John Kelly, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, has said that he plans to retain the former Obama administration’s critical infrastructure designation to U.S. election systems as part of cybersecurity efforts, The Hill newspaper reported Tuesday.
Morgan Chalfant writes the designation expanded federal protections for election infrastructure to cover polling and vote tabulation stations, storage facilities, information and communications technology.
“I believe we should help all of the states to make sure their systems are protected, so I would argue we should keep that in place,” said Kelly.
The Department of Homeland Security sought to include state election systems as part of the nation’s critical infrastructure in a push to help the federal government protect voting equipment against cyber threats, Reuters’ Dustin Volz reported.
The report said the Republican-led House Administration Committee on Tuesday voted in favor of a proposal to disband the federal Election Assistance Commission.
