Statement from the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council on Ongoing Efforts to Protect 2020 Elections

For Immediate Release — February 11, 2020 –

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Assistant Director Bob Kolasky, U.S. Election Assistance Commission Chairwoman Christy McCormick, National Association of Secretaries of State President and Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, National Association of State Election Directors President and Washington Director of Elections Lori Augino, Escambia County Supervisor of Elections David Stafford—all members of the Government Coordinating Council Executive Committee issued the following statement:

“The presidential primary season may just be getting underway, but election officials have been working for years to ensure the security and resilience of the 2020 elections.  Federal, state, local and private sector partners in every state are sharing more information than ever and by any measure, we are more prepared than ever before.  All 50 states now have intrusion detection sensors on their election infrastructure and are receiving threat indicators through the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC).

“Cybersecurity is only one part of election resilience; the American public has a role to play too.  Voters going to the polls in New Hampshire today, and elsewhere in the weeks and months ahead, should understand their rights and remember to turn to their state or local election officials for the best information about voter registration, voting times and locations, and voter eligibility requirements. And remember that election results published on election night are not official, it may take days or weeks for official results to become available. The accuracy of the vote total is much more important than the timeliness of releasing results.

“At the end of the day, an informed public is the best defense against disinformation.  The National Association of Secretaries of State’s #TrustedInfo2020 campaign highlights election officials as the trusted sources of election information. State and local election officials are the authoritative sources for election and voting information. Visit canivote.org for more information.”

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