The COVID-19 pandemic has brought absentee and by-mail voting to the forefront of national attention. As rates of absentee and mail voting increase, some government officials have raised concerns that more mail voting will lead to widespread voter fraud. With the coronavirus pandemic promising to last through the fall, a record number of Americans will be voting by mail this year. But mail-in voting is more contentious than ever.

And while the GOP has prided itself and promoted efforts to support mail-in ballots, the current political climate now has the GOP questioning if the process is secure enough. Florida, especially Broward County, has been notorious for scandalous election cycles and with more mail-in ballots, there is a concern of how quickly the country can announce its newest president.

Florida has doubled down on secrecy since federal officials reported at least four counties were hacked in 2016. The state forced all 67 elections supervisors to sign nondisclosure agreements before they could receive federal funding for elections security, be briefed about vulnerabilities found by cyber-security experts or even hook up to the state’s voter registration system.

The Florida Legislature also allocated an additional $2.8 million for election security this past session for fiscal year 2019-2020. The Department of State and supervisors of elections are engaging in a joint cyber security initiative that will identify and address any vulnerabilities in our elections infrastructure prior to the 2020 presidential primary.

Have we done enough? Are we ready to the amount of mail in ballots that will be requested? Can we trust the process? Will our votes be counted? Is our election at stake?