Election security shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Defunding DHS programs puts it at risk | Opinion

In 2017, the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) designated election systems as part of our nation’s critical infrastructure, on the same level as the power grid and water supply. That designation wasn’t just symbolic; it acknowledged that elections in the United States were under threat and needed federal support to stay secure.

Since then, election offices such as the Thurston County Auditor’s Office have leaned heavily on DHS, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and other federal partners to build resilience in the face of growing threats.

Now, just months after the 2024 election, that support is disappearing. DHS has defunded critical election security programs, leaving local election officials with fewer resources to defend democracy at the ground level.

At the Thurston County Auditor’s Office, we take election security seriously.

We know elections are under attack. That’s not speculation, it’s a reality that local election officials live with every day. That’s why we proactively co-founded the Thurston County Cybersecurity Forum in 2017, pushing for stronger security measures across county systems. We are only as strong as our weakest link.

Our team spends years preparing for each presidential election, knowing that the landscape has fundamentally changed since 2016. Misinformation, foreign interference, cyber threats, and even physical threats to election workers have made our jobs more complex and more urgent. We can’t afford to go it alone.

Ahead of the 2024 election, we partnered closely with DHS and CISA to improve security. We held four tabletop exercises, ran a countywide symposium with law enforcement, and worked with two DHS specialists and a regional election security expert, people who have been in the trenches with us for years.

Their expertise shaped our security planning, from our cybersecurity defenses to the physical security.

When we built our new voting center, funding was tight. We had to make life-or-death decisions about which security measures to prioritize. DHS staff helped us make those calls. Now, with our ballot processing center expansion underway, we’re once again relying on the best practices and recommendations they provided.

It’s not just our county that benefits from this support. This expertise is crucial for election offices across the state and country, many of which don’t have in-house security specialists. Without these federal resources, counties with fewer resources will be left to navigate complex threats on their own.

One of the most alarming cuts is to the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), which has been defunded entirely. This program, housed at the nonprofit Center for Internet Security, provides training, threat monitoring, and critical real-time security alerts to election officials nationwide. Without it, election offices lose a key early-warning system for cyber threats.

Election security shouldn’t be a partisan issue. It’s about making sure every vote is counted accurately, and every election worker can do their job without fear. The defunding of DHS election security programs puts that at risk. Congress and the administration must recognize the stakes and restore this critical funding. The security of our elections, and the confidence of the American people, depends on it.

Mary Hall has been the Thurston County Auditor since 2013, and was named 2020 Auditor of the Year by the Office of Secretary of State.