The Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) – which includes members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and informs how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) works with state and local authorities to protect election systems critical infrastructure – declared on August 20 that the election community is fully prepared to handle the final stretch leading up to the 2020 general elections.
“The election community is more unified, more coordinated, and better prepared than ever before. We are in the final stretch leading up to the 2020 elections, and there is no doubt we have a challenging road ahead,” GCC said in a statement. “The pandemic has changed the way some will cast their ballots this year and the threat of foreign interference remains.”
The council held its summer meeting virtually today for discussions on Election Day preparations. The Council stated that “all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and numerous counties now have intrusion detection sensors protecting their election infrastructure, and public and private sector cybersecurity professionals have conducted hundreds of assessments, and vulnerability assessments.”
GCC cited the Tabletop the Vote exercise hosted by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in late July—with 37 states and 2,100 participants—as an example of the election community’s preparedness.
“Elections will look different this year, but we want voters to know our election community is ready and taking active measures to ensure every ballot is counted as cast,” GCC said. “We also want to take this opportunity to remind voters they can also play an important role in this nationwide effort.”
