Why it Matters
With the 2026 midterms months away, the federal infrastructure that has long underpinned American election security is reportedly fraying. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has pulled back from the training, intelligence-sharing, and cybersecurity assistance it provided to state and local election officials in prior cycles. The nation's top military cyber officials have warned Congress that foreign adversaries are expected to target the 2026 elections. And the relationship between CISA and state election administrators, according to reporting by Votebeat, is "broken."
Into that vacuum steps the House Administration Subcommittee on Elections, which has scheduled an election security hearing for May 20 at 1310 Longworth House Office Building to examine best practices for strengthening election security ahead of November.
A Federal Pullback Sets the Stage
The backdrop for the hearing is a documented reduction in federal support for election administration at the state and local level. AP News reported that CISA "was largely absent" from several state elections this spring, attributing the pullback to "shifting priorities of the Trump administration, staffing reductions and budget cuts." Nextgov/FCW reported that CISA "is no longer providing the same level of election-security training, intelligence-sharing, and cybersecurity assistance it offered in prior election cycles."
That reporting describes a federal drawdown that has left state and local officials navigating a more complex threat environment with less federal support than they had in 2020 or 2022.
At the same time, the head of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency testified before Congress that foreign adversaries would attempt to interfere in the 2026 midterms. CNN reported separately that "the U.S. cyber team hasn't been activated yet to protect midterm elections from foreign meddling," raising questions about preparedness that the subcommittee hearing appears designed to probe.
Senate Pressure Builds Alongside the House Hearing
Congressional pressure around the election security gap has not been limited to the House. Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security demanding answers about the decline in federal support, writing that he was "gravely concerned about the lack of critical federal support to state and localities ahead of the 2026 midterms." Warner also asked DHS to explain what CISA is doing to warn state and local officials about "malign influence campaigns and cyber threats targeting election infrastructure," according to Nextgov/FCW.
Defense One confirmed the letter was sent to DHS in May 2026, the same week the House subcommittee scheduled its hearing.
What the Election Security Hearing Will Examine
The May 20, 2026 hearing, titled "Examining Best Practices for Strengthening Election Security," is chaired by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL), with Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) serving as ranking member. Other members of the subcommittee include Reps. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), Greg Murphy (R-NC), Mary Miller (R-IL), and Julie Johnson (D-TX).
The hearing's framing around "best practices" reflects a shift in how the committee is approaching election security. Rather than focusing on federal mandates or legislation, the subcommittee appears to be examining what state and local officials are doing on their own to fill the gap left by reduced federal support.
That dynamic is already playing out at the local level. Just days before the hearing, ClickOrlando reported that three Central Florida supervisors of elections held a public panel describing "a web of security partnerships, training protocols and contingency planning that reflects the expanding security demands" facing local officials. That kind of grassroots adaptation, driven by reduced federal support, is precisely the terrain the subcommittee is expected to explore.
State-Level Practices and the Patchwork Problem
A Bipartisan Policy Center analysis published this year found that 49 states conduct post-election audits and that 96 percent of voters in 2026 will likely cast ballots with a voter-verifiable paper trail. The report, titled "United in Security: How Every State Protects Your Vote in 2026," offers a measure of reassurance about the baseline of election administration security that exists across most of the country.
But the same report underscores the unevenness of that patchwork. States and localities have adopted varying standards, with no uniform federal framework to fill the space that CISA has reportedly vacated. That inconsistency is likely to be a central concern at the hearing, as members weigh what federal guidance, if any, should follow from an examination of best practices.
No witnesses have been publicly identified for the hearing, and no legislation is currently attached to it. The hearing is listed as a general hearing, suggesting the subcommittee is in an information-gathering phase rather than moving toward immediate legislative action. Whether it produces a policy response, or simply documents the current state of election security administration ahead of November, will depend on what members hear on May 20.
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