded as a national leader.

Nick Lima, director of elections in Cranston, acknowledged that people who have reached the highest levels of government are now questioning the integrity of the nation’s election system. The work of keeping the local system strong and reassuring the public that it’s secure continues, he said.

“Things change,” Lima said. “The world changes. We have to change with it. That’s part of our job now.”

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