Directors, government representatives and International Technology companies to talk about what state and local governments need to improve their systems. if you could silence your cell phones electronics i would appreciate it. Im going to take the role now. Vice chair ben hovland. Commissioner thomas hicks. We have a quorum of the commission. Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today at the u. S. Election system to examine the security challenge Election Security faces ahead of the 2020th president ial election. This vital conversational providers with a better understanding of ways the commission can help jurisdictions address a variety of Security Issues including those that stem from aging Voting Technology. When Congress Passed the help america vote act of 2002 that established the eac is the only federal entity solely focused on supporting Elections Officials on the voters they serve. Part of our charge is to be the nations clearinghouse of information on the Election Administration produced this responsibility that brings us here today and guides her Election Security effort. The eac prides itself in convening the right people at the right time to address significant issues in this event is yet another example of that work. While there are plenty of News Headlines that can service the backdrop for this conversation we are not here to address any one development or specific media report. We are gather for conference of work on this issue and to hear from three panels comprised of well respected members including secretaries of state state election director, federal partners in the state, electionn professionals and representatives from the election industry. Todays format input could not be more timely or important or the Election Security is friend of mine for everyone especially those on the frontlines. The eac recently released 2018 Election Administration and Voting Survey revealed that nationwide these Election Officials reported 334,422 pieces of equipment to cast and tabulate votes in the 2018 midterm elections. Election officials are responsible for each and every piece of that equipment. We know they rely on the eac or federal partners and election vendors to provide the resources and support they need to help make the election systems more secure and resilient. We all have a responsibility to provide that assistance. It is my wish that we leave todays forum with a better understanding of the challenges election ministered his face, the ongoing innovative approaches that they can use to ward off security threats and how all of us in this room can help administer elections the garner Public Confidence in the end result. I will not ask my fellow commissioners to make Opening Statements. Vice chair benjamin hovland. Thank you chairwoman smoke remake. Im pleased we are holding this form in such an important topic. Rep lee six months since commissioner palmer and i were sworn in the eac has been highly focused on the role of Voting Technology. Their first action with a restored cordless to start a 90day public comment. On the voluntary Voting System guidelines. We held three Public Meetings on this new draft version of the principles and guidelines during which we heard a significant step forward to modernize Voting Technology. We also discuss how the voluntary nature of the bd sg results in a system where the full value was only realized as a guideline in the eacs testing and Certification Program are utilized across the country. In other words we should strive to create the testing and certification system responsive to the needs of the election official and provides access and security to the American Voter as lame American Voters deserve. Speaking of the testing and Certification Program or he recently added Jessica Bowers and Paul Alpha Meyer who have brought decades of experience with election equipment and tese directors team. We are lucky to have such talented individuals working here but im confident their agency in the testing and Certification Team specifically will rise to the challenge before us today and work with Election OfficialsVoting System manufactures, Voting SystemTest Laboratories as well as the federal partners from the National Institute of standards and technology and the Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency assisting us to develop processes and procedures to incentivize the efficient deployment of patches or updates to Voting Systems in the field. Doing so is crucial to the security of our election system. Such a rates do not exist in a vacuum. Earlier i mentioned their work on vdsg and we are working with their partners in drafting a technical requirements crucial to developing the nextgeneration voting equipment. These efforts should complement the important conversations happening everyday in the election field. On issues like assessing and mitigating risk and todays threat environment are adopting a coordinate Vulnerability Disclosure Program so potential issues can be reported and fixed before they can be exploited. Todays form will be an important assessment identifying areas where we as an agency can do more to improve elections technology. While it would be nice to solve everything in the next three hours i suspect therell be this will be more of a start than a finish that we must get the job done. You must strive to maintain and improve testing and Certification Program that provides real value to the Elections Community without adding unnecessary burdens or costs. If there are avenues were recent agency can do more programmatically or administered of lee we must consider such suggestions. Legislative fixes are necessary we should identify those areas for members of Congress Without delay. And look forward to todays conversation would like to thank all the witnesses for being here and engaging with us on this important issue. Also before i turn it over id like to thank eac staff for all their Work Together. Thank you. Thank you vice chairman hovland. Commissioner palmer. Thank you chairman mccormack. Id like to thank your witnesses for participating in todays hearing. As well as those who are here or on line for this important discussion. Todays forms a chance to revise meeting clarity about where Election Security effort stand ahead of the president ial 2020 election. And how the eac can lead in the fifth is to make our election system and infrastructure strong and secure. This new type of warfare state and local Election Officials are on the frontlines for democracy. I full confidence that our Election Officials will prepare and train for the 2020 election and in the end they will get the job done for the American People as they did in 2016 in 2018. Because of unique role that Congress Gave us and the fact that we work closely with state and local Election Officials in a number of areas we must take your leadership role. The question today is whether or not we are adequately planning and establishing lines of medication to Election Officials with the necessary information to prevent and recover the many attempts at rest Ransomware Attacks or other the destruction of the manmade disasters on potential for strikes honored democratic ideals. The three and 80 million appropriate by the congress is going a long ways in preparation on the fundamentals of elections however as Dwight Eisenhower said in preparing for battle i have always found it plans are useless but planning is indispensable. As we look ahead at two days later panels im eagle or eager to hear a number of die and mx including challenges faced by election leaders and election System Security and the federal partnerships put in place. I look forward to learning more about how election vendors and Technology Industry leaders are working to address software used in election systems, your opinions about the value of establishing a coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure Program as well as your input about how the eacs testing insert the Certification Program in voting in this country can provide mor. As an official unfamiliar with the challenges we face of the men and women who run the elections process. It and have to face difficult decisions that stem from limited resources and seemingly unlimited needs including the ever revolving and growing it to be associated with securing elections. My goal is to conclude this meeting with a better understanding of Election Officials need and concerns as well as suggestions for how industry leaders, federal agencies it congress and others can best support local efforts to secure elections. Based on our nations elections systems is on the line for protecting that will take all of us working together in todays forums is that opportunity to do just that and demonstrate a commitment to our nations voters. Thank you for participating in todays form and i look forward to robust conversation on these issues. Thank you commissioner palmer commissioner thick steel have an Opening Statement . Yes i do. Good afternoon of welcome our witnesses to the eac security election for him. I thank all of you in attendance and watching on line and in our overflow room on this very interesting topic. With next years president ial election less than 15 months away and pleased to be joined by my fellow eac commissioners in a timely and essential discussion but as i travel across the nation to visit election offices give presentations or attend conferences Election Security is often the centerpiece of those conversations. After the 2016 election it was clear that her nation needed to look under the hood of its election system. We identified a number of areas where we need to do better and a lot of progress has been made. Including improvement of committee patients between state and local election leaders in federal partners to support their work. While todays form will likely provide even more evidence of the progress we have made its also a chance for us to collectively identify opportunities to further advance and further advanced than in cooperation including how we expand the market for election equipment and better track change. The challenges faced by Election Officials today are often tied to aged voting equipment or lack of resources. Suspect we will hear some of their looked at in todays testimony as well and in reality the eac reflects the daytoday work including todays form and all of our ongoing efforts. For example impreza work we did last after congress appropriated 380 million in muchneeded Financial Support to states and territories through the eac quickly and responsibly got these vital resources out the door. Today we continue to provide oversight and guidance of all these funds. Her most recent conversation with those who receive these funds project 85 of the money is likely to be spent by the 2020 general election with at least 90 going to replacing aging voting equipment or improvements on security and resilience. We know that more resources are always welcome in my goal of the commissioners and i have pass that along with their interactions to members of congress. Todays form is a perfect opportunity to examine ways all these entities in this room lawmakers federal agencies election manufacturers and others can Work Together or continue to Work Together to improve security and strengthen voter confidence. Also a chance for us to remember our efforts must not undermine access to the polls. As work to make elections more secure continues we must also safeguard the statutory rights that every eligible american can cast their vote independently and privately regardless of ability. I look forward to todays form and again thank your participants for being here and being a part of the work to help america vote in a way that is secure successful and accurate. Thank you. Thank you commissioner hicks. I would now like to invite brian eubie to make remarks on the half of eac staff. Thank you. Commissioners by way of introducing the agenda we will have three panels representing three flights of test mice arranges for secretaries of state, then the eac testing and certification director Jerry Deering from kentucky and other stakeholders related to certification and Software Changes including our federal partners dhs as well as microsoft. The third panel represents many of the eac register voting equipment manufacturers as well as test labs. Jeffrey hail from dhs has been participating in another meeting this morning and will the arriving after that panel begins on the second panel today for some reason as typical beginning here in time for that panel we will move into the third panel. One final comment though about today when microsoft windows7 was a topic that started this discussion and we are very pleased that microsoft is here but todays topic is much broader and today well talk about risk aware that essential to security but i want to acknowledge risk at a different level today that all of you as commissioners have discussed security and safe certification issues with Election Officials vendors congress and other stakeholders on by pausing to discuss these items today in an open meeting to engage in public dialogue with a clear end result that is unknown is a risk and i hope all will see and appreciate the leadership role the commission is taking in this regard. Similarly the election equipment vendors and microsoft have taken a risk to come here today to talk openly about the Security Issues the election industry shares. I know you as well as eac staff appreciate their willingness to come in. Beyond those who are speaking today we have received comments for the record from opensource Election Technology institute, easy vote, center for democracy and technology and dominion voting. The statements are available for the public in attendance and will be posted on our web site. This form represents one of the broadest Public Meetings of Election Security ever held certainly the largest ever eac with 13 individuals at the hearing today with that background i handled things back to the chairwoman for introductions that reference panel. Thank you director. Her first panel is right now just secretary Denise Merrill is on her when she will be joining us shortly so we will start with secretary arduin. The honorable carl everett is the secretary of state arrest in the baton rouge secretary or were he brings a wealth of knowledge to the office having served as interim secretary of state to me until his election. And First Assistant secretary of state for eight years prior to that. Currently secretary arduin serves as treasurer of the National Association of secretaries of state and the of the structure subsector government coordinating counsel. Secretary arduins will include voting equipment for the state protecting the security of sensitive voting and hightech protections for the election and commercial thank you madam chair and vice chair and commissioners. Mr. Newby mr. Tatum and staff its a pleasure to be here a pleasure to represent the great state of louisiana. Most importantly its so important to be here to discuss important issues to securing our future elections. In november of 2015 microsoft announced that they would no longer sell windows 7 computers as of november 2016. On september 6 of 22 microsoft announced the end of support for windows 7 with the january 14 of 2020. In december of 2018 i informed the governor of our state that windows 7 operate systems conflict with the states legacy Voting Machines for early voting and election day. Also provide i also provide information for the resources that would be necessary to move louisiana forward in the elections processes. In the summer and fall of this year we are switching out 250 windows 7 pcs in all registers voters offices with windows and pc.