Biden Administration faucets Washington state’s Kim Wyman to guide nationwide election safety effort
The Biden administration has tapped Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman to guide a nationwide effort to curb international and home election interference.
Wyman, Washington’s sole GOP statewide officeholder, would be the high official throughout the Division Homeland Safety’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company. Within the 2020 election cycle, Wyman famously refuted former President Donald Trump’s claims of widespread election fraud, drawing the ire of the previous president.
“Once I started working in elections 28 years in the past, I resolved to work towards a system the place each eligible particular person in our state had the chance to register, vote, and have their poll counted pretty and precisely,” Wyman stated in a press release saying the transfer. “Previously six years, my focus expanded to make sure our elections remained secure from international adversaries.”
Gov. Jay Inslee will identify a successor to fill the job till the subsequent common election in 2022. Wyman has been Washington’s secretary of state since 2013.
Wyman stated she’s going to proceed the strategy she utilized in because the state’s high election official.
“Throughout my tenure as a state and county elections administrator, Washington expanded vote-by-mail elections statewide, put in practically 500 poll drop bins, applied same-day and automated voter registration, enabled 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote, and extra,” she stated.
“I’m honored to have the ability to share practically three a long time of expertise and experience on the federal degree to assist CISA’s efforts to safeguard our election methods from cyberattacks and improve the general public’s confidence in our elections.”
In a message posted to Twitter, Wyman stated essentially the most tough a part of serving within the new position is stepping down earlier than the completion of her Washington state time period.
“Nevertheless, the threats to our nation’s elections system proceed every day they usually have to be met with a mixed effort by IT and cybersecurity consultants alongside election professionals on the native, state, and federal degree,” she wrote.
A message to all my supporters concerning the future. pic.twitter.com/1Eb8JLhSHa
— Kim Wyman (@KimWyman12) October 26, 2021
Washington was amongst 21 states the place suspected Russian brokers tried to hack into voter rolls and state methods. In 2019 below Wyman’s watch, the state applied VoteWA, an up to date voter registration system that permits for mail-in poll monitoring.
Whereas in workplace, Wyman refuted fraud claims and poll “audits” equivalent to in Arizona as a political stunts. She sparred in opposition to state gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp when he claimed — with out proof — of election irregularities that price him the 2020 election. Culp misplaced the election by 20 share factors.
