Election Security

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Every year, citizens across the United States cast their ballots for the candidates of their choice. Fair and free elections are a hallmark of American democracy. The American people’s confidence in the value of their vote is principally reliant on the security and resilience of the infrastructure that makes the Nation’s elections possible. Accordingly, an electoral process that is both secure and resilient is a vital national interest and one of CISA’s highest priorities.

In January 2017, the Department of Homeland Security officially designated election infrastructure as a subset of the government facilities sector, making clear that election infrastructure qualifies as critical infrastructure. This designation recognizes that the United States’ election infrastructure is of such vital importance to the American way of life that its incapacitation or destruction would have a devastating effect on the country. Election infrastructure is an assembly of systems and networks that includes, but is not limited to:  

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Voter registration databases and associated IT systems;

• IT infrastructure and systems used to manage elections (such as the counting, auditing, and displaying of election results, and the post-election reporting to certify and validate results);
• Voting systems and associated infrastructure;  
• Storage facilities for election and voting system infrastructure; and
• Polling places (to include early voting locations). 

CISA works to secure both the physical security and cybersecurity of the systems and assets that support the Nation’s elections.

CISA is committed to working collaboratively with those on the front lines of elections—state and local governments, election officials, federal partners, and private sector partners—to manage risks to the Nation’s election infrastructure.  The Agency provides resources on election security for both the public and election officials at all levels and will remain transparent and agile in its vigorous efforts to protect America’s election infrastructure against new and evolving threats.

State, local, and territorial election officials work year-round to prepare for and administer elections, implementing a wide range of security measures and serving as authoritative sources of official government information on elections for their voters. While important commonalities exist across and within states, each state, local, and territorial election jurisdiction administers its elections under a unique legal and procedural framework using varying systems and infrastructure. The differences and complexity introduced by this decentralization can lead to uncertainty in the minds of voters; uncertainty that can be exploited by malicious actors.

CISA reduces risk to U.S. critical infrastructure by building resilience to foreign influence operations and disinformation.  Through these efforts, CISA helps the American people understand the scope and scale of these activities targeting election infrastructure and enables them to take action to mitigate associated risks.

CISA helps the American people understand the risks from foreign influence operations and disinformation and how citizens can play a role in reducing the impact of it on their organizations and communities. This work is done in close partnership with the inter-agency, private sector, academia, and international stakeholders.