federal partners and the vendor community

[GoodTaste]

Does "vendor" here mean "a person or company offering something for sale, especially a trader in the street"?

==================


We are committed to working collaboratively with those on the front lines of elections – state and local government, election officials, federal partners and the vendor community – to manage risks to election infrastructure. We will remain transparent as well as agile to combat and secure our physical and cyber infrastructure against new and evolving threats.

Source: The US Department of Homeland Security
https://www.dhs.gov/topic/election-security

 

[GoesStation]

They're clearly speaking about companies that sell voting machines.

 

[emsr2d2]

It wasn't clear to this speaker of BrE. :-(

Nor to this one. Mind you, I didn't click on the link to read the whole piece and we don't have voting machines in the UK!

 

[probus]

They're clearly speaking about companies that sell voting machines.

That would be the "vendors". As a non-American I too am uncertain about the "federal partners." They must be other arms or agencies of the US federal government. Perhaps the intelligence services such as the CIA? We know Anerica is on the alert against foreign interference in its elections.

 

[GoesStation]

As a non-American I too am uncertain about the "federal partners." They must be other arms or agencies of the US federal government. Perhaps the intelligence services such as the CIA? We know America is on the alert against foreign interference in its elections.

The federal partners would indeed be US government offices, but not the CIA. It's prohibited from working domestically. The linked page lists the offices that the summary describes as "partners".

 

[probus]

Sure, and I would be the first to agree that some of the enemies of democracy in America are home-grown and therefore outside the purview of the CIA. But surely many if not most such enemies are abroad. Anyway, the CIA was only intended to be one example of federal partners.

 

[PeterCW]

Nor to this one. Mind you, I didn't click on the link to read the whole piece and we don't have voting machines in the UK!

I deduced that there was some sort of private sector invovement which confused me for a few moments. Like the other British people here the idea of voting machines didn't occur to me.