Washington County studies options for election security grant

Last week, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate announced that each county in the state will receive a $10,000 grant for election cybersecurity enhancements.

Washington County Auditor Dan Widmer said Monday that he and his staff are just starting to weigh their options on how to best use the money.

'Right now, we're in the process of taking a look at that,” Widmer said. 'A few of us will be meeting to see what we need to do.

'Everything is still in the infant planning stages.”

Widmer said that 'election cybersecurity enhancements” encompasses a wide range of options for the county.

One possibility, he said, is to fund cyber monitoring of the county's elections software and equipment.

'That would monitor things like making sure we're not attacked,” Widmer said.

Another option, which Widmer said he has already spoken to other county auditors about, is moving to a secure elections website with enhanced security.

He said that the county could leverage the grant money with county funds for more advanced cybersecurity measures.

'We'll be looking at all of our options,” he said. 'We're certainly appreciative of the funds from the Secretary of State's office.”

Last year, Pate adopted several new administrative rules to strengthen the security of Iowa's elections.

The rules cover guidelines such as the development of incident response plans, reporting requirements and improved password strength.

They mandate that counties use cyber hygiene scans, assessments, and tools from the Iowa Office of Chief Information Officer and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security unless the county already receives similar services from a private vendor.

The funding to assist counties with cybersecurity services comes from a federal grant to Iowa through the Help America Vote Act, and the grants must be spent in accordance with the requirements of the law, which includes elements from the administrative rules adopted by Pate in 2020.

Pate has been a national leader in election security. He's the co-chair of the cybersecurity committee for the National Association of Secretaries of State. He won the association IDEAS Award for his election cybersecurity efforts with Iowa counties in 2019.