March 17, 2026, Press Release from the Office of Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose:
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued today the seventh election security directive of his administration, reinforcing physical and cybersecurity protections for Ohio’s critical elections infrastructure and warning that foreign cyber threats require constant vigilance.
The latest directive comes as the National Council of ISACs and others warn of increased cybersecurity threats amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Since taking office, Secretary LaRose has worked with county election officials to implement an unprecedented series of directives establishing rigorous security standards for all 88 county boards of elections. No state has issued more security-specific protocols than Ohio during the LaRose administration.
The latest directive requires counties to review their compliance with those standards, participate in a cybersecurity audit, and address any findings by August 31, 2026.
“Foreign adversaries continue to target American election systems,” LaRose said. “Ohio has taken these threats seriously from day one. This directive ensures our cybersecurity defenses remain strong so voters can continue to have confidence in the integrity of our elections.”
To support these efforts, the Ohio Secretary of State's office will provide each county board of elections with a $10,000 security grant to help maintain and strengthen security measures.
The directive emphasizes key cybersecurity protections, including:
- Continuous network monitoring and intrusion detection
- Regular vulnerability scanning and rapid patching of security flaws
- Advanced endpoint threat detection tools
- Secure backups of voter registration systems and other critical data
- Ongoing cybersecurity training for election officials
- Exercises that practice using incident response plans
As part of the directive, the Secretary of State’s office will continue conducting routine cybersecurity audits of county boards of elections to ensure critical security controls remain in place. This year’s audit will evaluate each board’s incident response plan and readiness to respond to potential cyber incidents, with cybersecurity specialists from the Secretary of State’s office assisting counties in addressing any identified issues.
“Ohio has built a national reputation as the gold standard for election security,” Secretary LaRose said. “We’ll continue staying ahead of emerging cyber threats to protect the democratic process.”
