The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday released a set of draft recommendations on how to boost election security, which includes a call for making sure states “remain firmly in the lead on running elections.”
The report was issued in the wake of Russia’s attempts to meddle in the 2016 election. It’s the first report published by the panel during its year-long investigation into Russia’s actions.
The Senate Intelligence Committee found the “U.S. election infrastructure is fundamentally resilient […] but more needs to be done.”
The committee urged Congress to “urgently pass legislation increasing assistance and establishing a voluntary grant program for the states,” which would allow states to hire more IT staff, update software and pay for cybersecurity services, among other things.
Another issue is old voting machines, the committee recommends.
“States should rapidly replace outdated and vulnerable voting systems. At a minimum, any machine purchased going forward should have a voter-verified paper trail and no WiFi capability,” reads the report.
At a press briefing Tuesday afternoon, the committee’s chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-NC., said Russia attempted to penetrate 21 states’ databases during the 2016 election.
The Department of Homeland Security told 21 states in September Russia attempted to hack their election systems before the 2016 election.
“Russia was trying to undermine the confidence of our election systems,” he said, but added, “There’s no evidence any vote was changed.”
“Clearly we’ve got to get some standards in place that assure every state that at the end of the day they can certify their vote totals,” Burr said.
The panel, led by Burr and his Democratic counterpart Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., also urged the federal government to “clearly communicate to adversaries that an attack on our election infrastructure is a hostile act, and we will respond accordingly.”
Congress has yet to pass any legislation strengthening the protection of voting systems ahead of the 2018 election, but members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are expected to introduce a bill as soon as Tuesday.
The draft recommendations released Tuesday do not address alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, which the Senate Intelligence Committee is also investigating.
On Wednesday, the committee is holding an open hearing on the 2016 hacking attempts and how state and federal entities responded.
Special counsel Robert Mueller — who is conducting his own Russia probe — indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for meddling in the 2016 presidential election in February.
Read the two-page summary below:
