Minutes. [inaudible yes. Senator fisher andriy dealing with votes going on, back and forth. I call the hearing to order. And good afternoon, i would like to thank Ranking Member fisher and our colleagues for joining us our witnesses who i will introduce shortly michigan secretary of state josslyn benson isaac kramer, Voter Registration and election, Janine Nelson, president and director of naacp Legal Defense fund. We will also hear from our other witnesses. I let them last not for any omission but because senator fisher will be introducing them and that includes alabama secretary of state west aen and brian cruz, election commissioner for the Douglas County nebraska election, electionon commission. More americans than ever have cast a ballot in recent elections and it is in large part because of the work of state and officials and these elections have run smoothly and top Security Officials in both republican andtrations alike, have confirmed the security of recent elections including last weeks primary s. 18 states have already held primaries this year, in fact, 3 of our witnesses secretary benson, secretary allen and mr. Kramer have overseen primary elections this year already and there are many more to go before the general election in november gincluding 3 states georgia mississippi and washington in which voters are casting ballots today. With voting already underway, we are here to discuss the key issues facing the state and local Election Officials on the front lines of democracy. One area of particular urgency is artificial intelligence. We have already seen ai can be used to spread disinformation about elections like to fake robo calls using the president s voice tell vote in New Hampshire which is now under investigation by the states Republican Attorney general. We must work across the aisle to protect our elections from these threats and all of the witnesses at our hearing last fall agreed we need to put guardrail in place when it comes to ai. You cant even tell its not the candidate. We also to in addition to i banning deceptive deep fakes we d also need disclaimers when a circumstances used in other ways. Last week i introduced a Lisa Murkowski to require in ai, whether youre a republicandemocrat voters will know that the use of the technology. We gncer last year in that we dont wantt labels to supply to every single thing when ai is used, so we have defined that in a way that i think will pass muster but i cannot emphasize how important i believe it is to also pass the deep fake bill. Pi myself call chat gpt or wroteha in a question i should say and asked what about this polling place in Bloomington Minnesota they often have lines where they should vote, they answered, im making up the answer 1234 elm street. Clearly we have work tocerned about that as well. We must tackle issues on. To require the Election Assistance Commission to issue guidelines so Election Officials are prepared to meet these challenges. Six states including my state of minnesota and secretary benson state of michigan have passed new laws to address in elections and more than 3 dozen states have bills pending both red and blue states but we cannot rely on patch work of state laws and Congress Must act. Election workers including volunteers also continue to face a barrage of intimidation. We have heard testimony in this committee from officials from both parties about threats targ and their families, it is a no surprise that a survey last year found that one in three Election Officials nsaid that they have been accused, harassed or threatened and one in five said that they know someone who lost their job due to safety concerns. This las a real impact in how elections are run including efforts to recruit poll workers and volunteers. Last november more than a dozen anonymous letters some containing fentanyl were sent to election offices in at least six states leading to evacuations and de ballot counting. In addition, it is critical as ever that state and local governments have reliable federal funding to maintain election infrastructure, keep pace with new technology and combat cybersecurity threats. Election security is truly National Security and these investments must be prioritized as our intel agencies continue to warn about foreign adversaries trying to infelection. I have heard from officials in red, blue and purple states about the need to get steadyin it comes to election. Finally, i will note that many n many states voters continue to face new laws that will make it harder to major hearing on that morning in the Judiciary Committee with senator warnock launching off the hearing to talk about the john lewis voting right bill andew we also need federal standards like those contained in the freedom to vote in act that i lead along with many of my colleagues including the democrats on this committee. I want to thank our witnesses for being here and forward to hearing your testimony your work year round to prepare for our elections. I will now turn it over to Ranking Member good afternoon, and thank you chairwoman klobuchar for holding this hearing. Thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today. States conduct t elections and one week after super tuesday we will hear from state and local officials from across the country about one of the most fundamental aspects of our democracy. The emergencies of free and fair elections, we look forward to learning how jurisdictions across the country are preparing for the upcoming elections. Election is not just a date when voters cast ballots but also the culmination of months of preparation by state and local Election Officials to make sured their civic duty and participate in theut democratic process. Election officials maintain voter rules, identify polling locations, train poll workers and volunteers to test voting equipment, prepare ballots and educate the public about the upcoming elections. While every four years they step into a brighter spotlight the hard working and dedicated individuals address Election Administration challenges for every elect of what offices are are on the ballot. On top of defending the cybersecurity and fiscal security of election infrastructure election a officials must recruit and train while also retaining experienced coworkers and also work hard to ensure voter confidence in the electoral process and the ultimate outcomes of the he election. Im interested in hearing from our witnesses how they adapt tochanging landscape to ensure election integrity. I also want l to understand not only the challengesleofficials face but whether the existing federal resources are working as intended to ease in those challenges. Provided states the primary responsibility of administering elections and election systems is a strength of our democracy. I look forward to a product discussion and extend my sincere appreciation to our witnesses for being here today as they are in the midst ofor the 2024 elections thank you all. Thank you very much, senator fisher. I will introduce three of the witness and then fisher er and britt will introduce the remaining two. Our first witness is michigan secretary josslyn benson, a role she has held since her election in 2018. Previously she served as dean of law school and bachelors degree and law degree from harvard. Our next witness is kramer of the vote of Voter Registration and elections forot Charleston County, South Carolina where he served for a decade and appointed executive director in 2021. Hes the graduate of what college. Then we have janet nelson, welcome again, president and director of council of the ncaapun defense fund. She began her career at ldf as an extern and returned to ldf asil and assumed role in march of 2022. She received her bachelors degree from nyu and her law degree from university of california los angeles. Senator fisher. Thank you madame a chair. I thank all of the witnesses today. We have with us mr. Brian cruz from the great state of nebraska who serves as election commissioner forv douglcruz has served as Douglas County election commissioner since 2016 and was recentlyinted for a third term. Ive had the privilege of working with him to serve le nebraska Alexei Alexei nebraskansfor many years we have direct flights, thank you. [laughter] thank you madame chairman. Ranking member fisher for your continued leadership on this committee. It is a pleasure to introduce secretary alan today west alan a ate where hes our state chief election official. Hired as election to Current Office secretary allen spent nearly a alabama probate judge which is the county senior election official. He was then elected to thea f representatives where he served as the vice chair of the legislatures Constitution Campaign and election committees. I know that secretary allen is honored to appear before the committee and offer knowledge on matters as hess made it his mission to make it easy to vote in safe and secure elections thank you for being here. Thank you very much. If the witnesses will now please stand and raise the right hand. Do youar that the testimony i will givee you a second. Do you swear that the testimony you will give before the Committee Shall be the truth the whole truth and n truth so help you god . I do. Thank you. You may be seated. You y will now proceed and will recognize you each for five minute statement starting with secretary benson and senator i will leave for vote at some point. Secretary benson. Thank you, chair klobuchar, Ranking Member fisher and members of the committee its an honor to be joining youportant hearing. The next eight to eight months ig will define the future of our country and democracy. Asr that reality is clear to me every day both as we work to ensure our elections are safe and secure and in our efforts to protect every voter and every election official from the lives, threats and deceptive tactics that continue to play our democracy. Its been a challenging fewyears for us. Mitch gene led the use in youth vote turnout citizens are engaged and voting. The number of ways voters canrs participate in the election continue to expand from the right to vote from home to early voting to traditional election day voting places. Michigans experience underscore that is the expansion of options to vote directly leads to higher Voter Participation across theio political spectrum in every election. I know the o successes do not tell the wholew story. We go this election cycle expecting bad actors to use mills information, turbo charged through a information to divide deceivehr and to Voter Participation throughout our country. Im not just v talking about deep fakes. Ai will also make it easier to misl process or even conditions at a polling place. Imagine a voter receiving a warning saying theres long lines at a precinct or a not to go or another seeing post, polling location changing because of flooding, all of thes and deter participation. The realities of ai underscore the need for federal investment in our elections. Ai introduced level of speed scale and sophistication that is difficult for s underresourced state agencies to handle on our own. Federal funds helptous support ow Cybersecurity Infrastructure and do more Voter Education to address the evolving threat. We also need the department of Homeland Security and sisa to be more aggressive in identifying and combating threat and notifying local officials states with critical security information helping us ensure voters know what to do, when they encounter deceptive election practices. At the state level in michigan we are doing our part, weve enacted laws to require disclaimers and political advertisements generated from aien and weve made it a crime for anyone to knowingly and deceptively distribute ai generated deep fakes but need you do your part. As u. S. U senator you can protect every voter in the country from harmful effects from deceptive ai generated content by passing elections deceptive ai act. Finally, we cannot have a secure democracy if we do not protecturity of the people who protect our democracy. Our job as Election Administrators increasingly forces us to endure harassment, false and malicious attacks on our character and threats of violence all because of lies of work and our integrity. Throughout her neighborhood detroit city clerk Janice Winfrey was approached by nf a man who told her you are going to pay dearly for your actions in this election. Open county elections director joe rosel threatened that he would be hanged for treason these are just a few examples of what the Election Administrators endure and as misinformation increases so do the threats. We all have a duty to protect the people who protect democracy. In michigan we have made it a state crime to threaten or intimidate official with specific intent withec interfering with the officials duties. This should be a federal crime. Election officials are professionals. We are put voters first and we are firmly re committed to ensuring every citizen could have rightly placed faith in their vote and in our highest priority to ensure we have the funding, the resources and the Legal Protections to make democracy work everyone because ensuring our security is critical to ensuring election security. Ive spent my year defending ive defending the right to vote of every eligible citizen that commitment has never waived and it will not waiver now. Im here today t ask you all to share that commitment and help us ensure we are protected so democracy continues to thrive this year and every year. Thank you. Thank you so much, secretary. O secretary allen. You. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, i appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today about election security. As alabama secretary of state iit rve as the states chief election official and work closely with the probate judges, circuit clerksl workers boards of registrars who are all an integral part and i paid it top priority to ensure that our elections are fair and secure so that every eligible voter who wishes to cast a vote in any election in our state could do so with confidence knowing that their vote would be properly tcounted. Elections are the bedrock of our Constitutional Republic and it is my constitutional duty to ensure our elections areco conducted with integrity honest accuracy. Voter registration and voter file maintenance are the foundation of election integrity. Registered voters can choose to participate in elections in alabama with the confidence that our elections process is fair and secure because alabama has taken steps solid steps in ourau ensure election integrity. Poses, my office will send som to the location of their choice, even their home, to issue them a voter i. D. Upon request. Proper voter file maintenance is a preserving confidence in elections. Just this year with the help of the dedicated team of the office of secretary of state is to establish the alabama voter integrity data base. First time in our States History we have been approved to directly cross check our voter file with the master index maintained by the Social Security administration so when an alabama voter dies in another state, we are able to identify and remove that individual from our voter file. Quickly removing and from our voter file will allow us to maintain a more accurate voter file. Every state should be able to do this and excessive federal regulations will make it more difficult than what it should be for states you as members of the United States senate can remove obstacles and make this information immediately available to every secretary of state in the country. Abbott also enablestous work with the Alabama Law Enforcement agency to receive notifications of alabama license drivers over the age of 18 who have received a drivers license in another state, additionally by comparing the national change of address database maintained by the United StatesPostal Service to our voter file we identified registered alabama voters who have requested to have their mail forwarded due to moving location outside of the state. For the first time we have entered into agreements allowing us to identify people who arell registered to inalabama and voter state. To date we have identified 109,709 alabama voters who have likely relocated outside of the state but unlike deceased voters weannot remove them from the alabama voter file. The registration act of 1993 alson known as nvra mandate that is we wait four years to make such removal. If i can make a recommendation to this body to increase confidence in our elections it would be to shorten the 4year waiting period mandated ho especially considered the fact that state to state movers9 all relocations across u. S. Census bureau, the fouryear waiting u. Period allows an individual to remain in voter file in which they know longer live for several elections including a president ial election a u. S. Senate election, Gubernatorial Election two Congressional Elections and numerous local elections,s, four years quite frankly is too long. This federal law requires secretaries of state to knowingly maintain bloated inaccura vo