States Make Moves To Protect Election Security Before Midterms

What’s the story?

State election officials have been trying to organize, with limited resources and technical expertise, to protect election security before the next major national election date -- the 2018 midterms. Here are some of the efforts underway or being called for by state officials to protect election integrity, per the Washington Post:

• Many states are returning to the use of paper ballots, either exclusively, or in concert with electronic tallying systems. Only five states now have digital-only systems.

• 38 state officials have applied for security clearance to be fully briefed by the Department of Homeland Security on the 2016 election breaches, so they can better coordinate to prevent further cyberattacks.

• States are creating formal systems to share security information with each other to prevent future security breaches.

• State elections officials and cybersecurity experts are pressuring Congress to finally appropriate all the federal funds approved in 2002 for election security.

• State officials and cybersecurity experts are also calling for further federal legislation that would prompt sweeping changes to strengthen election security.

In a recent annual hearing on global threats held by the Senate Intelligence Committee, heads of all the national intelligence and security agencies testified that there will be attempts by Russia to hack the 2018 midterms.

What do you think?

Do you think states are doing enough to protect the integrity of our election systems? Do you think there is more the federal government could do to support their efforts? Do you feel confident in your state’s election systems heading into the 2018 midterms?

Tell us in the comments what you think, then use the Take Action button to tell your reps!

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— Asha Sanaker

(Photo Credit: Phil Roeder via Flickr / Creative Commons)