NEW HAVEN, CT (WFSB) – How secure is your vote?

With just a week to go until Election Day, Connecticut’s two U.S. Senators are highlighting steps being taken, not just in our state, but across the United States.

This is in response to foreign countries trying to interfere with our elections.

Plenty of people are already voting absentee and next Tuesday, others will head to the polls to cast their vote in person.

While Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy say intelligence reports show countries trying to meddle with our elections, they stress, everyone’s vote is safe and will count.

Blumenthal and Murphy were joined by Secretary of the State Denise Merrill and New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker outside city hall in New Haven to talk about election security.

They say Connecticut is working with the federal government to strengthen the state’s cyber defense systems while making sure our elections are secure. That’s in response to the recent reports of Russia trying to interfere.

"Connecticut has enormous numbers of checks and balances to make sure there's no fraud with absentee ballots," Merrill said. 

They also had a warning for anyone considering showing up at a poll and trying to intimidate voters on Election Day, saying that’s illegal and people will be prosecuted.

Their message to voters is that when they hear something like this, don’t be discouraged and don’t question the safety of voting either in person or by absentee, just make sure you vote.

“Despite what the president days, we count all the votes in the country, and we don’t make a determination about who wins until we count enough votes, so we’re absolutely sure,” Murphy said.

What about local security? In New Haven, the police chief says as part of their assignment on Election Day, officers will be checking in on polling places.

New Haven said 15,000 voters requested absentee ballots, half of that already have been returned.