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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 26 July 2019

Election warnings blare, but action stalls in Congress

By LISA MASCARO and In 2018, 10 states had more
MARY CLARE JALONICK than half of their jurisdic-
Associated Press tions using machines with-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rob- out a paper trail, which
ert Mueller warned that cybersecurity experts have
Russian interference is still warned are vulnerable to
happening “as we sit here.” hacking and must be re-
State election officials are placed.
anxious and underfunded, An AP analysis in July found
some running systems with that many of the 10,000
outdated software and election jurisdictions na-
scrounging for replace- tionwide use old and soon-
ment parts off e-Bay. to-be outdated operating
And on Thursday a report systems to create their bal-
from the Senate Intelli- lots, program voting ma-
gence committee con- chines, tally votes and re-
cluded all 50 states were port counts. Many systems
targeted in 2016 and are running Windows 7,
ahead of the 2018 election which will reach its end of
“top election vulnerabilities free Microsoft support for
remained.” software vulnerabilities on
But there’s no help coming January 14, and it’s unclear
from Congress. who would pay for extend-
It’s a risky calculation Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., arrives to speak with reporters following the ed support.
heading into 2020, when weekly policy lunches on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 23, 2019. But time may be running
the stakes will be high for Associated Press out to address concerns in
an election that could see case that the Trump admin- up call,” he said. The challenge was under- the states before the next
record turnout as President istration has already made “Leader McConnell, let me scored Thursday as the election.
Donald Trump runs for a great strides in protecting read you that sentence,” Senate Intelligence Com- Even if Congress were im-
second term. Primary vot- the vote and they say no Schumer said from the Sen- mittee released the full mediately to send funds
ing is six months away. more funding is needed. ate floor, citing Mueller’s results of an investigation to states to replace voting
Senate Majority Leader The Senate Democratic testimony Wednesday be- that found the Russian gov- equipment, it would be dif-
Mitch McConnell on Thurs- leader, Chuck Schumer of fore the House committees ernment directed “exten- ficult to make substantial
day blocked a House- New York, called inaction about Russian interference. sive activity” against U.S. upgrades in time for the
passed bill that would au- by Congress a “disgrace” “’They’re doing it as we election systems ahead 2020 elections. It can take
thorize $775 million to beef and pledged to keep push- sit here, and they expect of the 2016 election. Two months to decide on re-
up state election systems. ing for votes. Mueller’s testi- to do it in the next cam- years later, ahead of the placement machines, de-
GOP leaders made the mony “should be a wake- paign.’” midterm election, little velop security protocols,
had changed, as an in- train workers and test the
telligence assessment re- equipment. McConnell
ported, “We are aware of objected to the House bill,
a growing volume of ma- saying it was “not a seri-
licious activity targeting ous effort” coming from
election infrastructure in the same side that he said
2018.” spent the past two years
The report encourages “hyping” Mueller’s investi-
states to “take urgent steps gation into Russian interfer-
to replace outdated and ence in the 2016 election.
vulnerable voting systems.” “Obviously, it’s very impor-
It said, “More money may tant that we maintain the
be needed.” integrity and security of our
The House is pushing oth- elections,” McConnell said
er bills targeting fake ads Thursday.
and cyber intrusions and It wasn’t the first time Mc-
the Senate already unani- Connell had put the brakes
mously approved one bi- on election security efforts.
partisan measure, which The Kentucky Republican
makes interference in elec- halted a bipartisan effort
tions a violation of immigra- ahead of the 2018 election
tion law, and another that to beef up state election
makes it a federal crime to systems. It stalled again this
hack elections systems. year.
But Democrats — and That measure would have
some Republicans — say required all states to use
Congress must do more. paper ballots as a backup
The most pressing issue is to electronic systems if they
replacing electronic vot- want to receive federal
ing machines that do not election money for vot-
produce a paper record of ing equipment. It would
each ballot cast that is veri- also require that all 50
fied by the voter and can states conduct audits after
later be audited. elections.q