The Department of Homeland Security has received requests from nine U.S. states to help scan online voter registration databases and assess the security of poll machines, Nextgov reported Wednesday.
Aliya Sternstein writes DHS spokesman Scott McConnell told Nextgov that the department offers election officials various services such as information exchange on cyber incidents and on-site assessments of network configurations and digital voting machines.
Lisa Monaco, the president’s assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism, said DHS has offered cybersecurity support to state election administrators in efforts to increase the public’s confidence in voting systems.
Nextgov reports DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson called on more states to accept the department’s security assistance and said DHS’ on-site risk assessments can take up to three weeks to complete.
