Buckeye Reporter

Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced the issuance of Security Directive 4.0, which aims to bolster election security in the state. The directive encompasses a range of security measures and offers $10,000 grants to support compliance with these measures by December.

“Today's technology is constantly changing, which means hackers and bad actors are constantly updating their arsenals to attack our systems," LaRose said in a press release accompanying the memo about the directive. "Our focus and hard work over the last four years to implement a strong foundation of cybersecurity protections at both the state and county level in Ohio help us thwart these attacks. This vigilance plays a large role in Ohio's gold standard elections."

"This Security Directive (2023-16) includes, but is not limited to, the following information: grant funding to support the implementation of this Security Directive; an update on required Department of Homeland Security resources; registration for Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing (“EI-ISAC”); no-cost vulnerability disclosure program services; reminders of ongoing board responsibilities and training opportunities; reminders of continued secretary of state services to assist counties; incident response planning and reporting; and critical system supports and backup instructions," the first page of the directive says.

"This work is ongoing because the threats change daily. Building off the success of previous directives, we continue to prioritize cybersecurity while making sure you have the support and tools needed to ensure you are prepared for 2024. We are excited to collaborate and further strengthen our partnership to serve Ohioans. The below multi-faceted security strategy will help provide the redundancy required for a strong election system infrastructure," the directive says.

The directive includes instructions to counties on how to apply and deadlines for the $10,000 grants:

"Boards of elections must submit a Request for HAVA Grant Funding form (“Grant Request Form”) and enter into an Elections Security Grant Agreement (“Grant Agreement”) with the Secretary of State’s office in order to receive the funding. The grant request form must be submitted by September 29, 2023, and include a list of the associated requirements, equipment or services, and estimated costs for which the funding will be used to implement this security directive. 

"A signed grant agreement must be returned to the Secretary of State’s office on or before October 13, 2023. Once the Secretary of State’s office receives a signed grant agreement, the board will be issued a check in the amount requested. These grant funds must be deposited into an interest-bearing fund separate from all other funds of the board. The board of elections may use the same fund that was set up for the 2019, 2020, or 2022 HAVA grants," the directive says.