Talks about changes to the pandemic and foreign interference. This was hosted by the federalist society. Thank you for joining us today. Election 2020, securing the vote in the age of cybersecurity, misinformation, and pandemics. We are glad to be joined by our speaker as well as 13 circuit judge, the moderator. Before i turn it over to the judge, a couple housekeeping items. We are looking forward to returning to in person soon as possible but we are still doing these virtual events. Our first event will be october 1, cohosting with the sarasota and polk county chapters, featuring a judge from the sixth Circuit Court of appeals to discuss a new book, the essential scalia. Book, the essential scalia. That is october 1 and will be via zoom at 12 00 as well. Just a quick housekeeping item on our event today. If you have any questions at the end, there is a q and a function at the bottom of your screen. We will go to your question and pass along to our speaker. So now i will introduce our moderator. The judge was appointed to the bench by governor rick scott in 2012, where she served until 2018 and Governor Scott again appointed her to the Circuit Court here. Appointment,dicial the judge was a career prosecutor in tampa. She is Board Certified in criminal law and has 15 years of jury law experience persecuting homicide, violent crimes, arson, and other cases. She also handled all parole matters for the circuit. She received her bachelor of arts degree with honors in the university of florida. She is also a longtime member of our chapter at a supporter. Committee for a number of years. We are thankful for her participation and her longstanding support. Over to you. Hello to everybody out there in the cyber world. It is my great pleasure to be your moderator today and my pleasure to introduce our speaker for today, secretary of state laurel lee. Secretary of state lee was appointed by Governor Desantis as floridas 36th secretary of state and began serving in february of 2019. States worked with the infrastructure and cybersecurity defenses, increased Voter Registration and participation, to raise awareness and protect Historical Resources and to advocate for the arts and cultural community. As floridas chief Elections Officer, secretary lee works to ensure Fair Elections in the state. Desantisgovernor ron directed secretary lee to conduct a review of our statewide elections infrastructure. In response, terry lee led the joint secretary lee led the innt election adjective partnership with aussie t7 supervisors of alexion to identify and mitigate any vulnerabilities in floridas election infrastructure. It represents an on precedented an unprecedented cooperation to enhance cybersecurity statewide. Secretary lee is committed to encouraging and promoting participation in democracy. She is honored to serve as floridas chief Elections Officer during the Centennial Anniversary of the a of the ratification of the 19th amendment and is a member of the womens suffrage commission. She is also floridas chief cultural officer. She serves as an advocate an ally for arts and cultural organizations around the state. She serves as floridas state protocol officer, heading the office of international affairs. She works to create and foster strong and productive diplomatic relations between florida and other countries. Secretary lee previously served as the Circuit Court judge in the 13th judicial circuit. She was appointed by governor rick scott in 2013 and was reelected without opposition in 2014. During her time as a Circuit Court judge, secretary lee provided senator leah presided in the appellate division. She also worked in private practice and as a federal judicial law clerk. Secretary lee received her bachelors degree and her juris doctor degree from the university of florida. She was inducted into the university of florida hall of fame in 1999. I am privileged to introduce secretary lee today because she served as a judge on the bench where i sit and she was my suite mate for two years. I knew when she got appointed to be secretary of state that it was going to be a great loss to our bench in hillsboro county. I also knew it was for the greater good because it was going to be such a huge benefit to all the citizens of the state of florida. It is my great privilege to welcome secretary of state laurel lee. Sec. Lee thank you for the kind introduction. I also want to thank elliott and morgan for inviting me to be here today. As judge gabbard mentioned, this is not only an excellent opportunity for me to get to share with all of you what we are working on in the department of state and how we are preparing for elections but for me personally, it is an opportunity to get to connect and see and talk to so many former friends and colleagues from my home county and my home chapter of the federalist society. I am delighted to get to be here today. What i will do today is share an overviewit about of elections in florida. What we are doing at the department of state to prepare for election 2020 including addressing impacts from covid19. A discussion of the threats we face. I will leave you with a couple ideas about how you can be engaged Community Leaders and support our democracy. I want to start with just a little bit of information about floridas elections and our voters. Of current figures, right almost 14 million registered voters in the state of florida. Among those 14 million, we have 4,000,009 hundred 38,433 republicans. 5,000,001 hundred 76,890 democrats. Million 634,924 and pas. Why are these numbers significant for us . First, florida is the third most populous state in the nation. We have a very high number of Electoral College votes. Therefore, we are a perennial battleground state in the context of a president ial election. We see the numbers of registration are very close as divided among Political Party. We are a purple state where a statewide candidate of any party of either party can win the election. We have a history of very close elections, even in the most significant of races. We expect this year as is always the case that florida will receive a great deal of attention over the next 61 days. Just a bit about our infrastructure. As secretary of state, i serve as floridas chief Elections Officer and oversee many critical activities at the department of state that are related to elections. The department of state is responsible for maintaining our statewide Voter Registration database. We test and certify all voting systems in the state of florida. We issue rules and advisory opinions to ensure that floridas elections are conducted fairly and consistently across our 67 counties. We are also responsible for voter outreach and education. I amuld have mentioned going to go through some information about pertinent topics but we will leave time for any questions you may have. We will leave ample time for that. One thing that is important to know about the structure of our elections system in florida is we work very closely with local Election Officials. Your county supervisors of alexion. Those supervisors are responsible for what you see on election day. The precincts, the voting machines, mailin ballots, the election workers, all of the logistics associated with your boating experience are handled by the Election Officials. That being said, state and local Elections Officials work very closely together in some critical ways. One of these that is especially important in these times is a new initiative we undertook during Governor Desantis adm inistration. If we think back prepandemic, the number one topic that i think was on everyones mind and of incredible significance was cybersecurity and the strength of our elections system to withstand attacks. We are certainly seeing a renewed level of interest and discussion of this subject as we approach election day. I will begin by sharing information with you about the work we are doing on cybersecurity to keep votes in florida secure. Back in may of 2019, Governor Desantis conducted Governor Desantis directed me to conduct a review of our elections infrastructure to make sure we were ready for the 2020 president ial election. To accomplish this, the department of state are nerd with all 67 of floridas supervisors of election to conduct and elections for fig Risk Assessment of their network and cybersecurity infrastructure. We wanted an assessment of not just what we have in tallahassee but also the systems that were in place in each county. Each one of them agreed to undertake this process with us. Our cybersecurity experts went out into each county and conducted the Risk Assessment. For the first time in our states history, developed a picture of the strength of that system statewide. Now that we have that picture, we have been able to work closely with supervisors of elections to review their networks and assess and strengthen any type of vulnerability or risk that was identified in each county. That is what we have been doing for the last year and a half. We do this not only by providing what it will Grant Funding in state Grant Funding and state funding for counties who need it to address those vulnerabilities it also by providing handson support for counties who need it. Florida is a very diverse state. We have some local Elections Offices with large, robust staff, and internalized staff equipped to manage some of these challenges themselves and other counties are not in the same situation. They may have a small staff, the matured resources. We have worked very hard to be sure we are utilizing our resources. Those are people with expertise and our dollars to allocate to this project and focusing on the areas that need that support the most. Developmentificant in florida elections during Governor Desantis adminis tration has been our membership in the electronic information center. Also known as eric. Eric allows us to crosscheck Voter Registration data with that of other states. This will help us identify duplicate registrations and voters who have moved or passed away and will lead to cleaner, more accurate uptodate voter rolls. Another very important piece i am very excited about erics is that we will be reaching out just after Labor Day Weekend to every single potentially eligible but unregistered voter in the state of florida to give that voter information about how to register and the three methods of voting that voters can choose in our state. This is an absolutely unprecedented effort and commitment by Governor Desantis and also the Florida Legislature to do this type of outreach to ensure that we are communicating with every potentially eligible voter and encouraging those voters to come out and participate in those elections going forward. A few words on some of the challenges we face. The covid19 pandemic just when we thought we had a plan to address all of the challenges ahead, get ready for the election, a plan and a contingency plan we believed we thought of everything, and along comes the pandemic. As it has in every sector, the pandemic has required us to go back and think about how we conduct elections and make any adjustments that are necessary to be sure we have an orderly election process but also do everything that we can possibly do to keep voters and election workers safe during the election. Theave had since coronavirus outbreak, we have had two elections in florida. In march, we had our president ial preference primary. In august, we had our primary election. One of the things we noticed the pandemic affected was first, precinct location. We had a number of precinct locations in florida. Some of which were located for example at assisted living facilities prior to the pandemic. Early on, we made the decision those could not be used in the interest of maintaining the health and safety of those residents. We did have to adjust and move a number of polling locations. We also experienced election worker attrition. Workers,tion particularly for the march election when a Public Health guidance was evolving, we had a number of elections workers who chose not to participate. Governor desantis entered an executive order to assist supervisors of elections in meeting these challenges. That did several important things. It directed state Emergency Energy meants department to coordinate providing ppe and Sanitation Equipment and supplies to all supplies to the supervisors of alexion to make sure they had everything they needed to keep polling locations sanitized and safe. The order also provided administrative leave for state employees who were interested in hitting training and working as workers. That developed a very capable pool of potential elections workers supervisors can draw upon. Schools it encouraged to work with their local supervisors of elections to service precincts. If there were areas of the state that were having precinct shortages, that would be an opportunity for them to place locations. We have been working closely to be sure whatever method of voting a voter chooses, that if a voter ops to vote early or vote in person, they will be met precautions, sanitizer cleaning products, elections workers will be in masks, and supervisors will be enforcing social distancing so that measures are in place. One thing to bear in mind about this is we are expecting a large voter turnout for the president ial election in november. As we work hard to ensure things like social distancing, sanitizing machines, equipment ,nd any things that are touched voting may take longer this year. It will not be a surprise if we do see lines, spacing voters out, nicking extra efforts to ensure everything is sanitized making sure everything is sanitized. We are trying to communicate with voters that they may need to be a little patient and expect voting may take longer this year. Another thing i want to touch because this one is in all the headlines and has been the subject of much discussion. That is about by mail. As we have discussed, voters have three options in florida. Vote by mail, vote early, vote on election day. Florida is what is referred to as a no excuse vote by mail state. In other words, you do not have to have a specific reason in florida you would like to vote by mail. Any registered voter is eligible to vote by mail. That is if that is the method he or she prefers. Election,t general approximately one third of voters chose to vote by mail. The voters broke out about evenly between those three methods. We had a third vote by mail. The primary in august, a much higher proportion of voters opted to vote by mail. We are expecting that to continue for a general election in november and expect that we will have a High Percentage of voters opt to vote by mail. One thing that is important to know about the vote by mail process much of the dialogue we are hearing surrounding vote by mail is a national dialogue. Some of the concerns you are hearing expressed really are not applicable to the way we conduct voting by mail in florida. In florida, although any voter is eligible to vote by mail if that is the voters preference, a voter must actually contact their supervisor of elections and request to vote by mail. That is the first of many important safeguards we have in place surrounding our vote by mail process. A voter must request that ballot. The request must correspond to a voter who is on the voter role. Once the ballot is received, voter must sign the ballot and return it. Supervisor of alexion compares the signature of election compares the signature to ensure it came from the voter who was intended. Some of the concerns that are being expressed around the vote by mail process relate more to those who would propose mailing vote by mail ballots to all registered voters on a voter role regardless of whether or not that voter has made a request for a ballot. Things like that, which actually do raise so much more significant concerns about the integrity of the process and how well controlled the process is. Are veryn florida, we fortunate that we are experienced with vote by mail, it is something we have been doing and doing successfully for many years, our supervisors know how to implement it, our postal carriers know to expect it. Interestingly, a fun fact is that florida has had vote by mail in some fashion since 1917. We have had voting by mail in its present form for close to 20 years. We are very experienced with this. We know how to do it well here and are confident we can maintain that system and the integrity of our voting process. Challenge we will move on to another challenge we face. It is timely and important to discuss in the context of elections. That is the subject of misinformation and disinformation. Generally thebout concept of foreign interference in elections. When we talk about foreign interference, it is important to distinguish between efforts to pack or penetrate our networks and misinformation and his information. Both can be forms of foreign interference, that they are very different in what we do to defend against those threats is also very different. Misinformation and disinformation refers to trying expect voter leaf. Voter belief. It is something that is going on. A classic example of this type of behavior might be to put information out on the internet targeting voters, telling them their precinct location has changed or election day was moved to wednesday and not tuesday. Just this week, we had an example of disinformation. There was information thing circulated around social media that Voter Registration data had been hacked and was on the dark web. Fbi and the, the Cyber Security agency that is part of dhs, within a day, they came out with a joint statement that said there is no evidence any of this information has been obtained this year and that there is no evidence this is real. But, the challenge that persists rumor was while that circulating, it was tweeted, retweeted and shared on social media. All of those people who saw the original underlying information claiming that data had been breached and was on the web may or may not have seen the followup statement by the fbi and dhs saying no, that information is not accurate. That is a constant battle we will be fighting from now through election day, is to try to continue pushing out Accurate Information and quarreling rumors where they arise and quelling rumors where they arise. One of the things we are doing to combat the problem is the department of state, along with a number of other organizations including the fbi, dhs, many of the local supervisors of working together on Public Outreach for sizing the concept of trusted sources that when it comes to information about voting, information about your polling location, anything to election security, that voters need to go to their Election Officials or their Law Enforcement officials as opposed to what they see on social media. We are hoping to really touch voters and persuade them they need to be discerning consumers takeformation and not action or form believes based on just what they see on social media without checking it out to verify information. With that, im going to go to a couple of tips on how you can be engaged Community Leaders and support democracy. Then we will turn to an opportunity for all of you to answer questions about any of the things we have covered so far or anything else in the realm of elections you would like to discuss. Be effectivew to and participate in our democracy and continue to be the Community Leaders so many of you are. The first relates back to what we just covered. Be aware of election misinformation and disinformation. Encourage the people you talk with and work with to do the same. To think before you forward, to think before you retweet. That some of the information might not be accurate. Second is to continue to get your candidates to get to know your candidates and issues. Covid19 has affected so much. This would typically be the season where there are candidate forums and events and Community Outreach events and numerous opportunities where voters can go and talk to candidates or issue groups. That has been curtailed this year. In most cases, all of that information is being made available through different formats. Through online formats, Online Community forms. I would encourage all voters to continue to try to be involved and know what is on your ballot before election day. Finally, encourage action and engagement in your community. Whatever is your candidate, your party, your issue, we want to see increased participation in democracy and in our elections. During my tenure as secretary of state, we have increased Voter Registration by over 1. 3 million voters. We are getting ready to do this massive eric mail out to reach other potentially eligible voters. We are estimating that is going to be over 4 million floridians who may be eligible and are not registered to vote. We are hoping to have record numbers of registered voters in Voter Participation in novembers election. We are working hard to address and be prepared for the challenges we face. We recognize certainly, in the context of cybersecurity, we have invested millions of dollars and made incredible improvements to strengthen and enhance and really bolster our statewide election infrastructure over the last year. We also recognize that as a race for which there is no finish line. Face threatsll, we from foreign and domestic adversaries who attempt to gain access to our networks. It is a central we it is essential we continue to remain vigilant and work every day to make sure we are keeping our state elections secure. We will do Everything Possible to ensure that every floridian will have confidence in the integrity of our elections and security of their vote in 2020 and beyond. With that, i welcome any questions or discussions you have about our elections process or anything else the department of state does. All right. We have already started receiving a number of questions. The first one relates to vote by mail. Given the dramatic increase in requests for vote by mail, are there any concerns about fraud, not only in the request for vote by mail, but also in fraud related to the actual submission of vote by mail . Sec. Lee so, no. I will share with you why. This goes back to the most important thing in florida is there are other states in our nation who are trying to implement vote by mail for the first time. They have never done it before. They are trying to do it now. There are states where they have decided they are going to mail a vote by mail ballot to every person who is on the voter rolls. In our situation, it is very different. There is nothing different about how we are operating vote by mail except that we are operating our vote by mail system on a larger scale. That is a fundamental and key difference. A newd of trying to build system or do something we are not familiar with, we are increasing the scale. Important again, safeguards. A voter has to request the ballot. It must correspond to a voter who is on the voter rolls already. The signature is compared. We have a number of important safeguards in place to ensure that a ballot is going to its intended participant its intended recipient and it is coming back from its intended recipient. Im confident our election workers and our Postal Service are prepared to meet that increased demand. Also on the topic of vote by about,e have a question what safeguards are there in place to ensure or detect when a person has voted by mail and it has been requested and that same voter present themselves to vote at a precinct in early voting are on elections day . Sec. Lee and that actually happens all the time. That is something we are accustomed with and prepared for. It certainly happens that a voter, even precoronavirus, will request a vote by mail ballot and besides i am going to vote on election day. That is fine. Once that voters vote is recorded, it is done. The voter cannot vote twice. If the vote by mail ballot has already been received, that will be reflected and immediately apparent if they tried to check in to vote in person. If they have not, the vote by mallet the vote by mail ballot they were no longer be eligible to return the ballot. It will be detected immediately if it is mail back in to the supervisor of Elections Office. We have lots of questions about mailin voting. Another question is, are there any cutoffs for mailin voting that will reduce or eliminate the risk of someone voting by the and then going to actual polling place . I do think there are deadlines for when you can request the ballot. Sec. Lee yes. You can go ahead and make that request now. If you want a vote by mail ballot mailed to you, the deadline is 10 days before election day. One thing that is important and good to note about vote by mail i know there has been discussion about timeliness and the Postal Service and will my vote by mill ballot get back on time . If a voter has requested a vote by mail ballot and is concerned they waited too long, might not get there, there are many options for the voter to return the ballot in person. It can be returned at any early voting site. Even on election day, it can be taken to the supervisor of Elections Office to be dropped off if that is what the voter chooses to do. It is important to know that florida, unlike some states, ballot must be received ballots must be received by 7 00 p. M. On election day. We are not a postmark state. Just following up on that, there was a question apparently there has been a federal court order from the Northern District of florida extending the mail ballot time by three days after election day. Is florida going to be impacted by the . By that . Sec. Lee i do not expect we will. We were involved in litigation that had been brought to the court seeking to modify that provision of our Election Code along with a number of others. One of the claims in the case was seeking to change us to a postmark state or if they ballot had been postmarked by election day, we had to counted. We were able to resolve that case in a manner that did not in any way change our Election Code , did not affect any of those deadlines. We do not expect at this point that that part of our Election Code will be changed by a court during this election cycle. A bit of a different topic. With covid19 looming, do you anticipate for the upcoming election there being enough poll any issues with poll workers calling in sick on election day . Our lee so going back to march president ial preference primary, the particular point in time when that election happened, this was the point in history where the public was still learning about the pandemic. The Public Health advice was changing literally every day. Say no from advice to Mass Gatherings to advice you should not be a group of 100 or to 50, to 10 on election day. During the march election, we absolutely had challenges with many poll workers saying i am not coming, i will not be there, backing out at the last minute. Our local supervisors of elections did a heroic logistical effort at making sure they reallocated workers from different precincts, relocated them. We were able to nonetheless managed to have an election where the Voter Experience was not affected. Most voters had a very smooth experience and did not realize hind the scenes how much logistical adjustment had to happen. That was not the case in august because supervisors had a tremendous amount of time in their world in relative terms to plan. They had worked very hard to recruit and train new and additional poll workers and develop large backup pools of poll workers so they did have attrition, so if they did have attrition, they had a large pool of people to draw upon. If things stay relatively stable, we do not expect to have significant challenges with precincts and election workers. At this point, the pandemic is something that we know a lot more about. We understand what safety and Health Measures we need to be taking to ensure precautions are in place to keep elections workers and voters safe. Right now, things seem stable. We are working on contingency plans in the event things change. Another important thing as i mentioned, Governor Desantis has encouraged state workers to go out and work as poll workers. T is a tremendous incentive great groupble and of people who can fill in any gaps that may arise. Another question, there has been a movement to make election day a government holiday. Do you anticipate there being any possibility of there being an election day holiday . Sec. Lee i have not heard anything about that. That is not something that would be within my authority to decide or do. That is something that would have to come from our state legislature. I have not heard any inkling of that. So i do not know. All right. We have someone who does some immigration work that apparently has had some immigration clients that were told they were eligible to vote and when they were not eligible to. Vote when they were not some have been able to register to vote. Do you know if there are any safeguards or initiatives to verify a persons eligibility . Sec. Lee certainly, of course. Only citizens are eligible to vote. Those who may be visiting us or living with us who are not citizens are not eligible to vote. That is one of the things we review as part of our ongoing voter maintenance and ensuring the integrity of our voter rolls. Our objective in florida is to ensure all eligible voters are able to vote. The process is safe, it is secure, it is accessible, it is easy. But also that we continue to promote the integrity of our voter rolls so that those who should not be there do not participate. That is one of the many things we look at as we review voter rolls to ensure those who are allowed tole and exercise that right to vote. Going back to mailin voting. It is a hot topic today. Number andigh popularity of mailin votes, do you anticipate there being i guess what we are used to is on election day in the evening after the returns are coming in, they are able to call an election and say this person won. Do you anticipate there being any delays such that we can no longer predict a winner on Election Night and we are going to have to wait a couple days or do you think we can still watch those returns . Sec. Lee that is a great question. It is going to be an interesting thing to watch in november. I am optimistic that in florida, we will still have our unofficial relations unofficial elections results on Election Night. One of the other things that Governor Desantis has done to ensure supervisors were supported and have what they need during these unusual times, he expanded the amount of days supervisors could use to canvass the vote by mail ballot. ,nlike some states florida has a large amount of time where there is about can be reviewed. Primary, the supervisors were all caught up and ready to go with all of those ballots prior to election day. The only ballots they were having to tabulate were the ones that came in on election day. Another important feature is we have the 7 00 p. M. On election day deadline. For states who are using postmarks instead of 7 00 p. M. On election day deadline, they can be receiving a large volume after election day. Here i am optimistic that what voters will see will likely be the same with unofficial results coming in on Election Night, i know i have heard a number others a number of other secretary of state say they will not be able to have clear, decisive, even official results on election day. Sort of related on mailin ballots, are there any concerns that mailin ballots can be challenged in a way similar to our hanging chad historical challenges in florida . Are there any concerns about challenges regarding ballot signatures or something of that nature . Up. Lee so, because it came and this is a fun fact, this year is the 20 Year Anniversary of bush versus gore. Another important moment in florida history. Voting you all know, all equipment in florida has been modernized and we no longer use the butterfly ballot. You can go forward knowing that particular situation cannot be repeated. No more hanging chads. Sec. Lee no more hanging chad in flood. Hanging chads in florida. I am very glad i came into this job with my background as a lawyer and a judge. Is significant and constant. Many provisions of our Election Code and the way we do things are challenged routinely in court. We are perpetually in a state of litigation about things. Much of what we are doing now has already been litigated and resolved. I am hopeful that we will be able to get through november without seeing additional challenges. Our state legislature has fought carefully has thought carefully and has done a thorough job trying to anticipate challenges and the logistics of the election. I am hopeful we will proceed forward without any significant additional challenges to these types of provisions, but i am continually surprised at the volume and creativity of the lawsuits that we see. Court judiciary participates in elections on canvassing boards. Does the department of state have any training or do they do any work helping training not only the judiciary but the other members of folks around the state that participate in canvassing boards . Sec. Lee we sure do. We have a manual for canvassing Board Members that really walks through the alpha to omega of that process and what to do. That is available on the department of state website. Signatureveloped match training protocol so that anyone who is involved in the canvassing of those ballots can have training about how to look at signatures and help them determine what signatures constitute a match and which ones do not in an effort to develop greater uniformity around the state. Also on the topic of how areng boards, canvassing boards able to ensure sufficient Public Access to their meetings given the covid19 restrictions . Sec. Lee something we have been hearing in recent weeks. A are actually planning summit to include party leaders, Political Party leaders, local supervisors of election, Law Enforcement, to bring everyone into a room to talk about issues exactly like that. In some offices, in an effort to be mindful and cautious about the covid19 pandemic, their access and procedures to participate in that process were changed. We are going to be having that sitdown to talk about those procedures to make sure that whatever format is used, that Public Participation is acceptable and available for all who need it. We do anticipate issuing guidance to the supervisors on that subject. Have florida, we sort of felonsttled issue about being able to register to vote and subsequently voting. That i believe is pending, still some litigation. Are there any procedures in place to determine or detect whether or not there are people who are in eligible because they or is that ating supervisor election role or department of state addressing that . Time,ee yes, so at this there is still ongoing litigation. It is pending in the 11th Circuit Court of appeals. Sparing you the procedural background, at this point, the amendment as it was given to us by voters is in effect, which says essentially, that those who have been convicted of certain felonies have completed all can bef their sentence eligible to vote. We have at the department of state, continued throughout to process Voter Registration applications and identify those who would be ineligible. There are two significant classes of felonies better scluded from amendment four provision, namely murderers and we are also reviewing those applications for any who might still owe outstanding financial obligation so we have that pool identified and upon receiving a final rule from the court, can ask accordingly on this position of the voter files. One other thing i should say on amendment four, we put up lastnce in a frequent question section on our website. We understand there may be flirty into her unclear about the status of the amendment made the maybe floridians who are unclear about the status of the amendment. We added a section to our so voters can go there for resources. Has florida experienced any , either ourhacking voter database or tableting machines . Or tableting machines . Sec. Lee every single day, hack ours try to elections. This is a great point. I am glad this came up. Floridas vote tabulation machines are at no point during the voting process connected to the internet. We use hand marked paper ballots and our machines are not connected to the internet during the voting process. Assure whenhings i i am out in the community because i know there is great concern in florida, to put it simply, you cannot hack paper. Matter what happens, we have a permanent hand marked paper record of every vote that is cast in florida. Necessary, weame have that record and are very confident that our tabulation machine cannot and will not be hacked. A more credible, potential threat we face would be, we all do have out for outward facing websites that voters like to go sue like to go to. There is a greater vulnerability. Anything that is in outward facing website. We are working hard to secure and protect. While of someone were able to access that site and deface it, while it would not have actually changed anything about vote tabulation, vote totals and election outcomes, it could have the effect of undermining public confidence. If a website were defaced and reflected the incorrect winter r, thatrrect winne would undermine public confidence. That goes back to the initiative and how hard we have been working to fortify, bolster and increase the types of cybersecurity defenses we have on all components of our critical election system. We have spent the bulk of the time talking about your role with elections because that is what the topic was. As secretary of state, you do much more than that. If you could just for a few minutes talk to us about some of the things you do as sick a terry of state other than work on elections. Sec. Lee yes. Right now, elections takes up most of my time. But we do have some other wonderful things we do at the department of state. I think it is the most Diverse Agency in state government. We have elections, of course, but we also have the division of corporations, the division of cultural affairs, which is our there, we agency and work hard to support engagement in the arts and we administer a Large Grant Program to facilities around the state. We also have the division of library archives. We have the state library and archives. If there is ever anything you are interested in about florida is an incredible set of resources here. Be notnd this may that i have a favorite the division of Historical Resources. And, we focus on preserving promoting and protecting floridas precious Historical Resources. We employ a number of archaeologists, both terrestrial and underwater archaeologists. Over 3. 5 collection of million artifacts dating back to the paleo indian period that document every bit of floridas history. We manage four museums in tallahassee. Historyeum of florida the museum afforded history. I you are in tallahassee, hope you will call me and take time to see these exams. I have these museums. Ive gotten another question about mailin voting. Given the increase in mailin ballots, has there been any resourcest additional that have had to be devoted not only to handling and processing the request about also the counting of the mail and votes votes. Mail anin sec. Lee one thing you may have heard about is the federal government provided specific cares act relief funds related to elections. Florida received about 20 million. That came along with a 20 match that we have got to cover as well. We took that 20 million and made available to all local Elections Officials. Some of the allowable expenses it has to be related to consequences of the covid19 pandemic, some of the allowable expenses include covering postage related to vote by mail. Some of them are intending to use the funds to purchase things like highspeed tabulators so they can process vote by mail ballots that returned to their offices more quickly. They can be used for any florida ppe when necessary sanitations up ppe or necessary sanitation supplies. That has been a lot of help for Election Officials from eating the and meeting the unanticipated need. One has to be extremely organized and have great logistical and planning skills. They were ready for what they thought this election was going to look like. They really did encourage some did incur some additional expenses. It is helpful to have that cares act relief money. We have about four minutes left. We are scheduled until 1 00. Im going to ask one last phone question and will give you an opportunity in her Closing Remarks that you might like to give. Our fun question is going to be, what is Governor Desantis like and what is it like to work with Governor Desantis . Sec. Lee that is a fun question. To be with,antis, he has absolutely brilliant. He is able to retain information at an extraordinary rate. I think he is a very committed he is very committed always to doing the right thing from a policy perspective for florida. As you might imagine, that makes him a wonderful person to work for. To be able to be part of the administration and support that kind of commitment to improving our state, improving our states economy, improving quality of life for floridians, protecting our environment, these are things that i am proud to get to be a part of the important work he is doing and the way he is doing it. I will say, being in this role is certainly very different than serving on the bench. It is much more public facing where as judges, we tend to be a little more isolated in the mbers and apart from chambers apart from. The interaction on the bench i work a lot more with the community and Community Leaders. It is a very different feel but in a great and exciting way. I think this is an historic time to get to be serving in the administration. I am delighted to get to be here. It looks like we have got perfect timing. I am going to throw back to elliott for any closing comments he has. Before i do that, let me tell you, thank you so much for participating today. This has been super interesting and informative. Thank you very much for letting me participate. With that, i will throw it back to elliott. Thank you, judge gabbard and thank you, secretary lee. It was a really informative talk. Thank you, everybody for coming. Firsts a reminder, tober at 12 00 on zoom, will have judge sutton and ed President Trump goes on the campaign trail this evening. He will be in winstonsalem, north carolina, to speak to supporters there. Watch live starting at 7 00 eastern. Also Available Online at cspan. Org, or listen with the free cspan radio app. Bidens record is the most shameful record in our lifetime. He has been his entire career on the wrong side of history. Our current president has failed in his most basic duty to the nation. He has failed to protect us. He has failed to protect america. And my fellow americans, that is unforgivable. The first president ial debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President joe eastern. T 00 p. M. Watch live coverage on cspan, watch Live Streaming and ondemand at cspan. Org, or listen live on the free cspan radio app. With the ongoing Global Pandemic in many schools shifting to online learning, cspan studentcam competition continues to provide students a platform to engage in a conversation. Were asking middle and High School Students to produce a 510 minute documentary on issues they Want Congress to address in 2021. A 56 minute documentary. When youth are given the opportunity and skills to become informed voters and engage citizens, it helps, because democracy must be learned. To a tumultuous pathway to citizenship for children who were born here. Awardingear, we are 100,000 in total cash prizes, including a grand prize of a thousand dollars. Is deadline to submit video january 20, 20 21. For more information on how to get started, go to our website, studentcam. Org. Dr. Anthony fauci, director of the National Institute of allergy and Infectious Diseases now, with an update on efforts toward a covid19 vaccine. During a conversation with public televisions judy woodruff, he talked about chances for a vaccine by election day. Judy thank you for having me. Dr. Fauci, you are there. I will plunge right in. I dont see you yet on the screen but i know you are there. Dr. Fauci i am here. Good to be with you. Judy lets start with the basics. Where are we as a country in the battle against covid19 . If you are asked for a status report, what would you say