The 2018 Midterms Weren’t Hacked. What Does That Mean For 2020?

A 2-year-old waits between her father’s legs as he and other voters cast their ballots at a polling station set up at Grady High School in Atlanta on Election Day. The state is one of a handful that still use voting machines that don’t provide a paper record.

Jessica McGowan / Getty Images

Leading up to Nov. 6, 2018, anyone with a stake in American democracy was holding their breath.

After a Russian effort leading up to 2016 to sow chaos and polarization, and to degrade confidence in American institutions, what sort of widespread cyberattack awaited the voting system in the first national election since?

None, it seems.