Transcripts For CSPAN Hearing On 2020 Election Security 2024

CSPAN Hearing On 2020 Election Security July 12, 2024

The vote is the most powerful, nonviolent change agent you have a democratic society. Is must use it, because it not guaranteed. You can lose it. In less than 90 days, americans across the country will participate in election unlike any other in our history. As they scramble to administer it, decisions related to the number and location had impacts on peoples rights to vote. Long lines and crowded voting locations and predominate black andbrown Neighborhoods Police violence that underscored we have a president who has repeatedly tried to manipulate a new cycle, going so far as to falsely suggest you can move the election date and more insidiously making basis claims about the security of vote by mail. Inservice tois his own political ends, dangerous foreign influence campaign, and puts americans who there was acise Risk Assessment of vote by mail. While a concluded, that risk associated with mailin voting, justice with every other method with voting, those risk and be mitigated. Not aware of any intelligence assessment indicating foreign actors have experts interest or capabilities to successfully interfere with vote by mail. Ourust learn the lessons of recent elections and do better in november. First, we must prepare americans for the reality that elections will be administered differently this fall. Second, we must ensure that changes to the u. S. Service standards do not jeopardize vote by mail. Seeking to expand vote by mail. To coordinate vote by mail. Olicy impacts time again, the of dysfunctional and chaotic alexion ministration fall hardest on black and brown communities. Election officials must be deliberate to ensure no community is disenfranchised. Fourth, we must not forget the lessons of 2016. Around this time when Russian Foreign interference campaign engaged in a hack and dump operations against one candidate. They target alexion systems in all 50 states. Systems and then to improve the security election infrastructure and Campaign Organizations to improve the finally, we need to be honest with ourselves about what it would take to administer it safe, secure and audible elections this fall. It has been over 10 weeks since the house passed the heroes act, which would have provided 3. 6 billion to support state and local Election Officials. Despite urgent requests for Additional Resources from state and local Election Officials across the country, the senate never voted on the heroes act, nor did it include any Election Administration funding and the cobit response package released last week. The house and Senate Negotiations continue. I urge my Senate Colleagues to step up and provide state and local Election Officials the funding they need to administer elections and this november. I look forward to hearing from the witnesses today, their recommendations from congress and a way to give americans more opportunities to vote this november and to ensure the safety and integrity of elections. Consent thatents the state of florida and texas be permittede to participate in i would like to recognize the Ranking Member of the subcommittee to offer any Opening Statements you may have. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I went to echo your sentiments about john lewis. Of american politics and leadership. I considered him a friend. I want to thank the staff for accommodating the schedule today. I have another example of how bad 2020 is. My best friend is being laid to rest this morning. It is another awful example of this. I want to thank the german for holding this hearing. Election security is something i am very sick very worried about. We want to make sure all americans are able to vote securely. Although we have made significant progress since 2000 16, Election Security remains a major concern of ours. Voting is fundamental to our democracy. I went to a plot Election Security efforts by the Cyber Security Infrastructure Agency and its partnerships with state, local, territorial, and tribal governments that have resulted in the marked improvement of Election Security over 2016. It provides states with technical assistance, playbooks, shares information on threats and assist in responding to cyber incidents. The pandemic has injected new elements of uncertainty to the election. Many local Election Officials are forced to reinvent the process by which citizens vote. These changes will keep citizens oedipal workers safe while maintaining citizens in the process. In march, congress provided 400 million in the help america vote act to states to prepare for and conduct the 2020 election. Aided by this infusion of funding, state and local Election Officials are adjusting to huge increases in voting by mail. The system is also working with state and local Election Officials to help out this information campaign. A key component of this strategy is countering the opportunity for adversaries to spread disinformation and changes in polling location. This has assisted state and local officials with methods to drive sources of information and communicate changes to Election Officials, polling locations and times. Election security for 2020 has also as a result of the direct participation in by state and local officials. Election as provided cyber resources they need to maintain the integrity of their infrastructure anduding tools, training, information sharing and analysis. However, many Election Officers do not have the i. T. Knowledge or resources necessary to take advantage of this information. Some of them have a delusion of information. Election officers are not equipped to handle these types of threats to their infrastructure alone. This is why i introduced my cyber navigators bill, which authorizes state and local governments to provide andanagement, resiliency, Technical Support in the administration of elections. This enables the state to hire cybersecurity expert familiar with the unique election systems. This ensures that those navigators are able to establish relationships with regional and election and state Election Officials. Are notection officials forced to compete with other state priorities. Election security has a history of bipartisan cooperation, ensuring our election process is uncompromised during the upcoming election must remain a top priority for both sides of the aisle. I look forward to continuing to work toward the goal with my colleagues on the subcommittee. For providing the subcommittee with the testimony and i look forward to hear your ideas. And with that, i yield back. Yorke gentleman from new yields back. Aswill offer prayers to you you attend the funeral and we thank you for your attendance. Thank you. I have to deliver the eulogy. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The subcommittee will operate according to the guidelines laid out by the chairman and Ranking Members. With that, i asked unanimous consent to waive Committee Rule 882. Under House Resolution 965. Without objection. The chair not recognizes the chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from the misses the gentleman from mississippi. Do we have mr. Thompson here . The chair will now we will go on to the Ranking Member of the full committee, and then we will come back to the chairman. The gentleman from alabama. Mr. Rogers is not here. Amazing straight to our witnesses. I knelt welcome our panel of witnesses. First, i would like to welcome david, and elections integrity fellow at the alliance for securing democracy. Previously served in a range of positions of administering and serving elections and advocating for election reform, including as the ada county idaho corrections director and director for elections of the city of richmond, virginia. Miss albert brings more than a decade of professional experience in Public Interest law and Public Policy campaigns, expanding valid ballot access, reducing barriers to participation and combating voter intimidation among historically disenfranchised communities. Next, we will hear from miss amber mcreynolds. Of is the former director elections for denver, colorado and serves on the National Election task force on election practices. Crisis i look forward to hearing her unique perspective on that topic. Mr. John have come the president and ceo of the center for Internet Security. Together with election infrastructure information sharing and Analysis Center provides many resources to support the Cyber Security needs of the alexion community. I appreciate you joining us today. Statementses full will be inserted for the record. I now ask each witness to summarize his or her statement for five minutes, beginning with mr. Levine. Levine ranking chairman, cybersecurity and infrastructure protection, good morning, and thank you for the opportunity to testify today on protecting the integrity of the 2020 elections on the pandemic. I am the Election Integrity fellow for the alliance for securing democracy, a bipartisan Transatlantic Initiative housed within the german funding United States. We develop cooperative strategies to deter and defend against authoritarian efforts to undermine and interfere with democratic institutions. The 20 primary election season has been unique. With a global pandemic, nationwide protest, and an ongoing threat of online interference, my testimony focuses on six steps that can be taken out to help ensure the 2020 election is safe, secure, and fair. State and local Election Officials, with help from their partners, must continually evaluate their election infrastructure to ensure that it is as secure as possible. Testing and auditing existing systems is essential. At a receipt meeting secretary posedte, Matt Matheson state officials that dhs testing of election systems found a number of concerning vulnerabilities. These include sharing passwords and other credentials and using default passwords commonly known to outsiders and continuing to thatfor phishing attacks allow hackers to install malware, including what can paralyze elections. Many of these issues can be easily fixed by election day. Locald news is that many Election Offices are unable to make these fixes quickly, because they lack the necessary resources or i. T. Support. The coronavirus has exacerbated the problem by forcing the number of states to divert Election Security funding to cover unanticipated costs stemming from the pandemic. As at the election infrastructure is modified to become for the coronavirus or other intervening events, security and resiliency measures must be part of the design not introduced after the fact. In its june 2 primary election, the washington, d. C. Primary elections in the data from complaints from voters who did not receive absentee ballots as a male decided as a last allowed to missing boaters to submit their vote by email. While the effort was wellintentioned, it put Election Results at risk, because there is no way for those voters to verify their votes were recorded accurately or to ensure those votes were not altered in transmission by bad actors. Even if there is no actual toerference, allowing them showreign adversaries to doubt about the legitimacy of our elections. We need to ensure our elections are running as smoothly as possible to ensure that misinformation is less likely to be effective. If our general election is played by significant problems, inAccurate Information is more likely to find an audience. Regardless of how secure our elections are, experts and officials are concerned that some voters could dismiss novembers results as invalid or rigged because of disinformation. Voters could argue that the much longer than usual time required to count an anticipated surge and mailin ballots suggest misconduct. We must seek to flood the Information Space with credible, consistent election information so that voters are immunized against falsehood. This will be challenging in light of the coronavirus and the constant change is required. It is doable, particularly if federal authorities can provide state and local Election Officials additional funding to publish i did explain changes to their election processes. It is essential that partisan politics kept out of Election Administration to build confidence in the integrity of the election process. It should happened long before election day. Ar example, kentucky had relatively smooth primary election import due to a bipartisan agreement well in advance of the election between a democratic governor and the republican secretary of state. It took a number of joint steps to up the state prepare for its primary, including allowing for the unprecedented expansion of absentee voting and allow emperors and absentee voting, which is early voting. Must havefficials sufficient resources to brian for recently resealable foreseeable election contingencies. Offering robust voting by mail an early election options to minimize confusion at risk are optimal. Many jurisdictions do not currently have the resources and or personnel to offer all of these approaches. Additional resources from federal authorities would help enormously with administering and securing the election. Time is of the essence. It your vote is precious. It is the most powerful nonviolent dual we have to create a more perfect union. I urge congress to do Everything Possible to ensure every person who wants to exercise their right to vote can do so. Thank you. We know it recognize miss albert to summarize her statement. For inviting me to testify today. Thank you Ranking Members and all members of the subcommittee. My name is sylvia albert. [inaudible] we have been Holding Congress accountable. Taken cause fights to money out of politics, support. Oting rights and foster covid19 pandemic is presented a challenge or democracy. [inaudible] there is no such thing as a perfect election. Exacerbated by the covid19 endemic pandemic. Voters of color, young voters and firsttime voters are without proper funding, the problem with these elections [inaudible] by understanding these issues, we can work to [inaudible] i want to highlight some of these issues. A dramatic increase of mailin ballots. [inaudible] expecting voters to vote by mail, Election Officials [inaudible] not done equitably or with regard to [inaudible] voting issues lead to disenfranchisement. Ranging from machines not working. Voters had no choice but to wait in line. Running an election to get voters a safe and secure option to vote [inaudible] Election Officials have long tried to make voting more difficult for black and brown people. These efforts are greatly exacerbated during the pandemic. [inaudible]ntly we need to have the funds necessary to [inaudible] 70 of Election Officials prefer [inaudible] members of congress will help pull workkers poll workers. [inaudible] we continue to strongly urge senator mcconnell to bring it up for a vote. I cannot think of a better way to honor congressman john lewis then to pass the john lewis Voting Rights [inaudible] we went to ensure the 2020 elections are safe and fair. Thank you. Thank you, miss albert for your testimony. Mcreynoldsgnize miss to summarize her statements. Chairman,ou, mr. Members, and staff. Thank you for providing me to provide testimony about the resiliency and readiness of our elections during this unprecedented Public Health crisis. The pandemic has upended all efforts of our lives in the voting process is no different. Is essential that we must do everything we can to ensure our election system is ready, resilient, and secure. Let me be very clear. Election officials are working each and every day to make this happen. And in extraordinary extremely challenging circumstances and often with one hand tied behind her back due to outdated laws and a lack of funding and resources. Long lines ory other challenging circumstances voters often face even prior to this year are usually the most visible symptom of a policy or resource problem. Election officials have responded to difficult circumstances with little support and will attempt to do so this year. This year is unprecedented. They need support from elected leaders that have the power to help. They are on the front lines delivering democracy to all voters in small towns and in metro areas across the United States. It is only right policymakers not only at the federal level but the state level respond to their needs. Extraordinarily challenges extraordinary challenges call for extraordinary solutions. Americans are resilient. We need a voting process that is proven from proven resilient from and from outdated policies that create challenges. We need a system that can withstand all of those issues. The pandemic has exposed challenges in most states that have historica

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