This week the Federal agency primarily responsible for protecting elections held a training event to test its plans in advance of November’s Election Day. The third “Tabletop the Vote” exercise hosted by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, took place over a three day period from July 28 to 30, featuring 37 states and over 2,000 total participants, the majority of which participated remotely.
In the latest white papers from the National Academy of Public Administration’s (NAPA) election integrity initiative, the organization is recommending a stronger emphasis on building public trust in government to improve election security.
Ensuring the security of Federal elections is always a tall task for local election officials, but amid a global pandemic and increasing cyber threats from foreign adversaries, those local officials have a particularly full plate.
While the commander of U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) emphasized action in protecting the elections on July 20, so too did a group of over 30 former government officials in a letter to House and Senate leadership.
The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee called for the Senate to pass more election funding, joining calls from state officials across the country who have asked for more funding to secure November’s election.
The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) launched a new initiative on June 23 to advise state, local, and Federal governments on protecting electoral integrity and enhancing voter participation.
The District of Columbia had four-times the previous record of absentee voter requests for the June 2 primary election, an increase which caused IT infrastructure to fail and some ballots to be processed online.
The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is hosting a site dedicated to compiling election security resource amid the COVID-19 pandemic with help from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
The National Guard and U.S. Cyber Command have formed a partnership to open lines of communication between state and local governments and the military’s top cyber force to address the top priority of the command - the 2020 elections.
Election security experts at the Brennan Center for Justice released a new guide June 5 on how to protect elections during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically calling attention to existing resources from Federal agencies and the need for more Federal funding.
