Press Contact:
Forrest Senti
(931) 249-8245 Direct
Colorado Springs, CO March 30, 2020 – The National Cybersecurity Center’s Secure the Vote initiative has launched the formation of an advisory board to address the challenges and opportunities at the nexus of cybersecurity and elections.
Election security is one of the most critical issues of 2020. Secure the Vote is working to advance the development of standards and best practices in the mobile voting space as more jurisdictions pursue it as an option for voters. Secure the Vote is also developing scalable efforts to support a long-term culture of security in small and rural jurisdictions where IT and cybersecurity resources are limited.
“The advisory board, made up of cybersecurity and elections experts at all levels of government, is critical to ensuring that we focus on the right issues,” says Forrest Senti, Director of Business & Government Affairs. “The board provides diverse perspectives on the challenging issues inherent to elections security, which is absolutely necessary for us to make progress.”
The scope of the board includes advising on the security challenges of mobile voting, reviewing proposed auditing standards and best practices put out by Secure the Vote, and assessing the scalability of small jurisdiction support. The premise for the advisory board is that technology and voting are likely to continue to converge – much like technology and banking, and technology and communication; we need well-informed, thorough discussions about the issues and opportunities associated with the increasing connection in order to ensure the security and transparency of that convergence.
Board members do not specifically endorse any of the technologies explored in the mobile voting pilots, nor the concept of mobile voting itself. Their perspectives are, however, key to ensuring a robust conversation and debate about the act of mobile voting.
We are grateful to the following members for their participation:
Matthew Crane: Elections expert, Lafayette Group
Bryan Finney: CEO, Democracy Live
Thomas Hicks: Commissioner, Election Assistance Commission
Mike Hirad: IT Manager, Orange County Registrar of Voters
Sarah B. Johnson: City Clerk, City of Colorado Springs
Donald Kersey: General Counsel, West Virginia Secretary of State
Amber McReynolds: CEO, Vote at Home
Jennifer Morrell: Partner, Elections Group
Amelia Powers Gardner: Clerk & Auditor, Utah County
Nimit Sawhney: CEO, Voatz, Inc.
Kay Stimson: VP Government Affairs, Dominion Voting
Phil Stupak: Fellow, Cyber Policy Initiative at University of Chicago
Maurice Turner: Senior Advisor, Election Assistance Commission
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About National Cybersecurity Center
The National Cybersecurity Center exists to help secure the world using knowledge, connections and resources to solve global cybersecurity challenges and develop a protected cyber ecosystem. An independent and non-profit think tank based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the NCC provides cybersecurity leadership, services, training and a cybersecurity community for public officials, business executives and the workforce. Discover the NCC at cyber-center.org.
