FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 27, 2024
WASHINGTON – The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in close coordination with the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and National Association of State Election Directors (NASED), hosted the seventh annual Tabletop the Vote election security exercise this month. Tabletop the Vote brings together federal, state, and local officials as well as private sector partners from across the election community to enhance #Protect2024 efforts. The exercise took place over four days, August 22, 23, 26, and 27 and provided participants with the opportunity to share best practices around cyber and physical incident planning, preparedness, identification, response, and recovery.
Following the exercise, CISA Director Jen Easterly, and the Election Infrastructure Subsector Government Coordinating Council (EIS-GCC) Executive Committee, which includes U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Chairman Ben Hovland, NASS President and Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, NASED President and State Elections Director for the New Mexico Secretary of State Mandy Vigil, and Sarah Ball Johnson, City Clerk for the City of Colorado Springs, Colorado, issued the following joint statement:
“Tabletop the Vote provides an opportunity for the election community as a whole to plan for potential scenarios and improve our response plans within the safety of a training environment. Exercises like this allow us to prepare for incidents that occur before, during, and after an election and better understand response and recovery efforts. They also assist us in identifying how to best tackle today’s increasingly complex threat environment by refining communication and intelligence sharing practices, and identifying potential process improvements. Tabletop the Vote is just one example of the ongoing efforts of state and local election officials and the federal government to ensure the security and resilience of America’s most critical democratic process.
“Elections are run by the thousands of state and local election officials nationwide who work diligently to administer elections that are secure and resilient. It is because of their hard work Americans can have confidence in our nation’s elections.”
State and local election officials, as well as in-state stakeholders, from across the country participated virtually. In addition to CISA, federal participants in the exercise included the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Defense, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Agency, U.S. Cyber Command, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the National Guard Bureau, the National Security Council, the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
The full EIS-GCC will also be held this week to further foster efficient communication and collaboration within the election infrastructure community ahead of the November general election.
Both of these events highlight-the ongoing collaboration between federal, state, local, and private sector members to ensure the security and resilience of our nation’s election infrastructure.
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About the EIS-GCC
The enables state, local, and federal governments to share information and collaborate on best practices to mitigate and counter threats to election infrastructure. The EIS-GCC is composed of representatives from across various levels of government as appropriate to depict the operating landscape of the Election Infrastructure Subsector.