National Guard in Colorado: What’s Happening

What’s happening

By order of Governor Jared Polis, Colorado National Guard soldiers and airmen are helping defend the state’s June and November elections from cyberattacks, according to the National Guard’s own news service.

For the June primary, a June 16 executive order activated four to six unarmed members of the Colorado National Guard Task Force Cyber to support the Secretary of State through the June 30 primary, at the Secretary of State’s request. Polis issued a similar order for the 2025 coordinated election.

Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein’s October 28 report on the Guard’s election role lists Colorado among the seven states that have publicly acknowledged one, dating the general-election order to June.

The threat this responds to

Colorado votes mostly by mail, which makes its election computer systems — registration, ballot tracking, tabulation support — the part of the election most exposed to a cyberattack. The Guard’s cyber task force exists to defend exactly those systems.

What it means if you vote in Colorado

Colorado’s Guard role is on computer networks only. The Guard has no role at drop boxes, voting centers, or with ballots, and nothing about how Colorado votes has changed.

Timeline

• June 16, 2026Executive Order D 2026 008 activates a small Guard cyber team for the primary, and the Guard’s news service describes the mission as covering the June and November elections.

Reports

• National Guard news — Colorado National Guard assists with election cyber defense