Democrats outline roster of election security measures
(not sure whether this was posted previously)
By Karoun Demirjian February 14, 2018
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/democrats-outline-roster-of-election-security-measures/2018/02/14/742f0528-11b1-11e8-9065-e55346f6de81_story.html?utm_term=.2787ad535009
House Democratic leaders want the federal government to approve more than $1 billion to help states improve ballot security, part of a set of measures they say are necessary to mitigate foreign interference in future election cycles.
The proposals are part of a new report from a task force House Democrats convened last year to examine responses to Russian meddling in the 2016 election. They include establishing grant programs to help states update voting machines and improve cybersecurity protocols, adopting basic standards for voting systems, requiring the federal government to issue regular pre-election threat assessments, and designing a national strategy to counter foreign interference.
“This issue is simply too important to sit back and watch state governments and the federal government pass responsibility back and forth,” Democrats wrote in their report. “The federal government should provide the funds necessary for states to defend themselves.”
But the hefty price tag could make it difficult to secure support for the measures in Congress, where lawmakers are bracing for bitter budget battles and staring down the start of primary election season next month.
Democrats accused the GOP on Wednesday of not expediting election security measures to help states counter foreign interference.
“It’s been over a year since the intelligence community presented its assessment to the Congress, to the world,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), referring to the January 2017 intelligence community assessment that determined Russia had attempted to interfere in the 2016 election. “We need full accounting for Russia’s attacks.”
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The Democrats’ report does not focus solely on Russia — North Korea, Iran and China are also mentioned as potential aggressors in future election cycles — and lawmakers acknowledged there was “no evidence” Russia had tampered with ballots in 2016. But they noted that Americans “do now question” whether there could be such meddling in the future.
Across Congress, Republicans and Democrats have been warning the public that Russia will attempt to influence future U.S. elections — and could stage even-more-devastating attacks.
“We assume there’s still the intent and we certainly know there’s the capability,” said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.), whose panel is aiming to release recommendations about election security in the coming weeks. He added that it was up to lawmakers to “review and try to figure out if they’ve [Russia] gone into a different gear,” and “to make sure that at the end of the day states can certify to voters, everything that we printed as far as results are accurate.”
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How about spending some of that money to get rid of computerized voter data bases compiled by outsourced corrupt companies such as Crosscheck; how about saving money and heightening security by returning to hand counted paper ballots at the precinct level with public oversight!!!!
