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After 2016 Clashes, States and Feds Look to Improve Election Security Collaboration

Election officials and federal cybersecurity agents alike tout improved collaboration aimed at confronting and deterring election tampering.

By Colleen Long

Weeks before the 2016 election, federal officials started making mysterious calls to the head of elections in Inyo County, California. They asked her to contact them if she noticed anything unusual. But they wouldn’t elaborate.

“I asked them: ‘How am I going to be able to protect against it if I don’t know what it is?’” said the official, Kammi Foote.

Now, Foote communicates regularly with federal officials. They came to her small county of about 10,000 registered voters to analyze the security of her ballot system. She participates in state and federal information-sharing groups that didn’t exist two years ago and is getting a sensor that can help detect unwanted intrusions.

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