In 2017, at the start of the first Trump administration, election infrastructure and all it entails was placed into the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) as a subsector within the Government Services and Facilities Sector. For those who accuse President Donald Trump of only being interested in election integrity after 2020, the formation of this subsector debunks that claim.
When Trump won the 2024 election and regained the office, the administration had to do a course correction of the agency, thanks to the Biden administration's corruption of it. More on that later in this article.
In July of 2026, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin was mantled with the role, and tasked CISA with developing an Election Infrastructure Security Plan to aid election partners to combat the threats of cyber and physical attacks to election infrastructure.
The Federalist exclusively obtained this 13-page document, detailing some of its tenets and guidelines.
The Trump administration released a “comprehensive” plan on Thursday that U.S. election officials can use to safeguard the integrity of the voting process during the upcoming midterms, The Federalist has learned.
“Election security is national security,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement. “This plan, which will be implemented in full, is crucial to the security, freeness, and fairness of choosing the leaders of our country. Making America safe again isn’t just done at the border, in our streets, and on the coast — it’s also done in protecting the integrity of American elections.”
Cue the leftist meltdowns in 3... 2... 1...
Obtained by The Federalist, the 2026 Election Infrastructure Security Plan includes numerous tools and services that election officials can use to protect election infrastructure from physical and cyber threats in the midterms. The extensive report was produced by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which falls under DHS.
Of course, Democrats and the Left cannot make up their mind whether Trump will steal the 2026 election, or if Trump will declare martial law and cancel it entirely. So, for those crisis actors who need a blueprint on what is on the mind of the administration, here it is.
We expect that won't shut them up, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Exposure and sunlight make for great disinfectants.
The 13-page document begins by providing a comprehensive overview of existing election infrastructure (voting and processing facilities, voting hardware, etc.) and the core technological components (voter registration systems, tabulation systems, etc.) that define a typical election process. It also includes an analysis of potential cyber and physical threats to this infrastructure that officials may encounter during the 2026 contest, such as attempted cyber hacks of state voter registration databases and bomb threats directed at election offices.
The report provides guidance on how best to confront these prospective issues. For instance, to mitigate potential cyber vulnerabilities, the plan advises election officials to consider using paper ballots “that can be easily reviewed to ensure transparency, auditability, and resilience against software failures or manipulation,” and to “[c]onduct post-election manual audits of paper ballots to verify that voting systems function properly and to identify errors before certifying the final results.”
Here is what is critical: this is guidance, not a mandate. This guidance was also requested and welcomed by state and local election partners.
At the request of state and local government officials, including election officials and vendors, CISA provides no-cost, voluntary cyber and physical security services, including technical expertise, vulnerability scanning and training, as well as exercises. CISA’s regional teams assist partners across the country by assessing risks, helping entities bolster defenses, improving resilience, and responding promptly to threats.
The Election Infrastructure Security Plan further states:
CISA has recommitted to its statutory mission and remains resolute in strengthening the security of election infrastructure, as with all critical infrastructure sectors. DHS has consistently supported CISA’s delivery of cybersecurity and physical security services to election officials.
This is a far cry from how the Biden administration used CISA, as The Federalist revealed.
The Trump administration’s election security plan is a notable pivot for CISA, which previously operated as the “nerve center” of the censorship-industrial complex.
Remember the Disinformation Governance Board and its "Scary Poppins" director Nina Jankowicz? All the Big Tech censorship of everything from Hunter Biden's laptop to the Wuhan Lab, to COVID/vaxx truth and the whistleblowers who were trying to get the information out? During that period, the CISA agency was diverted from cybersecurity, shoring up election integrity and safeguarding our elections to targeting the free speech rights of Americans in their aim to control and censor the flow of information.
Totally on brand.
While created in 2018 to safeguard critical U.S. infrastructure and guard against cybersecurity threats, a 2023 House GOP report found that CISA had “metastasized” into a weapon used in the federal government’s “domestic surveillance and censorship operations on social media.” A separate House report released later that year showed that CISA colluded with Stanford University to pressure Big Tech companies into censoring prominent conservative voices leading up to the 2020 election — including The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway and Sean Davis.
And RedState and its editors and writers. It cannot be overstated that if Trump had not been elected in 2024, our country would be in a world of hurt.
This is a developing story. RedState will keep you abreast of updates, and more detailed information, as it becomes available.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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