(NewsGlobal.com)- Local and state Republican officials are objecting to the Department of Homeland Security’s involvement in county elections offices through the funding of cybersecurity services, Just the News reported.
Elections offices throughout the country are receiving “cybersecurity services” at no charge from the nonprofit Center for Internet Security (CIS), the same group that played a central role in flagging so-called “misinformation” on social media. CIS is also linked with other left-wing groups as well as the Democrat-linked firm CrowdStrike.
Working in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security, CIS is providing cybersecurity services to local and state governments through the bipartisan 2022 State and Local Government Cybersecurity Act.
Additionally, state and local governments receiving grant money from DHS are required to spend at least 3 percent of the money on “enhancing election security.”
However, Wisconsin Republican Bryan Steil, the chairman of the House Administration Committee, told Just the News that while the federal government needs to support county election officials in securing our elections, the efforts to do so should be administered, not through the Biden Homeland Security Department, but through the independent, nonpartisan Election Assistance Commission.
Steil said Congress should also review how state and local governments have used the almost $1 billion in federal grants from the past five years before giving out more taxpayer-funded grants.
According to Steil, the county elections officials he has spoken to have said the most important thing they need from the federal government is to stay “out of their way.”
Last Friday, in a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Elections, Chair Laurel Lee highlighted the successful election administration during the 2022 midterms in states like Florida, Louisiana, and Ohio.
Lee noted that the states, not the federal government, have the Constitutional “authority and responsibility” to administer federal elections and establish election laws.
