Transcripts For CSPAN Hearing On 2020 Election Security 2024

CSPAN Hearing On 2020 Election Security July 13, 2024

Representative lofgren this is the first time the ceos of the three major vendors have appeared together in a congressional hearing. The companies they represent provide at least 80 of the estimated 350,000 Voting Machines in use today, reaching over 100 million registered voters. Outsizeddespite their role in the mechanics of our democracy, some have accused these companies of fee skating and in some cases misleading Election Administrators and the american public. Others suggest there is an insufficient regulatory structure for this sector. In the committees may 29 he teen may 2019 hearing on Election Security, a member of the Brennan Center for justice wrote in his testimony, there are more federal regulations for all point pens and magic markers than there are four Voting Systems and other parts of our election infrastructure. Star there may be more work to do and much for congress to learn about this industry. Many have concerns about Voting Systems with Remote Access software. We want to make sure companies no longer sell Voting Machines that have Network Capabilities. In 2019, according to a report a group ofoard, Election Security experts, they recovered they discovered that backend systems in 10 states were connected to the internet, despite the companie claims that they were not. We need to understand supply chains. In december 2019, a Study Released by a supply chain Monitoring Company showed that 20 of the components in a popular voting machine came from chinabased companies. 59 of suppliers within that machines supply chain have locations in either china or russia. They didnt name the vendor that an effects of the voting machine, but said it was widely used. I have also heard concerns about the ownership and control of voting machine vendors. Public reporting indicates all three major Voting System vendors represented here today are privately held or partially controlled by private equity firms. I believe it is in the Public Interest for congress to better understand who could financially benefit from the administration of our elections. There are also threats to our voting infrastructure. We learned in special counsel muellers report that russian Intelligence Officers target employee targeted employees of voting companies that develop software to manage voter rolls, and installed malware on the company network. We also know our own voluntary Voting System guidelines have not been substantially updated since 2005, before the iphone was available. Eac another the decade to make small changes, which were adopted in 2015, almost five years ago, so there is more we have to do together to bolster Public Confidence and trust in our elections systems. That is why this congress has ousted has acted. Last june the house passed the safe act, that would require individual, durable, voterverified paper ballots, require strict Cyber Security standards, require risk limiting audits, prohibit wireless and internet conductivity, and create accountability mechanisms for Election Technology vendors. The bill awaits consideration in the senate. Just last Month Congress appropriated 425 Million Dollars to the states to improve Election Security. Among 380 Million Dollars this follows 380 Million Dollars congress appropriated in 2018. Securing our elections should not be a partisan issue. Election security is about upholding a democracy of, by, and for the people, be they democratic, republican, thirdparty party or no party at all. Our democracy is resilient, but it relies on everyone having their vote counted as cast. I now recognize our Ranking Member, mr. Davis, for Opening Statements he may wish to make. Thank youtive davis for holding this longoverdue hearing, that i have been looking forward to since the beginning of this congress. I want to thank one of our witnesses for being here today to discuss the important issues regarding elections and elections administration. Rankingis on becoming a member of the committee continues to be focused on nonpartisan and effective oversight of our elections, which are maintained by the states, not the federal government. But that does not mean that this committee and the house itself does not have an important oversight role to play in securing elections. Our Witnesses Today have state, county and local jurisdictions as clients, who know their electorate best. We also have witnesses who have experience with running those elections. We know threats from foreign actors to our elections are not going away, but it should be noted from the Senate Intelligence Committee Report on the 2016 election, there were no indications votes were systems vote tallying were manipulated, or that any Voter Registration data was altered or deleted. By russia or any foreign actor. The dhs assistant secretary said at the Senate Intel Open Hearing in june 2017 that we do have confidence in the overall integrity of our electoral because our voting infrastructure is fundamentally resilient. Thee we have faith in electoral system, we have a responsibility to strengthen the relationship between states and the federal government, to ensure that americans votes are and will continue to be protected. There has been disagreement with my colleagues across the aisle on how best to accomplish this mission, but i believe our goal is the same. Instead of getting into a winded debate today between paper versus electronic, state versus federal, lets focus on areas that need improvement, aries where we may come to bipartisan we maynt areas where come to bipartisan agreement, as we have seen on this committee in the past. This committee created the help america vote act of 2002, which provided muchneeded funds to states so they could update Election Security and voting infrastructure, and created the Election Assistance Commission, eac. Havaotable requirement of was to have the eac have specific requirements against which Voting Systems can be tested, called the voluntary Voting Systems guideline, or vvsg. Intoc adopt the first vvsg thousand five and adopted. 1 and 2016. We are waiting for the newest 2. 0 p the now, vvsg committee should also hold a hearing with the eac to discuss this process and several other processes within our jurisdiction. We should not only focus on the eac, but instead hava itself. To help america vote act was created in 2002 following the president ial election, and many issues with paper ballots and ballot marking devices are much like we will discuss today. There have been developments in Voting System technology not addressed in the original like securing online databases. It has been 20 years since the law was updated. With recent developments in Election Security and development, it is time to modernize these laws and incentivize new, more secure Infrastructure Development from vendors like each of you. Lets recognize steps we have taken in this congress to secure elections. As chairperson lofgren said, the fy 2020 National Defense authorization enacted last month contains provisions related to Election Security, providing congress and federal estate agencies with information about election interference, something i the Election Security belt introduced, the Election Security assistance act. It also requires the director of national intelligence, and coordination with several other agencies, to develop a strategy for countering russian Cyber Attacks against u. S. Elections, another provision in my bill. Theddition to the ndaa, recent appropriations included 425 Million Dollars for payments to states, territories and the district of columbia, to make general improvements to the administration of federal elections, including upgrades to Election Technology and security. We still have much to do, which is why you are here with us today. The fundamental right of our to choose our leaders. We should secure and protect our elections without partisan politics. I hope we can reminder remember that not only during this hearing, but for the duration of this congress. Chairperson lofgren all other members are invited to submit an Opening Statement for the record. I would like to welcome our witnesses. Thank you for being here. Joining us are the president and ceo of elections systems and software, mr. Tom burt, the president of dominion Voting Systems, mr. John paolos, and president of part enter civic, hart mathis of intercivic, julie mathis. 2008, injoined ens in sales, operations and customer services. S, he joining es and worked at mcmaster carr, a supply company, and anderson can tell thing, where he served in management roles. Is the founding president and ceo of dominion and leads the overall Business Strategy and operations. Since its inception in 2003, dominion has grown to support over 1200 jurisdictions across north america. He holds a bachelor of arts in Electrical Engineering from the university of toronto, as well as a masters of is this administration from a university in france. Hart in 2014joined and became ceo nine days ago, so congratulations. She is president and cfo of the company. Prior to joining hart, she served as Vice President of finance at dell. She holds a pastors of Business Administration and accounting at the university of texas at austin and is a certified public accountant. I would ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise or extend the remarks, and the written statements be made part of the record. So ordered. I would like to remind the witnesses their written statements will be made part of the record at the record will remain open for at least five days for additional materials to be submitted. At this point, i would ask each witness to rise and hold up their right hand, so that you may answer this question. Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you are about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information and beliefs, so help you god . Allrecord will reflect three witnesses answered in the affirmative. We will recognize you, mr. Burt, for your testimony. Thank you. Chairperson lofgren, Ranking Member davis, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on Election Security. I am ceo of elections systems and software. Im encouraged to see growing attention to Stronger Security for elections and im thankful to recent funding to the states provided by congress under your leadership. Founded 40 years ago, es s headquarters are in nebraska. Others live locally or in near states where we provide products and services, including california, georgia, illinois, North Carolina and ohio. Let me be clear. S is committed to doing everything we can to safeguard our Election Security. For us, every day is election day. S want to make clear that es supports federal mandates for the following three policies. First, paper record for every vote cast. Second, postelection audits of these paper records, and third, standards for security testing of voting equipment by a federallycontrolled regulatory body. I would like to elaborate on the s has raiseds es s the bar on itself or Election Security and calls on congress to raise the bar for the industry. It is important paper trail be required for every vote cast. Selling votingd machines that do not produce a paper record. Increasee applaud the of resources coming from localss to state and officials, the Election Assistance Commission and the department of Homeland Security. We embrace our partnerships with of these bodies because we believe that collectively, we can provide necessary and Continuous Improvement in Election Security. While the recent appropriations bill included funding from congress, the federal government needs to devote these resources to state and local jurisdiction jurisdictions on an annual basis. I would like to highlight the s takes. Every voting machine goes through rigorous testing. We have certified 22 unique Voting Systems through this federal Testing Program. Our standard procedure is to conduct thorough Penetration Testing of hardware and software using modern security tools hackers use, to make sure our equipment is secure before it enters the federal program. We recommend increased eac funding for security testing managed at the federal level, with standards and testing methods applied evenly and comprehensively to all providers. S software is not only housed exclusively but written inside the United States. We engage in independent thirdparty to regularly test samples from our logic devices. We do this to validate the security of our supply chain and ensure no backdoor tampering has occurred. Voting machine components are produced in iso9001 certified manufacturing facilities in the Voting System is managed by a secure process. Figuration ware configuration of our Voting Machines is performed in omaha. We are working with fellow providers, seated with me today, to create the first coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure Program for elections equipment, designed to provide for even greater independent testing of Voting Systems through the use of ethical hackers. Because we strive for Continuous Improvement in all facets of our business, our actions related to Election Security are continuous and dynamic. We do not believe we are perfect. On rare occasions, machines falter and humans make mistakes. When these circumstances arrive, we do Everything Possible to remedy the issue and ensure final election report results are reported accurately. We strongly urge congress to require an auditable paper record for every vote cast as a matter of law, to improve even more the integrity of our elections. While we are very proud of the actions we have taken to date in support of safe elections, we recognize this is a race that has no finish line. Es s is committed to enhancing the security of our products in the long run and take nothing more seriously than our role in supporting our democracy. I look forward to your questions. Lofgren mr. Poulos. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. , chief is john poulas executive officer of dominion Voting System, a u. S. Owned company that provides Voting Systems to jurisdictions across 30 states and puerto rico. I agree with the importance of the issues raised regarding Elections Security and integrity. American elections preserve the freedoms guaranteed by the constitution. At dominion, we take pride in our small role in assuring voters they can have confidence and Election Results. We go to work every day understanding this important responsibility. I formed the company with my partners in 2003 as an engineer and entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. We were among 76 new entrants on one of the only ones independently operating of those 76 in the industry today. Dominion was founded on three security, transparency, and accessibility. The company abides by these principles to this day, driving innovation for auditability and resilience directed by federal, state and local Elections Officials. Elections is a fulltime proposition for our company. This past year alone, megan assisted state and local Election Officials in conducting nearly 300 elections, complete with the rigorous public scrutiny. Comes with it scrutiny that comes with it. Dominion is constantly using the new features for state and local requir

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