U.S. Democrats push $1 billion bill for election security



House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) walks after a vote to end a government shutdown on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 9, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Democrats on Wednesday introduced legislation that would provide more than $1 billion to boost cyber security of U.S. voting systems, and Vice President Mike Pence defended the administration's efforts to protect polls from hackers.
The measure followed warnings on Tuesday from U.S. intelligence officials that midterm races in November are likely to see renewed meddling from Russia and possibly other foreign adversaries.
"We cannot let the Russians laugh about and take joy in the success they had in the last election," Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, said at a news conference. "Their goal is to undermine democracy."
Lawmakers have introduced several bills, some with bipartisan support, to bolster election security since the 2016 polls in which Republican Donald Trump was elected president. None have become law.
The new bill is the most comprehensive to date and is aimed at bolstering protection for the midterms and subsequent elections. It has no Republican co-sponsors in the House, which the party controls, and is therefore unlikely to succeed.
Vice President Mike Pence, speaking at an event hosted by the online news site Axios, said that Americans could trust the 2016 election results and that it was an "ongoing effort" of Trump's administration to protect election infrastructure.
Pence also incorrectly said it was the "universal conclusion" among intelligence agencies that Moscow's efforts had no impact on the 2016 election outcome.
The agencies said in a January 2017 report that no assessment was made about the impact of Russian meddling but that Russia used hacking and propaganda to try to tilt the election in Trump's favour. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied this.
A Pence representative did not immediately respond to a request to clarify the discrepancy between Pence's comments and the intelligence assessment.
The Democrats' Election Security Act would provide $1 billion for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to help states buy voting machines that incorporate backup paper ballots, hire security staff and conduct risk assessments.
The measure would create a $20 million grant program for states to perform post-election audits. States would also get $1 for each voter in the most recent election for security purposes.
The bill would require the Department of Homeland Security to expedite security clearances for state election officials and direct the president to develop a strategy to guard U.S. institutions, including elections, from cyber attacks and influence operations.
The department last year said 21 states had experienced initial probing of their systems from Russian hackers and a small number of networks were compromised.
Virtually all 50 states have taken steps since the 2016 election to purchase more secure equipment, expand use of paper ballots, improve cyber training or seek federal assistance, according to groups that track election security.
But Congress has not provided more money or support, and lawmakers have failed to allocate $400 million in leftover election improvement funds pledged 16 years ago.

4 comments:

  1. All they have do is stick paper ballots and do away with electronic voting. Anyhow it dosn't matter who you vote for they are all crooks.

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  2. Want more security. Paper ballots only. No voting machines. Vote counts in the full view of the public. Voter ID cards. Voter exit polling. Of course, they can't stuff the ballot box and have the dead or illegals vote can they with a system like this. Easier to throw money at the problem and keep on cheating.

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  3. Paper ballots only. My hunch is the election was already electronically hacked for the left wing and the Russians killed the vote shift app built into the secret software and the US actually got who they voted for. The perfect crime since the left can't disclose it.

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  4. I don't vote anymore. I am not going to legitimize a completely corrupt government with my vote. Their worst fear is we will wake up, join together, drain the swamp and fix the problems the rich create to profit from. Order out of chaos.

    ReplyDelete

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