Letter to Hon. Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, Hon. Deanne Criswell, Administrator of FEMA, and Hon. Jen Easterly, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency - Klobuchar, Peters, Colleagues Urge Department of Homeland Security to Help State and Local Governments Improve Election Security

Letter

Dear Secretary Mayorkas, Administrator Criswell, and Director Easterly:

We write to urge the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to take steps to ensure that state and local governments are able to effectively use funds from the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) and the new State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program to enhance election security. In order to help facilitate this, we request that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency inform state and local election officials of the designation of election security as a national priority under the FY 2022 HSGP and the ways both grant programs could be used to enhance election security, and that DHS encourage states to include their chief election official in the application and planning process for both grant programs.

Election infrastructure is critical infrastructure and a matter of national security. While state and local governments have made significant progress in improving election security, challenges and opportunities for further improvements remain. Election security includes both cybersecurity and physical safety and security, which has become increasingly important with the rise in threats and harassment against election officials, workers, and volunteers. To ensure state and local governments receive necessary resources to continue improving election security, including protecting election officials, when appropriate federal agencies should encourage the use of existing grant programs for election security improvements.

DHS has previously issued guidance requiring applicants for the HSGP to include proposals to use a portion of their allocation for election security-related improvements. For FY 2020, DHS guidance made clear that election security enhancements were included in two of four designated national priorities under the HSGP -- including enhancing cybersecurity and enhancing the protection of easily accessible public and crowded places. Based on the FY 2020 HSGP guidance, we were pleased to see that DHS specifically included election security as a national priority in the FY 2022 HSGP. In order to ensure that state and local governments can effectively follow this year's grant guidance, we request that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) inform state and local election officials of the national priority designation and how HSGP funds can be used to improve the physical security and cybersecurity of elections.

At the end of last year, Congress authorized a new DHS grant program through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act specifically for cybersecurity improvements. This new program - the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program - will distribute over $1 billion in grants over the next four years to improve the cybersecurity of state, local, tribal, and territorial governments. Many of these governments have significant needs related to the cybersecurity of election systems, and the intelligence community has confirmed that foreign adversaries have interfered in previous U.S. elections and that election infrastructure remains a target. For this grant program as well, we request CISA to ensure that state and local election officials are aware of the new grant program and how its funds could be used to enhance election cybersecurity.

Finally, we ask that for future fiscal years DHS continue to designate election security enhancements as a national priority for the HSGP.

As states continue to administer the 2022 midterm elections and prepare for the 2024 federal election cycle, it is imperative that the federal government continue to invest in bolstering election security and ensure that state and local governments have resources to modernize their election infrastructure and protect against threats to cybersecurity and physical security.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter and for your ongoing work to help secure our democracy.