Outgoing elections director: 'Trust the process'
January 17, 2024 | Steve Pappas | Times Argus staff writer
Will Senning, Vermont director of elections and campaign finance, outside the Secretary of State’s office in Montpelier recently. Senning leaves next month to work as an election security adviser for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Photo by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur
MONTPELIER — When Will Senning started as director of elections in the Secretary of State’s office, he was not thinking about elections the way he does today.
For 12 years, Senning has worked in the elections division, hired by former Secretary of State Jim Condos. In fact, in those early days, very few Vermonters even knew about the division, the director position. Previously, the director’s duties had been a more collective role within the Secretary of State’s office.
Senning has held the position now for a decade — arguably one of the most tested times for elections in U.S. history.
For generations, the voting process was linear. It still is, but with new challenges. Those challenges — and the lived experience over the last two presidential election cycles — have provided Senning with unique skills that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants in order to further protect the nation’s elections.
Next month, Senning will go from being a state employee to a federal employee.
“Prior to 2016, you cast a ballot, you waited for a result, you got the result, you trusted it, and you moved on from there,” he said. “That’s not the case anymore, and it’s really sad.”
Threats
Over these 12 years, Senning likely has seen more changes in U.S. elections than the nation had seen in the previous 50 years or more.
“During my time here, the profile of election administration grew exponentially,” he said.
In 2016, the U.S. election system came under cyberattack from foreign agents, and various misinformation campaigns were waged to disparage candidates and results. In 2020, the threats went to a new level, when direct threats, including death threats, were being made against election workers and administrators; there was widespread questioning of results and processes; and there was a general distrust of election officials.
In the midst of all of that, there was a global pandemic that required altering the election process dramatically in order for voters still to be able to have their say while confined at home.
“There was a necessary and quick adjustment to the pandemic,” Senning said. “It was the greatest challenge to my professional career.”
In April 2020, when Vermont lawmakers, who were in quarantine at the time, imposed an emergency provision pushing voting for the upcoming General Election to mail.
It also allowed for the expansion of the early voting period; and the promotion necessary to educate the public that they could request early ballots.
In five short months, Senning and his staff were putting in 15- to 18-hour days to coordinate the shift to a mail-only ballot, which required working closely with ballot printers, envelope vendors, mail houses and, of course, the United States Postal Service, whose political mail coordinator for New England was on Senning’s speed dial.
“We were well positioned not due to our size, but for where we were with policies and procedures prior to the pandemic,” Senning said. Vermont already had a robust absentee balloting system in place.
It worked. The 2020 election saw a record-breaking number of absentee ballot requests, and few missteps.
Condos, Senning and their elections division team received statewide and national praise for their work.
When asked whether Vermont’s smaller population relative to other states affected that ability to pivot, Senning countered by saying the number of voters shouldn’t matter if the process is in place and working.
“At some point, it doesn’t matter if you have a million ballots, or 500,000, or 5 million, you still have to put the same process in place to get it done,” he said. “It was already part of the culture here.”
Crash course
That’s not to say that 2016 and 2020 did not have a pronounced impact in Senning and his five staff members. (The Legislature has set aside money for a sixth individual for the elections division.)
The various cyberattacks on U.S. elections led to “a crash course” for election directors nationwide, who were now having to implement new systems, do “penetration testing” of software systems, install “intrusion detection systems” and web application firewalls, or WAFs, as well as put into writing protocols and best practices.
Senning and his team, under Condos’ leadership, jumped right in, almost learning as fast it processes were developed.
“I never anticipated (cybersecurity) being a focal point of the job,” Senning said of those early days. He and his fellow directors, who are part of the National Association of State Election Directors, were talking about envelope designs or the best ways for town meetings to be warned.
“Now, (cyberprotection), is about 20% of my job,” he said, adding that when he attends NASED meetings now, 50% of the meeting’s agenda is about cybersecurity.
“It was a bit like getting a master’s degree in cyber protection,” he said.
CISA
Enter, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA.
In January 2017, the Department of Homeland Security officially designated “election infrastructure” as a subset of the government facilities sector, making clear that elections are considered “critical” to our national infrastructure. The nation’s dams and electric grid also fall under this designation.
According to CISA, “This designation recognizes that the United States’ election infrastructure is of such vital importance to the American way of life that its incapacitation or destruction would have a devastating effect on the country.”
Election infrastructure includes: voter registration databases and associated IT systems; IT infrastructure and systems used to manage elections (such as the counting, auditing, and displaying of election results, and the post-election reporting to certify and validate results); voting systems and associated infrastructure; storage facilities for election and voting system infrastructure; and polling places, according to CISA
Senning said in the years since the 2016 and 2020 elections, CISA has become “a good partner” for states. He said the agency has assisted in providing trainings, grants and even doing cybersecurity threat assessments.
As the threats have grown, though, so has CISA’s role.
According to CISA, it is “committed to working collaboratively with those on the front lines of elections — state and local governments, election officials, federal partners, and private sector partners — to manage risks to the nation’s election infrastructure. The agency provides resources on election security for both the public and election officials at all levels and will remain transparent and agile in its vigorous efforts to protect America’s election infrastructure against new and evolving threats.”
Over the last six years, CISA has been hiring to fill key roles — election security advisers — in its 10 regions nationwide. It is a very specialized skill set, however. The small pool of experienced U.S. election officials with the expertise needed is either current or former election directors.
In other words, CISA can’t just hire anybody.
Speak the language
Last July, CISA began searching for individuals whose expertise would benefit the nation’s election work. Lived experience during 2016, 2020 (and the pandemic) were important. Senning was identified and was encouraged to apply for a federal post.
Around the turn of the year, the Duxbury native got word that the rigorous federal CISA interviewing process had landed him one of the posts.
His last day with the Secretary of State’s office is Feb. 9. His first day with CISA is Feb. 12. He will be overseeing Region 1. Senning said he gets to work remotely, but also will travel around New England to meet with election officials.
In describing his new role, Senning said the regional election security advisers “work both directions.” He said he and others in his role will be communicating to state and local election officials; and, hopefully, transferring on-the-ground intel and knowledge back to CISA.
“I speak their language,” he said.
That’s key. From CISA: “Every year, citizens across the United States cast their ballots for the candidates of their choice. Fair and free elections are a hallmark of American democracy. The American people’s confidence in the value of their vote is principally reliant on the security and resilience of the infrastructure that makes the Nation’s elections possible. Accordingly, an electoral process that is both secure and resilient is a vital national interest and one of CISA’s highest priorities.”
Senning said he has always felt good about the election process, especially here in Vermont. “I have never seen any evidence of the level of fraud that is talked about…. but the cybersecurity threats are real.”
2024
What of the timing of his departure?
When asked about stepping out of his director position just weeks prior to the state presidential primary (also Town Meeting Day, March 5), Senning said the elections division is very well positioned because of all of the work done in the off-election year — 2023 — that included locking down contracts for goods and services; working out software issues; testing; and doing all of the usual preparatory work needed before a busy year like 2024.
“People joke you work three days every two years,” he said. “That couldn’t be any further from the truth.”
Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas said Friday that the elections division team “has really pulled together,” especially since Senning let them know several weeks ago he was going to be leaving.
“We feel really comfortable,” she said, adding that she’s hoping to have the director of elections position posted shortly, and that there will be a nationwide search. (The rewritten job description likely will require some experience with cyber protection.)
Copeland Hanzas said she is hoping to have someone well in place in advance of the statewide party primary (Aug. 13) and the General Election (Nov. 5).
In addition to the presidential primary, in 2024 the statewide offices to be elected include a U.S. Senate seat (currently Sen. Bernie Sanders), U.S. representative, governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, secretary of state, auditor of accounts, attorney general, all 30 state senate seats, all 150 state representative seats, high bailiff and justices of the peace.
“There is never a perfect time to leave,” Senning said, adding that his staff knows what he knows, and certain redundancies are built in. “I’ll still be in Duxbury if they have specific questions,” he said.
Copeland Hanzas jokingly chided CISA for “poaching” Senning so close to the election cycle. “They couldn’t have started this process a year ago?”
Copeland Hanzas called Senning’s next step a bittersweet moment: She’s happy that the feds are getting such a qualified elections expert from Vermont, and she is sad for the state.
“Certainly, Will’s leadership contributed to the strength of and trust in the state’s elections, but democracy is a team sport. The faith Vermonters have in our elections is a product of this team effort, along with the state’s long-held traditions of civic engagement, helping our neighbors, and serving the public. It’s a legacy that I inherited and will build on as secretary, and one that the Secretary of State’s office and elections team will continue to build on and improve,” Copeland Hanzas stated in a news release.
Senning told Vermont media recently: “Working on election administration and policy here in Vermont has been the honor of my life. … I love the work and the team here at the Secretary of State’s office, and all of our incredible municipal clerks and local officials I have had the pleasure of working with over the past decade. It is difficult to leave, but I am looking forward to my next chapter.”
Senning said he’s not at all worried about any election in the short-term but, rather, the long game. He said the erosion of trust due to misinformation and social media continues to be the greatest challenge for those working to protect elections and election work.
“The ongoing challenge is rebuilding the trust and tamping down the misinformation,” he said, restating the many steps that his division and both Condos and Copeland Hanzas have taken over the years to make Vermont a leader in election protocols and safety.
“Trust the process,” he said. “It’s solid. It has integrity.”
This story was originally published in the Times Argus.