Kathy Boockvar recently spoke with the Pittsburgh Media Partnership about the multi-layered cybersecurity measures that safeguard Pennsylvania’s election infrastructure and the evolving challenges of maintaining these defenses.
The protection of the vote involves a robust “defense-in-depth” strategy that starts with decentralized systems and extends to high-level federal collaboration. In the interview, Boockvar detailed how Pennsylvania has modernized its approach—replacing paperless machines with voter-verifiable paper ballots and implementing rigorous post-election audits. This security framework ensures that even if a digital threat is detected, a physical, human-readable record remains as the ultimate source of truth. Beyond the machines themselves, the strategy includes 24/7 monitoring of the state’s voter registration database and a network of support for local officials who are on the front lines of cyber threats.
This layered system of technological firewalls, constant surveillance, and institutional partnerships is designed to prevent unauthorized access and ensure the resiliency of the democratic process at every level of government.
Unfortunately, over the last year, the Trump administration has made sweeping cuts to previously-provided support, services, and information-sharing for election officials, including eliminating funding for the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) and Election Infrastructure Information Sharing Analysis Center (EI-ISAC).
Boockvar explained why the ISACs are so important to local officials. “If it’s Christmas Eve, and there’s a tiny little water authority office in some rural county… and he accidentally clicks on a link, and he suddenly thinks, ‘Oh no, what did I do?’ and nobody is around. He could call the ISAC at any hour of any day and get a human who could do the assessment,” Boockvar said.
The elimination of much of the federally-funded services as well as intelligence-sharing is a big loss, because “the federal government has historically been the best source for foreign intelligence on these issues,” said Boockvar.
While cyber threats are persistent, Pennsylvania’s paper-based systems, enhanced audits, and expanded cybersecurity measures continue, providing strong “defense in depth” over all aspects of our voting process.