The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) today announced a new nonpartisan initiative designed to support election administrators in defending election infrastructure against cybersecurity threats.
The initiative will draw upon partnerships across cybersecurity, national security, civic leadership, election administration, and election technology. It aims to strengthen mechanisms that provide timely, actionable research and analysis to support the cybersecurity and resilience of vital election processes.
“In an increasingly divided political environment, it’s never been more important to ensure that elections infrastructure is safe and secure,” said Alexandra Reeve Givens, CDT President and CEO. “The officials running our elections deserve top-notch technical support so they can effectively protect the systems their communities rely on. I’m proud that CDT can play this role at a time when trustworthy, timely technical expertise has never been more needed.”
The work, housed within CDT’s Elections and Democracy team, will be led by Geoff Hale, Visiting Fellow for Election Security and former Associate Director of Election Security and Resilience at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
“I couldn’t be happier to have Geoff on the CDT team,” said Givens. “He brings exactly the experience, expertise, and credibility that is needed to support election officials in an evolving threat environment. He’s built a career on the careful, necessary work it takes to keep elections safe in an increasingly complicated world, and he’ll be a major asset for policymakers looking to apply those lessons.”
“The opportunity to support election security has never felt greater,” said Hale. “Our initiative will uplift the good security work of election officials across the nation who are facing increasingly complex cybersecurity threats and an environment of constant change.”
This work will focus on monitoring federal developments in election technology and cybersecurity policy, producing in-depth analysis of emerging issues, developing practical resources for key stakeholders, and hosting expert briefings to share insights on evolving risks and best practices.
To guide and ground this effort, CDT will establish an election technology and cybersecurity advisory board and partner with nonpartisan organizations that work directly with election officials to deliver guidance, cybersecurity trainings, tabletop exercises, and rapid-response resources for emerging threats.
