Yesterday, Mike Pence blamed states for not updating their voting systems to prevent election interference.
Pence: “It concerns us that many states still don’t have concrete plans to upgrade their voting systems, and 14 states are struggling to replace outdated voting machines that lack paper trails before the next presidential election.”
In reality, the Trump administration is responsible and has failed to protect our election security.
DNC Chief Technology Officer Bob Lord: “The Trump administration has spent its time blaming others for poor election security, instead of bolstering funding, implementing additional sanctions, and telling the Kremlin that this behavior will not be tolerated. Our democracy will not be protected from this threat until Republicans and this administration join Democrats to take action.”
See for yourself:
The Trump administration has failed to offer leadership and direction on election security efforts.
ABC’s The Note: “Trump White House MIA in election meddling fight”
Associated Press: “Trump Criticized for Not Leading Effort to Secure Elections”
The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have failed to provide basic funding for states to be able to replace their voting systems.
CSPAN’s Craig Caplan: “50-47: Senate defeats Democrats plan to provide $250M for state election security grants for 2019 to protect future elections on near party line vote.”
Politico: “Experts said the $380 million that Congress provided this year is barely enough to train election workers and fix the voter registration databases that were a top target for hackers in 2016 — and nowhere near enough to replace insecure voting machines.”
States said they would need much more federal aid to swap out their voting equipment.
Politico: “21 states either have decided not to upgrade their machines or are unsure of their plans — with some saying they would need much more federal aid to swap out their equipment.”
The Trump administration has failed to provide adequate guidance and support to state and local officials to secure their election systems.
Associated Press: “Some state and local officials have expressed concerns about Homeland Security efforts to increase communication and cooperation with states about election systems. They have complained that it took the federal government nearly a year to inform them whether their states had been targeted by Russian hackers.”
Associated Press: “With the midterm congressional primaries about to go into full swing, the Department of Homeland Security is playing catch-up in helping to ensure that state election systems are secure against cybertampering by the Russians or others bent on mischief. The department said it has completed on-site risk assessments of election systems in just nine of 17 states that have formally requested them so far.”
The Trump administration removed the top White House position on cyber security.
Politico: “The Trump administration has eliminated the White House’s top cyber policy role, jettisoning a key position created during the Obama presidency to harmonize the government’s overall approach to cybersecurity policy and digital warfare.”
Trump has failed to hold Russia accountable, to deter them from attacking our democracy in future elections.
NBC News: “But current and former officials tell NBC News that 19 months into his presidency, there is no coherent Trump administration strategy to combat foreign election interference — and no single person or agency in charge.”