Critical Infrastructure Security, Threat Intelligence, Critical Infrastructure Security, Security Strategy, Plan, Budget

State of security: New Hampshire

Who’s in charge: Secretary of State William M. Gardner

The state spent $250,000 of its nearly $3.2 million election security budget ($3.1 million in federal grant money and $155,000 in matching state funds) to improve systems for the 2018 midterm elections. Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan said the state has hired firms to test the security of its online voter database and to monitor the dark web for threat actors targeting the state. The state also took measures to ensure the ballots of disabled voters cannot be distinguished from conventional ballots.

“The voter database really is the only significant electronic system that we have that’s related to elections,” Scanlan said. “It’s important to keep the information in there that is supposed to be private and confidential, private and confidential.”

The Center for American Progress recommended that New Hampshire establish post-election audits and voting machine certification requirements and rated the state an overall "C" for the overall quality of its election security.  The state doesn’t use electronic voting machines and voters still have to register in-person and on paper.

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