The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released its #Protect2020 Strategic Plan for election security Feb. 7, one day after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) slammed the agency’s election security preparedness.

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is not yet well-positioned to secure nationwide election infrastructure before the 2020 election cycle, according to a Feb. 6 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) unveiled a new, internal policy to improve Federal procedures for notifying state and local officials of election infrastructure cyber threats.

The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) wrote to Congress on Jan. 6 to thank them for including $425 million in the fiscal year 2020 budget for election security purposes.

U.S. Election Assistance Commissioner Thomas Hicks said on Dec. 3 that election security in the U.S. is “light years” ahead of where it was in 2016, but also emphasized there’s plenty more to do to ensure good security for the 2020 election cycle.

A bill introduced by Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., on Nov. 8 would establish a new Center of Excellence (CoE) and fund elections systems research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) remains highly confident in the agency’s efforts to defend against nation-state cyber threats including those targeting U.S. elections and supply chains, a senior CISA official said today.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced Sept. 16 that the state will remove QR (a type of matrix barcode) codes from its ballots ahead of the 2020 general election. The state said removal of QR codes will strengthen the security of vote tabulation and ensure that voters are able to accurately verify that their ballots are correctly marked.