>> welcome to welcome to the bipartisan policy center. my name is matt while. i'm the director of a project here at the bipartisan policy center. it is 2020. we have all made. it it is very excited for my team. we are very ready for 2020 and it is 293 days away from election day. that means that iowa is having its caucus in 19 days, new hampshire is having their primary in 27 days and super tuesday are having their primaries in 48 days. what does that mean for election administrators? it means the election is not hundreds of days away, it is here, because those voters who are covered by the uniform and overseas citizens absence voting act, u.s. ballots have to be in the mail 45 days before an election so there is gonna be a lot of balance out there going to our citizens overseas. election years are very fun for me. a lot of people i don't get to talk to a lot during the year are very interested in the work that i do. it is also a time when i become an expert in elections and have opinions about how to do the process. not really like how -- not unlike all become during the olympics where i developed his whatever civil sport i hear. about just a note if you're in the wrong event and, you are more interested in the olympics, that starts at 191 days. i really appreciate everyone being here. this is the culmination of a year's worth of work from my team, bringing together 21 state and local election officials to agree upon logical election policy. what makes our group unique is that it is made up of only state and local election officials, the ones who have to implement policy. there are a lot of good ideas out there, but policies not happen in a vacuum. the greatest policy if it does not serve americas voters well it will not improve voting experience. many americans expect that the voting process be secure, accessible an accurate individual should have convenient ways of casting their ballots but only those eligible to be able to do so. our elections are really complex. they evolve many federal and state election laws, and many local election administrators, to be everything from logistical expert to cybersecurity experts, that is why the bipartisan policy center created this task force. our goal is simple, which is a greater roadmap for policymakers to understand their option when doing election reform, but also to highlight the upstream and downstream changes to policy. i am going to leave the specific conversation about recommendations to the moderator of our second panel, and great task force members were able to join today and i appreciate that. i want to thank people who made this possible, certainly all 21 of our task force members, we appreciate all of the time you gave to this effort. they attended events in person, throughout the, country, three times, last year i don't know how many times we had on campus, calls a, lot 20 times we had calls with me and my staff individually and they all certainly provided -- so i appreciate it all. that i also want to point out to my team, john florida, tim harper, rachel curry, first of all, i've made this absolutely possible. also, i don't know if she's in the room, our program associate who's been on our team for three and a half years now to really make sure that everything we want to do can happen. today has been his last day which is sad for us but it was actually slightly terrifying for me in december when she told me she had exciting new opportunity because i thought she was leaving that, and was going to read for the report got to design phase, and thankfully she made her last day hour event. i also want to just note that our content, what we spend a lot of time on that, i think we are very proud of it, it would not look this good and polished without the digital, tv communications team, so i appreciate their work. but this time i want to invite the congressman to give you remarks. unfortunately their vote scheduled and he has to do his job and so i will turn it over to congressman davis. >> thank. you hold your applause, please. hey, thank, you and matt, i really appreciate it. i actually was looking forward to the back and forth that we had last year. do you some questions and be able to respond. had the opportunity to address this group about a year ago now and it was a great back and forth talking about what our views were, what we look forward to addressing when it comes to election reform on election security during this congress. really disappointed i don't get a chance to see what secretary ross burger and the commissioner on the panel and either cheerleader what you guys are doing or of, course like we do hear congress, complain if we disagree with you. but i really appreciate the bipartisan policy center for really, having me back. election policy matters. it does not make the front page. it is not in the 24 hour news cycle but since becoming the making wrangler of the house committee which as many of you know, overseas federal, actions we have held three markups four election policies and we have had five election related hearings including a hearing just last week where we had a voting chain ceos come in and testify in our committee of nine. house administration, i think it is very important, but we have nine members on that committee. it has become a committee that's become more of a legislative committee in this congress, more so than it ever has in his entire existence. i introduced two election security bills for this, congress hr 30 4:12, the election security assistance act, and h.r.40 7:46 the honest elections act, and both of those bills take aimed at addressing some types of interference that we saw in 2016 and also focusing on assisting states like georgia and others, my home state of illinois, bolstered their election security measures as well. we think they are good bills. we think they ought to be able to get a fair hearing. some positive things that we've already done, you, know the recently passed national defense reauthorization act, the nba, we have included many election security provisions that were asked for by folks like our secretary of state, by folks that are in charge at the eac like the commissioner in implementing changes to ensure that our election system's more secure. we will make sure that we have better interoperability to provide state, local and national officials with instances of possible intrusion. communication matters. one of the big things that we can do here in washington is to make sure that all three levels of government talk to each other and make sure it's not just about money but make sure that money goes to areas that we're really going to see real results and there's not many areas in government that have seen such bipartisan cooperation at all levels to address a problem that existed in 2016. and that's great. we want to continue to allow that to happen. those are our priorities. those are chair lofgren's proirts and should be america's priorities, in my opinion. we also, republicans and democrats, work to give $425 million in hava grants to states in order to help them secure their elections. spend it wisely. so we see cooperation in a city that is not known right now when you turn on the tv for any type of cooperation whatsoever. things are happening in this arena that should be touted and that's what i think a group like yours, a bipartisan policy center, you recommended that states enact meaningful election reform. we're helping them to do that, we believe. and that's a direct result, i think, of efforts by groups like yours to make sure this was an issue with increased scrutiny and we also want to make sure that we highlight what we've done that has worked. remember we had historic turnout in the midterm elections in 2018. anybody hear of any instances of foreign intrusion? i see none. i'm going to take that as a no. but that should be celebrated. we should be talking a little bit more about what we're doing right in this field instead of always going back to instances of 2016 where we know we had a problem but we worked together to help correct those problems. the secretaries of state can tell you that. our local election officials can tell you that. the eac has now been entrusted to ensure that those efforts continue to move forward. those are the things that we should be talking about in washington but instead we're talking about other issues that are much more partisan. last year our committee marked up three bills. remember, i said we have nine members of congress on the house administration committee. i'm the lead republican on the smallest committee in congress. i have three republicans on that committee, in the minority. we had three major election bills marked up through that committee. one, a 600-plus-page amendment to hr-1. while there were good things in all of these bills, there were also some major areas that i disagreed with, so those are areas that i think we can, as we move together, we've got to figure out which areas of those major pieces of legislation the democrats tried to ram through, our small committee, and had a partisan vote on each of them on the floor of the house. we ought to be able to come together and get things done in the areas we agree with and that's why i'm glad to be here and working with folks like the secretary and the commissioner, too. we want secure elections, very much so, that's our goal. we're getting secure elections. look at 2018. look at the investments we've made. these things matter and that's why we're going to continue as we move forward, we have some ideas where i think we can work together and we need to help of the bpc to make that happen and also the secretaries of state, too. make sure you tell secretary larose i said that. we've got to reform hava. it's been since 2002 since that bill was implemented. we have so many more issues not just in the election security arena but the election technology arena that we've got to be able in a bipartisan way to update hava so the eac commissioners can do the job of getting the funds out to secretaries of state, state boards of elections in the case of illinois, and local election officials so let's work together. we need your help helping us lead a reform of hava. we also need to look at securing more modern voting in election methods. they don't apply to voter registration databases. the programs and the security protocols that we make our election voting machine vendors follow through the standards administered through the eas don't apply to voter registration databases. as we know, as we move into the future, we'll have more e-poll books, more electronic technology at the voter registration portion. maybe we start to look at putting together some guidelines that our voter registration databases will have to follow. where was the intrusion in 2016 in illinois? was it at christian county, illinois, electronic voting machine with a paper backup that i use each time? did the russians hack into that? no, but the russians did try to hack into our state board of elections voter file, our statewide database for voter registration. that tells me we've got to do something better because if that's an area that doesn't have as much scrutiny, maybe that's where government can come in as republicans and democrats and get things done. we're doing things right in illinois, too. just last week, you know, being on the committee, even though it's a small committee, i get a chance to choose some witnesses every once in a while with hearings and i had the chance to pick a witness to come and testify at the election vendor hearing and i chose my home county clerk, my local election official. he's a democrat. i'm a republican. republicans don't choose democrats to sit in their witnesses, right? if you turn on tv, you would never expect that to happen but i did because you know why? i know mike genese because i grew up with him and went to school with him and i know there is nobody in my home county that wants to run a more fair and faster election process than mike genese. he's my friend. he's doing a good job. our local election officials aren't partisan. our local election officials shouldn't be partisan. our local election officials should care, like mike does, about getting elections that are fair, getting elections that make sure people don't have to wait in lines and making sure that technology works. so bipartisan support at the local, state and federal levels is essential for mike to be able to do his job but illinois has a cyber navigator program making sure that we have policies in place that our local officials know that if they think there's an intrusion on their voter registration system or by chance maybe an election machine, they know who to call. simple things like this in washington can be done to make sure that our local election officials are able to do their job. i think a national initiative mirroring illinois'campaign could be something we could have bipartisan support on so we stop cyber threats before they get to our precincts and look, at the end of the day our federal government and our role in federal government is to ensure the states have every resource possible to run their elections. and that's an area that i think we're going to continue over the next congress and the next few years, the rest of this think can, to continue to push forward. i'm glad election security is getting more scrutiny because it gives us a chance to make things better and i look forward to working with each and every one of you. sorry i can't answer your questions. that dastardly thing called doing my job and going to vote, i got to do. thanks, everyone. and good luck. >> so our first panel is entitled defending elections at the state and local level, state and federal level, but it's broader than that. what i really want to have a conversation about, today, it's still on that topic, don't worry, is broader. it's more how can the federal government help states run their elections? what do states need? what do localities need? where are there advantages? where are we not being the most efficient? we've met congressman rodney davis who was here. commissioner ben hubland was nominated by president trump and confirmed by unanimous consent to the eac in 2019. he is currently vice chair, soon to be chair of the commission in february likely. we have to vote on it but likely. and he serves as designated federal officer for the technical guidelines development committee which helps to create the voluntary voting system guidelines. ben has been in and around elections for 20 years, recently serving as acting chief counsel for the u.s. senate committee on rules and administration, driving force behind getting $380 million to the states, a driving force. earlier in his career he served as deputy general counsel for the missouri secretary of state's office, where you focused on election administration, recounts, polling training, statewide database matching, voter registration resources and ballot initiative litigation. ben has served as an attorney for the fair elections legal network. welcome, ben. >> thank you. >> next to him, georgia secretary of state brad rassenburger, ceo and owner of tendon systems, a specialty contract engineering and design firm with nearly 200 employees. he has served two terms in the georgia general assembly from 2015 to 2019 and you were elected secretary of state in 2018. welcome to you, as well. >> thank you. >> the first question is quite broad and i'd like your initial thoughts and then narrow it down. what is the appropriate role for the federal government in elections. i'm going to ask you first. >> i think one of the real challenges in elections and particularly for people who haven't really worked in the space is figuring out that balance. as you mentioned in my biography, i'm privileged to have worked at various levels. i still haven't done local, which i should, but i worked at the missouri secretary of state's office so have had that viewpoint. i worked at the senate to have the legislative perspective and now in an administrative capacity at the eac, i think what i've seen over that time is finding that balance where i think you traditional see in federal legislation tends to be floors but it really leaves the states to be the laboratories of literal democracy and you see great innovation in the states so i think where we can ensure that people have the right to vote, that they're able to vote, but leave the flexibility for the states to innovate is really a great balance that we've seen work in a lot of places. >> secretary, same question. >> i think the federal government brings some resources we don't have at the state level and the capacity, one of those would obviously be cyber, from foreign actors in particular because they have larger resources. that's important for us. also to have a standard for testing of new voting equipment so we have a common standard because that really gives voters a sense of calm, peace that it's been tested, that there's some standard that the systems have and so i think those are two areas that are really at the federal level, you can help assist the states but at the end of the day, elections bubble up at the precinct level to the county level to the state level and i think that's the appropriate form that we've had for 200 and some odd years and i think we need to continue on. >> so you mentioned voting systems. commissioner, you helped serve as liaison to the gdc. i think there are concerns about voting systems in the public. usability, security. we know that in many states they're going to be using new voting systems this time compared to 2018 or 2016. how do you assess where we are today, where we still need to go and how we're going to get there? >> so, how long do we have? there's a lot to unpack there but i do think as the secretary said, some of the work at the eac on the voluntary voting system guidelines, i really do think there is a natural benefit and economies of scale to having a federal program. why should there be 50 different voting certification programs? that doesn't make sense for the states. that would be costly for them. that doesn't make sense for vendors. but we have to have a program that works and as you know, we've had a history that has been bumpy but i think we are on the way up and i think we are working on the vbsg 2.0 and hopefully that will be done soon. i think what that is really about is ensuring that the next generation of election equipment is better and that we build a program around that that really is focused on customer service and good governance and being a resource and a value add to the space and i think doing that ensures that election systems continue to improve going forward. >> secretary, georgia is one of those states with a new voting system. how did you settle on what you did and what are you looking for in 2020? >> we are going through our second statewide implementation. the first one was in 2002 when we made the decision, the general assembly, that we'd have a uniform system throughout the state. that was a d.r.e. system that has aged out so we're implementing a new system with touch screen technology, ballot marking device with a verifiable paper ballot trail so we'll have that implemented 33,100 machines throughout the state. we have 159 counties for the march 24th presidential preference primary. we're really moving fast. it's a big list, the largest and fastest implementation that's ever occurred in this country. >> one of the things that congressman davis mentioned was the $425 million appropriated at the end of last year for the states. i mentioned $380 million, that you were one of the driving forces behind in 2018. by my calculation, that's $805 million that the federal government is providing to states. when i've talked to state and local election officials, i think they a