Government : Auditor Rippel participates in election security-focused preparedness exercise

Benton County Auditor Hayley Rippel, along with Elections Deputy Gina Edler, Deputy Auditor Alisha Burmeister, IT Director Ben Turnis, Emergency Management Coordinator Dean Vrba and local election security partners recently joined the Iowa Secretary of State’s office to participate in annual election security exercises. These tabletop exercises focus on effective responses to potential election-related threats and simulate potential issues or emergencies that could affect voters and the elections process. This training allows local election officials and their security teams to evaluate their emergency response procedures and preparedness for such crises.

“Participation in the cybersecurity tabletop exercise highlighted both our strengths and areas where we can improve, particularly in communication, coordination, and decision-making during a high-pressure situation. It also reinforced the importance of clearly defined roles and timely information sharing across all departments on election day. Investing time in exercises like this is critical in protecting sensitive data, maintaining public trust, and ensuring the resilience of our elections operations in Iowa,” said Rippel.

County auditors are asked to bring their entire incident response team to participate, which typically includes critical team members in IT, local law enforcement, emergency management, county supervisors, public information officers, communications personnel, and election staff from the county auditor’s office. 

Through discussion-based tabletop exercises meant to simulate realistic election-related crisis possibilities, Benton County team discussed their prospective roles during such an emergency. These simulations included hazardous weather, breaches of physical or cyber security, misinformation campaigns, equipment malfunction, and more. 

“Every Iowan should feel confident that we are conducting the safest, cleanest, and most secure elections possible,” said Secretary of State Paul Pate.  “We prepare for the worst, but hope for the best, and these exercises will help every election official in Iowa be prepared.”

These tabletop exercises conducted by the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office occur annually and reach hundreds of election officials and local security partners each year. The tabletop exercises are conducted and facilitated by the Iowa Secretary of State with support from The Elections Group.