The committee will come to order. Good morning thank you to the witnesses for participating in todays hearing we all have a stake to ensure a safe and secure election in november. This hearing comes one week after we lay to rest a giant in Voting Rights. Before he died congressman lewis reminded us the vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent in a Democratic Society and use it because its not guaranteed we must vigorously defend our right to vote with access to the ballot box and in less than 90 days americans across the country will participate in an election unlike any other in history that pandemic for state and local Election Officials to rapidly expand votes by mail and early voting and other policies so no voter has to choose between their life and their health. With the states primary election seemingly administrative decisions related to the number and location have dozens of impacts of peoples right to vote those that are predominantly black and brown neighborhoods and Police Violence to underscore that systematic racism and with those political ends with Foreign Influence Campaign and americans the president does not have the power moreover the Cybersecurity Infrastructure agency released Risk Assessment of vote by mail while there are risks associated with mailin voting just like every other method they can be mitigated and further i am not unaware of any intelligence assessment indicating foreign actors have expressed interest or capability to successfully interfere with vote by mail. We must learn lessons of recent elections to do better in november. First we must prepare americans for their reality elections will be administered differently this fall and educate voters vote by mail and deadlines and how expanded vote by mail might affect the chinese. We must encourage participation while inoculating from the Disinformation Campaign undermining confidence second we must assure changes that they do not jeopardize vote by mail and then to expand vote by mail and coordinate with the Postal Service and then to ensure Election Officials as a pretext to make the administrative decision of the disenfranchised voters. Time and time again the impact calls hardest on black and brown communities. It must be delivered that no community is disenfranchised. And then with the Operation Campaign against one candidate and targeting the election systems and then to improve the security election infrastructure and Campaign Organizations to improve the resilience and finally we need to be honest with ourselves about what it would take to safe and secure and audible elections this fall. Since they pass the heroes act to provide three. 6 billion in funding with the state and local of officials. Despite urgent requests for Additional Resources and the senate never voted on the heroes act or ever have funding and that it continued i urge my Senate Colleagues to step up and provide state and local election decisions of what they need to administer safe and secure auditable elections this november. And the recommendations for congress to give them opportunities to vote in november and to ensure the safety and integrity of the elections. I would like to recognize the Ranking Member of the subcommittee for any Opening Statements you may have. John lewis shined with the American Leadership i considered him a friend and then this is another example an Election Security is something i am very concerned about to ensure that all americans and in 2016 Election Security is a major concern and those that are fundamental to the democracy and with every aspect of the election process. It was cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency state local territory in tribal government resulting in improvement of 2016. To provide state and local officials a Technical Assistance and exercises and that pandemic into the 2020 election that many officials of which citizens vote. These changes will keep them safe to keep them safe in the process and to keep america vote act to keep the 2020 election during the pandemic. State local Election Officials and with the consolidation of voting locations and with those procedures. Election from 2020 with that participation with the state and local official and then to recognize selection offices with the research they need with tools and training and information sharing and analysis. And not have the it knowledge and that is necessary from disinformation and not equipped to handle to that election infrastructure alone. And to provide Risk Management and Technical Support in the hybrid security expert with the unique election systems it ensures that they can establish relationships to those officials to target the administration to be forced to compete with other state priorities election bipartisan cooperation ensure it is uncompromised and must remain a top priority together. And to provide testimony and to have further improvement on our election systems. I yield back. The gentleman from new york yields back. We thank you. And that the subcommittee would operate to the guidelines by the chairman and the Ranking Member colloquy i Wave Committee rule 882 under that covered. Under the designated speaker House Resolution 965. Without objection so ordered. The chair has recognize the full committee for the opening statement. Mr. Thompson . And out to the Ranking Member of the full committee then will come back to the chairman now we recognize the chairman of the full committee the gentle man from alabama now is go straight to our amazing witnesses. We will welcome our panels witnesses the elections integrity fellow previously served in a range of positions and observing elections to advocate for election reform including the idaho elections director and next the director of voting and elections and with Public Interest law and Public Policy campaigns and reducing barriers to participation to combat the historically disenfranchised communities next we will hear from the ceo of the National Vote at home is a to and coalition. And to serve on the National Election task force was stay in universal vote by mail i look forward to hearing her unique perspective on that topic. Finally made of the president and ceo of the center for Internet Security with information sharing and analysis to provide many resources for the cybersecurity needs of the Election Community i appreciate you all joining us today without objection witnesses false statements will be inserted for the record and i now ask each witness to summarize his or her statement for five minutes. Chairman richmond and members of the subcommittee on cybersecurity innovation. Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today to protect the integrity during that covid19 pandemic i am the Election Integrity fellow with a bipartisan Transatlantic Initiative and to develop comprehensive strategies to deter and defend against authoritarian efforts with the Democratic Institutions the 2020 primary election season has been unique with a Global Pandemic a nationwide protest and ongoing interference my testimony today focuses on six steps to ensure the 2020 election is safe and secure and fair. State and local Election Officials help permit partners to evaluate their infrastructure to ensure it is as secure as possible. Testing of systems is essential at the National Association secretaries of state revise with the department of Homeland Security told state officials testing was state and local officials have a number of concerning vulnerabilities including shared passwords and other credentials and default known to outsiders also with attacks allowing actors to install malware that could paralyze election day operations. But the good news is many issues could be easily be fixed by election day but the bad news is many offices cannot make these quickly because they lack the necessary resources coronavirus has exacerbated the problem forcing a number of states with those other anticipated costs. And to be part of the design and not introduced afterthefact in the june 2nd primary election the washington see these the with complaints from voters who did not receive absentee ballots in the mail decided at the last resort to allow them to submit their ballots by email so they could be cast and counted. The effort was wellintentioned to put the results at risk because theres no way they could verify their votes were recorded accurately or to ensure they were not altered by bad actors there is no actual interference allowing them with adversaries i could use such actions with the legitimacy of elections. We need to ensure they are running as smoothly as possible so this is less likely to be affected when with an Accurate Information more likely to find a receptive audience. Regardless of how secure our elections are officials are concerns that would dismiss the result as invalid or rigged because of disinformation voters argue the much longer time required that anticipated surge of ballots with conduct we must to flood the information state with credible consistent information so voters are immunized. And then constant changes required but it is doable particularly if federal authorities can our state and local Election Officials additional funding to the election process it is essential partisan politics be kept out to build confidence in the integrity of the election process and that happened long before election day. For example kentucky had a relatively smooth primary election due to a bipartisan agreement reached well in advance between the democratic governor and republican and secretary of state taking a number of steps to prepare for her absentee voting Election Officials using resources to planned for reasonable foreseeable contingencies early voting in election day options to minimize confusion and risk are optimal that many dont have the resources or the personnel Additional Resources from federal authorities would help enormously that time is of the essence john lewis once said your vote is precious. The most powerful nonviolent to all we have to create a more Perfect Union i urge congress to do Everything Possible to ensure that every person who was to exercise their right to vote can do so. Thank you. Good morning. Thank you to all members of the subcommittee and the director of voting and elections the non with those supporters. [inaudible] with the covid19 pandemic we have known voters have vastly different voting experiences. But there is there is no such thing as a perfect election. And then to have access to ballots in those significant barriers so only a small percentage of the electorate the 2020 primary season with the solutions before elections. And then to highlight some of these issues and common issue and that reconstruction. [inaudible] for example. [inaudible] [inaudible] and then to vote by mail that time is running out and thes efforts are exacerbated however they are solutions that have systemic change. So to address each of those. [inaudible] and then even prior to the pandemic that these were no longer available. But then the Voter Empowerment act and then we continue to strongly urge i cannot think of a better way. [inaudible] and with that 2020 election. And with your testimony i will now recognize to summarize your statement for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you for inviting me to provide testimony with the willingness of our system during this unprecedented Public Health crisis. The pandemic has all aspects of our life and then to ensure the election system is ready and resilient. And even in extraordinary and challenging extra can stand on six on circumstances with a lack of funding and resources and other challenging circumstances that they face and are part of the problem. In those circumstances with little support but this is unprecedented. And have the power to help and in small towns and in metro areas across the United States and even those at the federal level respond to their needs. It along with searches, unprecedented surges in absentee ballot requests that went unfilled due to the Administrative Burden process they are unable to use their fundamental right to vote. The leaders fought to ensure that our democracy functions so all voters have access to participate. Voting at home options is one way to solve the challenges and by extension voters faced by pandemic. Voting by mail is proven, timetested and goes back to the civil war. The mailin ballots model puts voters first and has proven to be resilient during both natural disasters and the current pandemic. To streamline administrative processes, enhanced security all while conserving valuable resources, increasing turnout and trust i the trust in govern. Voters have been voting this way at home safely and securely for decades but utah to colorado, california, oregon, washington, now washington, d. C. , vermont and nevada after this weekend policymakers have acted to ensure they have a range of options to both safely and securely because no one should have to choose between voting and protecting their health. What does this process look like . As of august of this year, just recently, nevada passed voters will be mailed in a ballot in advance of the election and have multiple options to return it. And the rest of the states, voters can return a ballot to be returned. A small number of the states require an excuse to be provided with a request and even fewer still limit options based on the voters age. Every singles date offers an option to vote at home. Whether you call it absentee, vote by mail, mailin ballot, it means that its being sent to the voter by email, the voter complete the ballot and it is concerned considered. It includes strong Safety Measures to ensure the authenticity of the ballots and in some states, this includes ballot tracking from the day that they are mailed all the way through when they are processed. Now as a couple of notable considerations, and as you mentioned in the report that was released on friday that talked about the importance of securing vote by mail systems noted this information risk to the infrastructure and process is similar to that a thin person voting while utilizing different content. Actors they leverage limited understanding regarding the mailin voting to mislead and confuse the public. This includes casting belt without evidence about the ballot process, thus combating disinformation and misinformation is a critical aspect of the officials work, the security, expanding to vote at home options is nonpartisan and supported by the leaders on both sides of the aisle. A second notable consideration is the reason to change to the process and delivery timelines that will have a Significant Impact on the process. Regardless of the voting method. The ballots are just one piece of how the post Office Support election infrastructure. Federal and state laws have legal mandates with regards to sending Voter Registration information, ballot issued notices, election information, poll worker employment, cards, Signature Cards can address updates come in medications and other required mailings. All of these required mailings are at risk if the post office is not able to process mail effectively. Some states have also not updated with regards to ensuring adequate time to process. These include michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin, new york, maryland, alabama and others. This is exactly why weve seen delays in the results because officials dont have adequate time to process in advance of election day. As was perfect the system we must be able to detour and hold accountable any bad actor that tries to interfere in the process. While voter fraud is rare regardless of the voting method it is critical for officials to detect malicious activity into voters to report suspicious activity. Our democracy functions when every eligible voters able to exercise their right to vote. Voters have already chosen to vote at home in record numbers in the primary and they will continue to do so. Our democracy is essential if we need to be sure that our systems are secure from any interference and misinformation as it is noted in the report on friday. No system is perfect if this is why it is critical to review and improve systems by enhancing access the transparency particularly in this unprecedented time. A necessary improvement is the implementation of the ballot tracking systems. Another example is advanced auditing techniques. We cannot settle for when this moment in this unprecedented crisis calls us to do better. It is the shared dna of the nation and to the community. We must do everything we can to ensure they are secure. Going into november, it must be about who votes if not who wins. You have the authority to create a path for the American People into the method that the voters of all stripes can be confident in and lets do that together. Thank you. [inaudible] chairman of richmond, Ranking Member and vendors of the subcommittee, thank you for the invitation to appear today. I am the chief executive officer for Internet Security. The past ten years, cia has had the privilege of operating in the Analysis Center. Senators graham and the best practice organizations with 10,000 states, local, tribal and territorial organizations. 2018, were asked to establish a parallel organization focused on u. S. Elections organizations. The infrastructure Analysis Center is now fully operational and has 2600 state and local organizations. Today i will share my views of the progress that has been made protecting the infrastructure from Cyber Threats. In the summer of 2016 and 2017, many jurisdictions have Immature Technology security capabiliti capabilities, lamented Cyber Security awareness and education and insufficient collaboration among the stakeholders. Early 2018, dhs, the Assistance Commission at the state and local Election Officials came together to jointly take on a series of actions to improve the security of the infrastructure, the formation was one of these actions. In addition to the cybersecurity activities for today t that to e local Election Officials undertake on their own, today the technical protections deployed across the infrastructure have significantly improved since 2018. I will highlight three of these technologies, the Cyber Defense approach each found at least in part a congressional appropriation. First is the centers of every state organization with a total of 270 monitoring devices going to the local offices. Second, the endpoint Response Program with a deployment of fiber sensors both individual systems and election infrastructure. Thousands of these sensors are being deployed as we speak. Third, the blocking and reporting that prevents the offices and computers and connecting to no malicious sites. Flavored awareness and education a set of broad initiatives has enhanced understanding of Cyber Attacks and what they should do to process their cyber readiness. The conference is, tabletop exercises, cyber education events, education materials and situational updates as well as courses and Third Party Organizations have resulted in a dramatic improvement in the Cybersecurity Awareness of Election Officials. In addition to the federally funded activities, we continue to invest our own funds and seek support to the best practice guidance and tools. While officials are not Cyber Security experts they better understand the nature of Cyber Threats, the Available Solutions and what to do any cyber event. With regards to the critical area of partnerships among federal, state and local organizations weve shown a saturation. The associations representing directors, local Elections Officials, the eac as well as other public and private organizations that have been hag for collaboratively to improve the offices cybersecurity foster relationships continue to improve. Appearance in 2016 and 2018, the security of the infrastructure looks quite different in 2020. While there are no guarantees in cybersecurity, i can assure you the Security Defense that we have in place are vastly improved over those in place a short four years ago. Congress, officials and a host of public and private organizations should be proud of the projects that have been made in this area. I close by recommending the congress continue to emphasize the importance of collaboration and Cyber Technology innovation if i encourage you to focus on the attention of disinformation in the major vulnerabilities in his last area in order to simplify the reporting of those related. We highlighted the system with officials in five states and they have engaged with dhs to promote the capability to the social media platform. We believe that this capability will be a valuable tool increasing visibility of elections related. This concludes my oral remarks and i look forward to your questions. I want to think of the thanke witnesses for their testimony. I think weve been joined by the chairman of the full committee and i both recognize the gentleman from mississippi, mr. Thompson for his opening statement. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I appreciate the opportunity to speak. House democrats are working hard to provide additional assistance for a safe, secure election during the covid19 pandemic. This couldnt come at a more appropriate time. Last week we celebrated the life of congress and john lewis. As we mourn our loss, we grappled with a tremendous task of how to author his legacy. Congressman lewis committed a lifetime. He challenged us to stand up and called on each ocall on each ofr talents to build a better country than the one we inherited and we were reminded that democracy is not a state, its an act. This november or state will participate in and election that will look like no other. The pandemic will demand if we adopt our voting procedures to ensure no american must choose between exercising their democratic right to vote and protecting their health and we must protect against adversaries who use our differences of opinion is. They remain vigilant in defending the truth to deny our adversaries the opportunity to deal with information back and lives. Now more than ever, we each have a role to play in defending our democracy. As the chairman of the Homeland Security committee, i fought to protect the Voting Rights of all americans and to secure funding to the officials was outdated, unsecure equipment and hr one that included Election Security to provide funding for states to improve Election Security and correct a whole of government response to counter the Foreign Influence Campaigns undermining confidence in our Democratic Institutions. On may 15 the house passed the act which would provide 3. 6 billion to help states navigate the challenges with administering the pandemic. The fact is in addition to the 800 billion already made available this year, both built with the language in the senate. The reason package proposed by the Senate Majority provides no resource for the cost of administering and as my Senate Colleagues posed their tributes i call on them to remember because i was so dear to him, access to the ballot box and fight to include the voting reform and funding to implement them in the next covid19 package. State officials by changing the voting rules that prohibit the absentee voting would reduce the lines making it safe to vote. The public also has a role to play. The whole of nation commitment. With the yield back the balance of my time. Thank the chairman for his opening statement. I will remind the subcommittee weekly chart for five minutes to question the panel. I would now recognize myself questions. The first question would be to all of the witnesses. As you know, the attorney general for an opportunity last week have repeatedly tried to cast mailin voting is fraudulent, illegal or tantamount to breaking and election. Friday however, there was a mailin voting 2020 infrastructure Risk Assessment that considered a number of risks to vote by mail but ultimately found that, quote, all forms of voting in this case brings a variety of Cyber Infrastructure risks that can be managed to the particles. What words or takeaways from the Risk Assessment, and number two, is there more that other federal agencies can be doing to promote confidence in safe, secure voting this november . I see that you are ready. Thank you for that question. In terms of the takeaways, it was important and showed the kind of things folks ought to consider when they are administering the elections vote by mail. This document has the fact is that unambiguously state i can vote on a safe and secure process, but those also walk through the important pieces that are worth mentioning. Number one, some of the factors to consider are the difference. It is worth noting if the Voter Registration database isnt as accurate, your ability after the fact it takes on a different kind of thing and then youre able to go to a polling place. The other thing that is worth noting that was pointed out is the notion that other people spread disinformation about the vote by mail process and to say that it is easily rigged and in my testimony i point out the authoritarian actors like russia and iran that have already done that and so i think what is really important in terms of the takeaways, number one, people take a look at this so that they can understand so they can utilize vote by mail. Its about how this needs to be done in terms of the federal authority, one of the things they can continue to do, which theyve already done is reaching out in an affirmative manner to the state and local officials and Civil Society organizations to talk them through how to best communicate with the American Public about how the process can be done to have confidence even though it will be different in november than previously it will still be a safe and secure process. Thank you mr. Chairman. As was previously stated, i was an Elections Official in colorado, and three different president ial elections along with many other end of the transition to various systems from inperson polling places to early voting for the Voting Centers to the system in colorado. The fact is there isnt a single statstate that is all vote by ml or universal vote by mail even though those terms are used a lot. The states that do this and still preserve inperson voting options should they want to do that really have all choices on the table. But there was a report that came out and i think that it included many of the best practices that my organization recommended for all so that many states actually adopted in recent years with regards to the vote by mail program. What struck me in this guidance also was the highlight for the disinformation and misinformation as being a critical risk to the election systems. It is true for an inperson voting early voting. He truth of the vote by mail program. Whatever we can do to combat that is critically important. We have to boost and make sure that election officialthe electd official state websites and local websites are containing the best information for the voters know what to do. But one other Security Risk or actually two other Security Risks i want to highlight is a post a lot of patience. I mentioned this in my testimony. I think that it absolutel absola critical factor. Its Critical Infrastructure not only the vote by mail program but overall given the notices required not only at the federal level but the state level, not just mailin ballots but the voter notification, polling place notices. All of those pieces of mail that go out through the infrastructure thats the only entity that serves every customer and citizen. The United States post office is literally the only entity that provides that kind of service to every office daily and we need it to be operating at full capacity. We need it to be doing what it is doing to support the elections with every aspect of the process that relies on the post office to do it. The final piece after as long as i did i would encourage everyone to read by on experts that runs these processes in the vulnerabilities to know how to fix those and how to address the issues and theres a reason theyve been developed over ti time. We didnt have that kind of years ago. We didnt have many examples where the state procedure operated at a very good level. By the Homeland Security secretary and thats an important and critical aspect of the different steps needed to make the system secure and make it work properly. The one final thing i would say is i also believe in the Security Risk where people cant access the process. If you show up and there is a fivehour line or you face other barriers are challenges that is also a security problem so we need to be focused on building our processes this year and responding to those critical factors that prevent or inhibit the voting process for being fair to everyone. I will yiel yield back and recognize the gentleman from pennsylvania for five minutes. Thank you very much mr. Richmond for holding this hearing. It couldnt be a more important time as we face elections 2020 minutes of pandemic. I think that there are many questions. But im going to start with you. Do you feel that they are receiving and misinformation about the vulnerabilities in the system so that they can make a sound decision . Thank you for the question. With the officials are getting more information today than they have in the past. I think in the years past, they didnt spend as much energy looking at the type of Cyber Threats that we now know access so there has been a significant change. The dilemma as you know areyearsold so thereve been between offices there is an independent assessment of the components to determine what vulnerabilities exist and that has resulted in some improvements in the Software Capabilities and then i think finally the new components tend to be ones that have better defenses against Cyber Threats. Do you find individual states to have this protective mechanisms helping them set up the firewalls that are necessary to decrease the vulnerabilities . The previous question focused on the relationship between defenders and the elections offices. Theres probably been a lot more progress in the area you are correct question addresses which is the offices themselves were the contractors supporting the cyber navigator either internal or external hired individuals to command them. Not only to do a training but also assessments of the infrastructure components. They are producing guidebooks and tools in this area so that is an area that we have seen in many states there is a very concerted effort. Theres been an effort to fix. So for example for two factor authentication which is not something that was popular in the years past its now increasingly in place. What that does is makes it far more difficult for a cyber threat actor to gain access to a component. Redesigning the systems you mentioned firewalls and to strengthen things like firewalls and to put virtual barriers, to go into the virtualization to put a barrier between the election component and other elements that might be on the network. So, all of these type of improvements theres been in my guess is that a fairly traumatic shift resulting in a more resilient infrastructure. I share that enthusiasm. There has been a shift. Lets look at it because the worstcase scenario in your mind that could occur . I think to some extent we saw the worstcase scenario in 2016. Let me explain what i mean by that. The actual voting tally where it is captured and counted, those systems tend to be highly resilient and they are not easily accessible. If the us executing the thread fairly difficult. The other elements of the infrastructure are accessible through the network and therefore they share the type of vulnerabilities that we see in the systems and so back to 2016, i recall vividly discussions with officials in the aftermath of 2016 and the question and comment is wait a minute, no votes were changed and in their mind, that was their objective is to ensure that the vote was passed. But as we all know, it wasnt just that wa there was passed ad counted properly. It is what is the confidence level that they have in the system and therefore the attack against the system that didnt result in anybody not being able to vote or any changes to vote. It became a symbol to the American Public. But theres something going on and therefore im losing confidence. The biggest challenge we continue to have is and i think some of the speakers commented on it is to be able to ensure what is being able to decode them to protect the systems if theres any particular to identify what is the impact and thereve been lots of procedures put in place that if there is a small glitch, that will not impact the ability to cast a vote. Thank you very much for your answer. Thank you again for holding this important hearing today. I will now yield back. The gentleman from pennsylvania yields back and i recognize the chairman of the full committee of the gentleman from mississippi. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. This could have come at a better time. All of the businesses have talked about instilling confidence in the process. So, my question according to the roster, or we capable based on your knowledge of conducting secure state elections this november . Chairman thompson answer is yes if we can get additional funding. It would better enable us to do so. With Additional Resources and if they listen to the officials in their states in terms of what they are asking right now in terms of their needs and policy changes. I would concur with my colleagues. I think it is possible to have a safe and Fair Election and secure election. In addition to the resources, the activities within the individual states need to be focused on accelerating the planning and preparation. We talked in this hearing about the balance. There will be other situations. The dhs produced a very nice conflict peace are the types of protections you might want to use in order to be able to provide a safe separation that they desire. So i think that there is some things we can do perhaps at a better level of congressional funding for, but i think as well the states need to coalesce around this sense of urgency. They put forth confidence in the Current System. I dont know any system that cannot be improved upon. But by and large, the democrats on this committee supported more funding if they offered additional fun and to the secretaries of state. We coordinated our comments with the National Secretary of state organizations and others. This is how we choose our leaders. Our system of democracy for the rights to choose. The state of michigan for instant set out their applications to every registered voter. That was a decision that the state of michigan made that as you said as an individual prerogative to do the process that they think works best. There is no cookiecutter approach and so we recognize the funding. One of the things that i am concerned about is all of what we do in november given the involvement is predicated on our Postal Service being functional. So, ms. Mcreynolds, theyve raised concerns that changes in the standards could jeopardize the. Are you concerned that changes in these standards result in the voters being disenfranchised and how should officials coordinate to ensure the vote by mail deadlines outlined with the Service Standard . Mr. Chairman, thank you for that question. I am concerned about the changes that the postal system has made recently. Coordination between the post office is critical before every single election and as you pointed out, every system can improve. There isnt a single Government Entity that exists so theres opportunities to improve. Ive made various suggestions being from a state where we implemented so that coordination was critical and during that time i spent time digging into the process and procedures that our timeline. Are timeline. Everything about it that impacted elections. With my understanding of how all of that works, the post office is absolutely critical to the conduct, the running and the successful conduct and as i mentioned its not just the mailin ballots. Its all of the other required notices, appointment letters into the official Certified Mail is usually how the candidates are deemed to be certified on the ballot so there are critical elements. One of the suggestions if we look at how they supported elections overall, one thing that a lot of people miss is that right now the postage is paid for outbound and inbound in every single state so on the those ballots it happens and as i suggested a similar type of model for the voters to streamline from seven or eight different offices for the mailin ballot postage to be paid so that is just one example of an administrative efficiency that would not only enhance service but also streamline operations for both sides of things. Those are a couple of things im happy to answer more questions though. My time is expired. But i want to highlight that any tampering in the Current System puts the process at risk. Its about 90 days away from an election and it is absolutely critical we make the Current System work. If thats the process in jeopardy and with that, mr. Chairman, i will yield back. The gentleman from mississippi. I now recognize the gentle lady ms. Sheila jackson lee for five minutes. I will now recognize the gentleman from rhode island. Thank you, mr. Chairman i want to thank the witnesses further teste testimony today ir views on Election Security. This is the cornerstone of our democracy and we want to make sure that our elections are both free and secure. In that Media Literacy and ways to build resiliency to the Disinformation Campaigns we have seen some efforts at the federal level, for instance, assistant principal with a cocoa pineappe Pizza Campaign to the commission believes much more needs to be done at some level of misinformation is inevitable given our commitment as a society for free speech. Do you agree on this assessment, and also the Commission Recommends the civic Media Literacy needs to be spread out across a lifetime. It cant be a single class when Teaching High School and they better understand the changing media landscape. How should we think that the voter resilience as part of our broad Election Security strategy . For any of the witnesses that want to start. My focus and by organizations focus is on cybersecurity. I would echo the remarks you made. For this commission in part to improve awareness. They began to understand how to focus on the social media and that the multiple sources of information i think this is particularly important. This issue as i mentioned in my testimony will be an area that will require some congressional focus in the future because they do not have the norms and the legislative rules that i think would be helpful Going Forward. The commissions are not specific to the context as well for any of the witnesses. For the physics and this information security, all these things are going to be lifelong of the things we have to address and learn as a single mother of two and when my ballot comes it is a civic lesson for my 7yearold and a 9yearold and understand very clearly the voting process and we walk through that every single time. I think in terms of the eac, this is a continuum of improvements over time and we are going to have threats we face this year that might be different than next year but this misinformation and disinformation has been plaguing the system for the past few years and we havent come up with a very good solution for the Civics Education and educating voters their recommendations with regards to the Civic Education is a critical piece. There are a few things worth noting. There are other countries that have done this and in some respects those like sweden and the netherlands have been dealing with this for some time it appeared a lot nicely with the recommendations and the eac began to ramp up in terms of some of the highest that have been brought on and now have more people with a cyber background, so theres an opportunity for them to be able to step up and continue to provide cyber resources that enables state and local Election Officials to prepare for the evolving threats. So i think to your point, both strapped to support i think being able to look outward its what we need to do to protect people [inaudible] thank you for your testimony mr. Trent. Its very important as we get ready for the 2020 election. Mr. Chairman, i will yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman and Ranking Member for this important hearing. We will lose if we do not use it. The constitution also acknowledges the local and state elections i believe that its extremely important in the thane process that we are dealing with at this moment. Its important to give confidence to the American People so that misinformation and disinformation will not keep the majority of americans from the right about. But also, this question first to the witnesses please. Over the last couple of days, thereve been statements that it should be moved. There is no law and no right to move to when its been in the public atmosphere, so i raised the question in your professional opinion what about the ballot changing the date for the election and by the way, to federal elections were held during the civil war. How would that impact the voter confidence, and i raised this question with ms. Sylvia alvarez to answer that question. Thank you for the question, congresswoman. For those around the country to information that the president has shared [inaudible] being affected by russia is going for reaching 21 local and state election systems. In fact, Robert Mueller released and guidance of 13 regarding interference in our 2016 elections. What should we be focusing on and what if any should be done regarding the outside international appearance which is predicted to be expensive in 2020 quack is thank you for the important question. I will add a couple of important questions. Officials need to have plan a and plan b. For every Cyber Component in the election infrastructure there can be an analog of peace available to use in the event of any cyber event we have something to back on. We see this happen in other ways. We know for those that use electronic if there is a Technical Glitch we know people can continue their voting process. We know that with regards to the website if a website is to go down, they have other means to be able to share that information that could help ensure there is voter confidence and so making sure they have things like additional ballots they are seeing an increase of absentee ballots online. Maybe you have a fillable pdf form. I think thats important. The second piece to note quickly its important that the information from the intelligence Law Enforcement community as much as possible is being shared by state Election Officials and the American Public. The American Public has the opportunity to prepare accordingly. Thank you so very much. What is an Action Congress can take regarding Internet Security in the voting process . A thank you, congresswoman. If i were to think of one thing congress could do, i think i would suggest is the following. Weve seen indications from some of the members when we address the security of the local offices, we have to realize they are under resourced and dont have the talent of the state and larger jurisdictions so what is going to be important Going Forward as we cannot assume local offices will ever be able to protect themselves. We have to do it for them and this is a conversation that i mentioned in my statement we are working to deploy with a elections communities. But in fact we have support to protect them. One is detection and response and the other is malicious reporting, blocking and reporting. So i think the main recommendatiorecommendation ido congress as if they could help with the funding o of these initiatives to get them off the ground, ultimately what we have seen a distasteful start to kick in funding over time but to get the ball rolling, it isnt helping. The gentle lady from texas is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. To put this question out to all the witnesses, i believe it is mcreynolds, you were talking about how things are done in your state of colorado. What state or locality does mailin ballot voting do very well . The system can we emulate . We did this for a long time but had a difficult time in our june primary, and it actually took five weeks to certify a congressional primary. So come and we think of ourselves in new york and is pretty progressive when it comes to these issues. So, who can we look to . We still have three and a half months, no, three months before people go to the polls. So maybe if you could just sit down on who you think does very well . Thank you for the question, congresswoman. Yes, we saw issues in new york. I think that they have lagged behind many states in terms of updating policies around voting access. Theres been a lot of issues in new york, long lines back in 2018 and even prior to that and i think that there is updating of policies that need to happen. In terms of my Expert Opinion with the work i did in colorado and the work ive done now with various state it isnt necessarily a cookiecutter approach however, what they have in front of us is a good example of the states that have implemented various policies in the last few years that have improved their process, improved system for voters and also enhanced security. Colorado is one of them. California adopted a model that looks very much like colorado. Utah has expanded their program to david for the entire state and theyve emulated some of those practices from colorado as well as in washington. A couple of things we did in colorado that i think are good to emulate, one is modernizing registration. They have automatic registrati registration. The automatically update addresses based on moves that we get from the Motor Vehicle locations or from the United States post office. We consume that data monthly, update addresses. So colorado for instance in many states in the west have the cleanest voter files in the country. They also have created systems like ballot tracking. It started in Denver Colorado way back in 2009. Its a notification system of tracking a package you get the text or email. When its on its way to you than a confirmation when the official receives it. Thats one of the top recommendations they could do right now. The technology is available and doesnt require a lot of change. You can literally adopt it as a service and it enhances security. Its one of our toplevel recommendations. As a final recommendation i would say expanding dropoff options for voters. So, the secure 24 hour drop boxes come up as examples just like a drivethrough line at a restaurant. You can drop off your ballot through the window of your car and not have to get out or interact with anybody. And then finally, expanding the dropoff to all voting locations. Not every state allows you to drop it off at a polling place. And both are examples. Those are examples. The dropoff options and ballot tracking can be done now and adopted now across the country and there is time to do this. Can also ask you because there are going to be some people who actually want to go to the polls. I know that new york is not unique in most of the poll watchers are people that are in that vulnerable each bracket who may not want to be sitting at the poll for hours where we are with this virus. What would you suggest to improve obviously, it doesnt help that people are closing down polling locations. Other than getting as many open as possible, what would you suggest to secure people that prefer to vote in person . Voting in person has to exist, but we have to think about it in a different way than weve ever thought about it before. What i meanbut i mean, the comms to step up and offer locations. One of the things that is happening now, which im sure any of you have seen this concept of arenas, sports facilities being used as polling places, they can use their state fairgrounds were able to serve tens of polling places all in one place with social distanci distancing. There is an all Community Type of response really need to see happen to make sure we are protected. I yield back. The gentle lady from illinois is recognized for five minutes. The integrity of elections is essential for the preservation of our republic. It is a major concern of our constituents in illinois 76000 voters access by russian operatives we Must Immediately invest in election infrastructure to suppress our democracy against ongoing attempts to interfere the covid19 pandemic has high in the need for greater flexibility how and where people vote nobody should be forced to choose between protecting their health and exercising their constitutional right. Election security is National Security of grateful to our witnesses for advising this committee and how to protect it with foreign interference are safe and effective elections the results of this administrations failure to adequately respond to the pandemic and support families during the crisis is a surge of housing instability Many Americans are out of work and at risk of losing their home whether they went or own peoples addresses may be out of date how do we protect the Voting Rights of people during this crisis if they are not subject to unnecessary Voter Registration . Thank you for the question congresswoman. Hr one contains many provisions that would be beneficial and what we have seen is not flexible and as comprehensive as it could be so for example communities that experience housing homeless communities like sameday registration forget to update registration at their location. But real voters day registration we can actually register on the day of voting and not go downtown. So what we see are those vulnerable communities are just more vulnerable in a situation and are dealing with much more so we really should be monetizing the system to meet the needs of our constituents. You believe voting from home get help displaced voters what does the federal government need to do right now to make sure they are able to vote for home on from home . One thing we did in colorado was sameday registration combined with the electors. And then we created the concept of vote centers and that started in colorado as an innovation allowing them to go to any location to update their address and that reduce provisional ballots by 90 percent converting them to normal ballots because most of the people that would show up at the wrong polling place was because of an address change. We created a new way to deal with in person voting that has significantly improved the voting experience. What i would say is it does require technology and there is a short period of time but there is a way to handle provisions should somebody not received their ballot. The other is that its critically important before every election that voters check their registration, make sure they are active and address is up to date. That if something does go awry with the ballot not arriving that they can use the processes in place and im familiar with some of the illinois provisions to make sure voters are familiar with what they can do to take action should they not receive the ballot meant to have that provisional ballot as a safeguard. Should it make it difficult for you to receive your ballot. Thank you to our witnesses for being here and your testimony before the committee i yield back. Thank you to the witnesses for their valuable testimony and members for their questions. We may have additional questions for the witnesses we ask that you respond expeditiously in writing. Without objection the committee record shall be kept open for ten daysamerican bar a. Begin thehonor to forum on justice and policing of southtor tim scott carolina. Thank you very much. Its a privilege to have you join us for this program at the annual meeting. Sen. Scott thank you and thank you for your leadership. Thank for making the investment to make a difference. Sir. Ank you, what do you see is the role of congress and comty
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