On January 25, CTCL and CQ Roll Call’s Politics Editor, Herb Jackson, were joined by local, State, and Federal policymakers and advocates for a discussion on why federal funding for local election infrastructure is so critical to safeguarding systems from cyber security threats, updating and maintaining equipment, systems, and facilities, and ensuring that there is enough well-trained staff to effectively run elections.

Event Overview:

In 2017 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security gave election infrastructure the official designation of “critical infrastructure”, adding election infrastructure as a subsector of the Government Facilities critical infrastructure sector. Now, over four years later – the Senate approved a $3.5 trillion budget resolution that did not contain election funding, leaving out not only funds for election administration and operations, but also leaving out funding that could be used to bolster physical and cybersecurity measures in local election departments. 
 
Federal election infrastructure funding would bolster election security and resilience which improves voter confidence in our system. With federal funding, election departments would be able to make urgently-needed modernizations, including: 

• Replacing outdated voting machines
• Upgrading voter registration databases and websites
• Investments in staff to improve election administration
• Investing in election management equipment, including ballot sorters and ballot verification technology
• Upgrading local election management systems, including software
• Investing in physical infrastructure (including real estate) to allow local election jurisdictions to provide early, mail, and in-person voting opportunities, and maintain secure facilities for storage of election equipment and materials
• Bolstering systems to execute election audits
• Strengthening cybersecurity posture

Featured Speakers:

• Rep. Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader (D-MD)
• Sec. Jocelyn Benson, Michigan Secretary of State (D-MI) \
• Chris Hollins, (Former) Harris County Texas Clerk (D)
• Al Schmidt, President & CEO of Committee of Seventy, Former Philadelphia City Commissioner (R)
• Tiana Epps-Johnson, Founder & Executive Director, Center for Tech and Civic Life
• Herb Jackson, Politics Editor, CQ Roll Call

Watch On-Demand: