The following article by Britt Robson was posted on the University of Minnesota Alumni Association website as part of their Fall, 2018 issue:
Not while alumnus and Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon stands between voters and danger.
Credit: Mark Luinenburg
Most any Minnesota voter would recognize the thing perched in a corner of Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon’s office on the ground floor of the State Office Building adjoining the Capitol in St. Paul. It seems to be an ordinary voting booth, constructed of standard-issue blue and white plastic on metal legs, with three walls for privacy and a flat surface on which to lay your ballot.
But the voting surface in this booth is disheveled, with white paper dots littered around an open booklet. “This is from Broward County,” says Simon meaningfully. Continue reading “Will Your Vote be Hacked?”
The following article by Niels Lesniewski was posted on the Roll Call website August 20, 2018:
Letter to Rules Committee follows request to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin
Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Benjamin L. Cardin are concerned about Russian ownership of a Maryland election contractor. Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call file photo
Maryland’s Democratic senators want a Senate committee to require disclosures of foreign investments in U.S. election systems, an alarm bell set off by a Russian oligarch’s connection to their state’s voter registration system.
The request to the Rules and Administration Committee comes from Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin and Sen. Chris Van Hollen. Van Hollen is also the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
The Maryland senators have been alarmed by a Russian oligarch’s investment connection to ByteGrid LLC, which handles the Old Line State’s voter registration database and candidate management operations.
The following commentary by Bob Lord was posted on the USA Today website August 14, 2018:
From candidates to voters, we’re vulnerable to cyber attacks. Here are ways you can make it harder for foreign adversaries to disrupt US elections.
Cybersecurity is on everyone’s mind as we approach the 2018 midterm elections. We’re reading articles about everything from the challenges of securing voter machines, to new phrases like “computational propaganda” and “influence operations,” to Trump not doing enough to hold Russia accountable and Republicansrefusing to provide necessary election security funding.
Here at Democratic Party headquarters, we know firsthand the damage wreaked by a cyber intrusion. We strongly believe our democracy will not be protected from the threat of foreign adversaries until Republicans join Democrats to take action.
Still, the DNC is not waiting for the cavalry to show up. We are doing everything we can right now to ensure our elections are safe and secure. We’re trying to better understand these issues and find solutions to not only protect ourselves, but to help campaigns and state parties do the same. The DNC is partnering with experts to help shape our thinking across the spectrum of security-related topics. We’ve also offered better resources and guidance to our own staffers and opened up lines of communication with candidates, state parties, and the rest of the Democratic infrastructure.
Weijia Jiang: “He Did Not Bridge Up Moscow’s Ongoing Interference In U.S. Elections Even Though Just Hours Earlier […] The President’s National Security Chief Delivered A Full Court Press To Address What They Call A Pervasive Campaign By Russia To Weaken And Divide The United States.”
JIANG: “President Trump once again defended his summit with Vladimir Putin and slammed the Russian investigation during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. He did not bring up Moscow’s ongoing interference in U.S. elections even though just hours earlier-“ BOLTON CLIP: “The president has made it very clear, I think, what his priority is.” JIANG: “The President’s National Security Chief delivered a full court press to address what they call a pervasive campaign by Russia to weaken and divide the United States.” [This Morning, CBS, 8/3/18; VIDEO] Continue reading “Want to Know More About … Election Security”
The following article by Griffin Connolly was posted on the Roll Call website May 22, 2018:
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, left, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee address the media after a briefing on election security with House members in the Capitol Visitor Center on May 22, 2018. FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats also attended. Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call
Democrats and Republicans struck drastically different tones about their confidence in federal agencies’ efforts to secure voting systems and stamp out foreign state-sponsored influence campaigns ahead of the 2018 midterms after a classified meeting on the subject for House members Tuesday.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, and FBI Director Christopher Wray were among the officials who briefed lawmakers and answered their questions about what their agencies are doing to combat potential Russian, Iranian, Chinese, and other nations’ attempts to undermine the midterms.
Roughly 40 to 50 lawmakers showed up to the meeting, which House Speaker Paul D. Ryan organized for all House members.
The following article by Griffin Connolly was posted on the Hill website May 22, 2018:
House given classified briefing on what DHS, FBI, DNI are doing to secure elections at state, local levels
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, left, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee address the media after a briefing on election security with House members in the Capitol Visitor Center on May 22, 2018. FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats also attended. Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
Democrats and Republicans struck drastically different tones about their confidence in federal agencies’ efforts to secure voting systems and stamp out foreign state-sponsored influence campaigns ahead of the 2018 midterms after a classified meeting on the subject for House members Tuesday.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, and FBI Director Christopher Wray were among the officials who briefed lawmakers and answered their questions about what their agencies are doing to combat potential Russian, Iranian, Chinese, and other nations’ attempts to undermine the midterms.
Roughly 40 to 50 lawmakers showed up to the meeting, which House Speaker Paul D. Ryan organized for all House members.
The following article by Niels Lesniewski was posted on the Roll Call website September 12, 2017:
Amendment has support of Schumer, GOP national security leaders
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar wants to make voting security part of the debate on the defense policy bill. Credit: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo
Updated 9:24 p.m. | A bipartisan effort to enhance election security is among the priorities for Senate Democrats as part of the debate on the annual defense authorization measure.
“The consensus of 17 U.S. Intelligence agencies was that Russia, a foreign adversary, interfered in our elections. Make no mistake: Their success in 2016 will encourage them to try again,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said Tuesday. “We have state elections in a couple of months and the 2018 election is a little more than a year away. We must improve our defenses now to ensure we’re prepared.”
The New York Democrat was speaking on the floor about a bipartisan effort led by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, and Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican.
The amendment has the backing of a number of national security experts with Republican backgrounds. On Monday, former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, former CIA Director James Woolsey, former House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogersand retired Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer of the London Center for Policy Research wrote to Senate leaders and the Armed Services Committee leadership to push the effort.
“Although election administration is the province of state and local governments, the federal government has a responsibility to support the states and ‘provide for the common defense,’” the former officials wrote. “We do not expect the states to defend themselves against kinetic attacks by hostile foreign powers, nor should we leave them to defend against foreign cyberattacks on their own.”
Among the possible uses of grant funds to states authorized under the amendment would be cyberdefenses for voting systems and postelection audit systems, as well as paper trail technology.
“On other matters of national security, the federal government provides states and municipalities with grants to fund security personnel and first responders on the front lines of addressing threats. Given the longstanding role of the federal government in elections and the seriousness of emerging risks, the issue of voting security should be no different,” the officials wrote in their letter.
Klobuchar’s involvement comes, in part, from her role as the ranking Democrat on the Rules and Administration Committee, which has significant jurisdiction over election matters.
It was not clear as the Senate adjourned Tuesday how many amendments would ultimately be considered to the fiscal 2018 defense bill, despite the efforts of leaders on both sides of the aisle.
But an agreement with Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul for a Wednesday morning procedural vote should increase the chances that the election security amendment gets in the queue for a vote.
Klobuchar and Graham will have Schumer’s backing when it comes time to compile a manager’s package of amendments or to get a standalone vote.
Paul had pledged to object to any procedural efforts to truncate debate on the defense policy bill unless he got a vote on an amendment that would roll back the authorizations for use of military force against Iraq and Afghanistan, which date to the early period of the George W. Bush presidency.
“The Graham-Klobuchar amendment would greatly strengthen our defenses, helping prepare states for the inevitable cyberattacks that threaten the integrity of our elections,” Schumer said Tuesday. “We should pass it as part of the NDAA.”
Cybersecurity is on everyone’s mind as we approach the 2018 midterm elections. We’re reading articles about everything from the challenges of securing voter machines, to new phrases like 
