COLUMBUS – The Franklin County Board of Elections is one of 80 Ohio counties that have completed security upgrades required by Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
The 34 upgrades, which boards were told to complete by Jan. 31 of this year, include background checks of personnel, a secure website and e-mail domains and cyber-attack detection.
“There will inevitably be attacks on our election system. We have to be vigilant,” LaRose said Wednesday in an update of the initiative.
Ohio has made grant funds available directly to local election officials out of $12.8 million provided through the federal Help America Vote Act to enhance election security statewide.
Van Wert County in northwest Ohio failed to meet the requirements and the Board of Elections has been placed in “administrative oversight” by LaRose’s office.
Seven other counties — Hamilton, Ottawa, Warren, Carroll, Holmes, Trumbull and Clark — have shown “good faith” efforts to comply are expected to finalize the requirements by the deadline.