Secretary Raffensperger Continues Focus on Election Security for 2024

Atlanta, GA — Secretary Raffensperger and the Elections Division of the Secretary of State’s office are hard at work securing Georgia’s 2024 elections. The Elections Division recently participated in the nation’s largest annual election security exercise, partnering with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED). Tabletop the Vote, a three-day election security exercise taking place in late August, included many simulated scenarios unique to election administrators and allowed participants the opportunity to troubleshoot, share best practices, and engage in real-world planning, preparation, and response.

“Exercises like these ensure that Georgia’s elections are prepared for any possible threat,” said Secretary Raffensperger. “Preparation is key, and we’re ready.”

The exercise, known as Tabletop the Vote, included a number of state and federal partners. In addition to CISA, federal participants included the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Agency, U.S. Cyber Command, the National Guard Bureau, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. State and local election officials participated virtually. DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas and CISA Director Jen Easterly each provided remarks to exercise participants.

Blake Evans, State Election Director, noted that “Exercises like Tabletop the Vote allow closer cooperation with state and federal partners, ensuring that we work together to detect and mitigate threats before they happen.”

Tabletop the Vote is part of Secretary Raffensperger’s multi-pronged approach to securing the 2024 election. Currently, the Elections Division is conducting health-checks of election equipment in all 159 Georgia counties, and conducting site inspections in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security to address physical security measures.

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Georgia is recognized as a national leader in elections. It was the first state in the country to implement the trifecta of automatic voter registration, at least 17 days of early voting (which has been called the “gold standard”), and no-excuse absentee voting. Georgia continues to set records for voter turnout and election participation, seeing the largest increase in average turnout of any other state in the 2018 midterm election and record turnout in 2020, and 2022. 2022 achieved the largest single day of in-person early voting turnout in Georgia midterm history utilizing Georgia’s secure, paper ballot voting system. Most recently, Georgia ranked #1 for Election Integrity by the Heritage Foundation, a top ranking for Voter Accessibility by the Center for Election Innovation & Research and tied for number one in Election Administration by the Bipartisan Policy Center.