The State and Local Election Cybersecurity Playbook

Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

This report was published with direct input from the National Guard Bureau (NGB) by the Defending Digital Democracy Project (D3P) as part of a larger series of guides designed to be used together by election administrators in the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections. The playbook recommends that election officials use National Guard cyber units — operating under state authorities — as a resource to identify network vulnerabilities, likening the Guard's cyberspace support to "the laying of sandbags before a storm in the physical world."