Election Security in All 50 States: Defending America's Elections

To understand risks to our election systems and plan for the future, it is necessary to identify existing vulnerabilities in election infrastructure so we can properly assess where resources should be allocated and establish preventative measures and strategies. Only through understanding the terrain can the nation rise to the challenge of preventing voting machine malfunction and defending America's elections from adversarial attempts to undermine our election infrastructure. In August 2017, the Center for American Progress released a report entitled "9 Solutions for Securing America's Elections," laying out nine vulnerabilities in election infrastructure and solutions to help improve election security in time for the 2018 and 2020 elections.15 This report builds on that analysis to provide an overview of election security and preparedness in each state, looking specifically at state requirements and practices related to:Minimum cybersecurity standards for voter registration systemsVoter-verified paper ballotsPost-election audits that test election resultsBallot accounting and reconciliationReturn of voted paper absentee ballotsVoting machine certification requirementsPre-election logic and accuracy testingThis report provides an overview of state compliance with baseline standards to protect their elections from hacking and machine malfunction. Some experts may contend that additional standards, beyond those mentioned here, should be required of states to improve election security. The chief purpose of this repor