State outlines election-cybersecurity support; county to work with Apollo I.T. and vendors

Chrissy Peters, Director of Elections at the Missouri Secretary of State's Office, briefed the commission on a two‑phase federal/state program to bolster county election cybersecurity. She said the first phase — voluntary assessments of county clerk offices — was completed with about 95% county participation, and that state statute now requires those assessments every two years. The second phase funds firewalls, installation and three years of monitoring, with a three‑year renewal option; the state will pay for installation and monitoring costs tied to county clerk offices.

Ms. Peters told the commission the state is providing the firewall and monitoring to protect the statewide voter registration systems and related infrastructure. The minutes record that Apollo I.T. Consulting is the state's partner in the work; Apollo staff participated in the meeting (remote attendees included Betsy Schonhoff and Stacey Moskowitz), and Brad Ray of Sprocket raised questions about equipment responsibility and contract coverage. The minutes state Apollo will partner with local vendors and that costs associated with county-clerk portions of any identified issues would be paid by the state. The minutes also note that the state cannot maintain direct contracts with every county IT vendor and thus uses a vendor partner model.

No county vote or directive to accept services is recorded in the minutes; the entry documents the briefing and clarifications about funding, vendor roles and statutory assessment requirements.