ALBANY, N.Y. -- From the top of the national Republican ticket, the concern that somehow the integrity of the outcome of the election should be questioned because of potential fraud persists.
Voter fraud in New York is not considered common or widespread, and New York officials at the state Board of Elections say those concerns don't take into consideration the machines voters use to cast their ballot.
"By and large here in New York, the machines that are in use are pretty safe and provide a good amount of accountability to ensure New York's elections maintain their integrity," said Thomas Connolly, state BOE spokesman.
At the same time, voting machines would be difficult for, say, a hacker to break into.
"There is no ability for those machines to connect to the Internet or get into the machine without being made aware of," Connolly said.
Nevertheless, after the hacking of the Democratic National Committee, potentially by hackers working for Russian intelligence, there have been conversations over whether voting machines in the United States can be hacked and the results tampered with.
"I think it's just feeding this larger anxiety about whether or not the elections are being affected in any way shape or form," said Connolly.
New York officials aren't taking those safeguards for granted. This week, they've had phone conferences to discuss cybersecurity of elections with the Homeland Security department and the FBI.
"Obviously, everyone wants to make sure that the elections are being done in a way that are not compromised," Connolly said.
Only four years ago, state elections officials had to grapple with a natural, not manmade problem that hampered voting: Hurricane Sandy's devastation forced the enactment of emergency voting measures in some areas of the state.