The Hancock County Board of Elections says it has successfully completed the Secretary of State’s required upgrades.

On June 11, 2019, Frank LaRose issued Directive 2019-08, a comprehensive, multi-faceted security strategy for local boards of elections that provides the redundancy required of a strong election system infrastructure.

In order to assure Ohio counties were given a deadline of January 31st, 2020 to complete the requirements within the directive. The effort has made Ohio the national leader in election security.

The directive included a checklist of 34 separate requirements that must be met in order to be considered compliant.

“The voters in Hancock County should be proud of their local board of elections for successfully embracing such a big challenge,” LaRose said.

“By elevating their defensive posture, they’ve helped make Ohio a national model for election security.”

The specifics of this checklist essentially serve as Ohio’s detailed defense plan against adversaries who seek to disrupt our elections. These requirements fall under five separate sectors:

-Physical security assessments and improvements
-Background checks of personnel
-Secure website and email domains
-Cyberattack detection, system hardening and network defense
-Security training

The Secretary of State’s office says virtually every Ohio county has met the requirements of the Security Directive issued in June 2019.

One county, Van Wert, is considered non-compliant and requires corrective action and seven counties have been good-faith partners but have minor additional action required.

All other counties are considered fully compliant.