The U.S. Department of Homeland Security now considers U.S. elections a part of the nation’s critical infrastructure. The DHS is now offering the Guam Election commission technical assistance to help with election security. In fact, GEC Executive Director Maria Pangelinan just returned from a meeting in Washington D.C. where DHS officials briefed election officials on the services they are offering. Pangelinan says Homeland Security is offering assistance with assessing the cyber security and physical security needs of the GEC. Pangelinan says that Guam’s election system is relatively safe from cyber-attacks because the system is not internet based and the island no longer uses electronic voting booths.
“Across the nation it seems like the trend is to go back to paper ballots. Voters feel safer and more secure with the paper ballots and we’re still there and we want to continue to be with the paper ballots,” said Pangelinan.
Pangelinan says that if the “Secure Elections and Modernization act is passed in the U.S. congress the GEC could get some federal funding.
Source: U.S. Homeland Security assisting Guam Election Commission | PNC News First.