U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says he backs a decision in the Obama administration’s final days to designate elections systems as critical infrastructure in order to boost their cyber defenses, after the government concluded Russian hackers tried to influence the 2016 presidential race.
Reuters reports some conservative states, such as Louisiana, had expressed concerns that the Obama administration move amounted to a federal takeover of elections traditionally run by state and local governments.
The designation means voting machines, voter registration systems, polling places and other assets important to holding elections are eligible for priority cybersecurity assistance from the Department of Homeland Security. Other sectors considered critical infrastructure include communication and transportation systems, the banking industry and the energy grid.
“I believe we should help all of the states … to make sure that their systems are protected in future elections,” Kelly told the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Homeland Security in response to a question from U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La. “I would argue that, yes, we should keep that in place.”
Two weeks before former President Barack Obama left office, DHS said it was designating state election systems part of the nation’s critical infrastructure, a move that broadened the options the federal government has to protect voting equipment from cyber attacks.
Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler penned a letter asking then-President-elect Donald Trump to rescind the Obama-era designation after his inauguration. Schedler called the designation an intrusion of state’s rights and “a dangerous step toward nationalizing state elections.”
