diff --git a/webapp_settings/production.py b/webapp_settings/production.py
index f2725c2..ed2d41a 100644
--- a/webapp_settings/production.py
+++ b/webapp_settings/production.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 # Only set this to True in development environments
+import certifi
 DEBUG = False
 CAN_EDIT_ELECTIONS = False
 
@@ -31,6 +32,11 @@
         'ENGINE': 'haystack.backends.elasticsearch2_backend.Elasticsearch2SearchEngine',
         'URL': '{{ AWS_EX_URL }}',
         'INDEX_NAME': 'ynr_prod',
+        'KWARGS': {
+            # pass CA cert info to urllib3 to be able to verify connection certificates
+            'verify_certs': True,
+            'ca_certs': certifi.where()
+        }
     },
 }