Biden Administration taps Washington state’s Kim Wyman to lead national election security 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 inside 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.

“After I started working in elections 28 years in the past, I resolved to work towards a system the place each eligible individual in our state had the chance to register, vote, and have their poll counted pretty and precisely,” Wyman mentioned in a press release asserting the transfer. “Prior to now 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 following basic election in 2022. Wyman has been Washington’s secretary of state since 2013.

Wyman mentioned 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 containers, carried out same-day and computerized voter registration, enabled 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote, and extra,” she mentioned. 

“I’m honored to have the ability to share practically three many years of expertise and experience on the federal stage to help 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 mentioned probably the most troublesome a part of serving within the new function 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 and so they have to be met with a mixed effort by IT and cybersecurity consultants alongside election professionals on the native, state, and federal stage,” she wrote. 

A message to all my supporters in regards to 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 underneath Wyman’s watch, the state carried out VoteWA, an up to date voter registration system that enables for mail-in poll monitoring. 

Whereas in workplace, Wyman refuted fraud claims and poll “audits” comparable 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 value him the 2020 election. Culp misplaced the election by 20 share factors.