Securing U.S. Election Systems: Designating U.S. Election Systems as Critical Infrastructure and Instituting Election Security Reforms
Eric Manpearl · SSRN Electronic Journal · 2017
The cyber intrusions by Russia into U.S. political parties’ servers and state electoral databases as well as the broad Russian disinformation campaign during the 2016 presidential election has put the issue of election security at the forefront. While these intrusions into the U.S.’s political process by a foreign adversary are extremely disconcerting, fortunately, the election itself was not hacked. The U.S. must respond to the increasing threat that future elections may be hacked, though, and take action to secure our election systems now. U.S. election systems face a variety of credible threats. Voter registration systems are the most vulnerable because these databases are often maintained online, which makes them susceptible to manipulation by illicit actors. Voting systems are also vulnerable to attacks to voting machines, overseas voting that occurs electronically, and the tabulation of votes. Threats to voting systems are most severe when there is no paper trail to recount or audit, and a number of states indeed use voting machines that do not produce any paper trail. The current security mechanisms are insufficient to defend against current and future threats. Designating U.S. election systems as critical infrastructure enables federal agencies involved in elections and cybersecurity to assist states and localities with assessing vulnerabilities, mitigating vulnerabilities, improving resilience, and improving coordination in cybersecurity. While some have alleged this designation is an unconstitutional assumption of power by the federal government, designating election systems as critical infrastructure is in fact constitutional. Also, states should make immediate improvements to election systems and develop contingency plans to enhance resilience in the event of a cyberattack. Further, the federal government should take additional actions to improve our election systems’ security across the country. Maintaining the integrity of our electoral process is vital to our democracy.