Delaware Governor Creates Election Security Task Force
- The governor signed an executive order establishing a statewide task force to examine and bolster election security measures. - The panel will include state officials and cybersecurity experts charged with identifying vulnerabilities and recommending fixes. - Officials say the task force could reshape voting procedures and funding priorities ahead of upcoming elections (wboc.com).
Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer signed Executive Order 19 on April 22, creating a statewide task force on election security. (governor.delaware.gov) The order creates the Delaware Task Force on Free, Fair, and Secure Elections and says it will advise the governor without overriding the authority of the state commissioner of elections or local election officials. (governor.delaware.gov) Meyer’s order directs the panel to review current security protocols, voting infrastructure, and operational readiness, then recommend ways to improve preparedness against cyberattacks, voter intimidation, disinformation, and other election threats. (governor.delaware.gov) Bay to Bay News reported the task force takes effect immediately and is chaired by Secretary of State Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez and Secretary of Safety and Homeland Security Joshua Bushweller. Its 18 members include the elections commissioner, the Delaware National Guard, the Delaware State Police, and a Federal Bureau of Investigation representative. (baytobaynews.com) The order lands as Congress continues to consider the SAVE Act, a federal bill that would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register for federal elections. Congress.gov says H.R. 22 was introduced on January 3, 2025. (congress.gov) (baytobaynews.com) Meyer tied the new panel to that fight in the state’s announcement, saying Delaware wants to protect election administration from what his office called unconstitutional federal interference. (news.delaware.gov) Delaware already runs post-election audits, which are public reviews that compare paper ballots with machine counts after voting ends. The state elections department lists audit records for the 2024 general election and multiple 2025 and 2026 contests. (elections.delaware.gov) State board materials say Delaware law requires those audits under 15 Del. C. § 5012A and defines an audit as a hand count of votes on each paper ballot from a voting device compared with the electronic totals kept by that device. (elections.delaware.gov) Minutes from New Castle County’s November 12, 2024 audit say officials reviewed voting machines used in the general election, while Sussex County minutes from December 18, 2024 say candidate totals matched the paper records in the audited ballots. (elections.delaware.gov 1) (elections.delaware.gov 2) The new task force gives Meyer’s administration a formal venue to decide whether Delaware’s current mix of audits, cybersecurity planning, and interagency coordination needs to change before the next major election cycle. (governor.delaware.gov) (baytobaynews.com)
