Former President Trump and his allies. During the hearing, Maricopa County supervisor bill gates testified that this effort to undermine the integrity of our elections was, and i quote, the biggest threat to our democracy in my lifetime. Supervisor gates is a republican as are members of our panel today, but he spoke out against this campaign of threats and lies, because protecting our democracy is more important than partisan politics. Today, the committee released a report detailing new findings from our investigation into the effects of election misinformation and disinformation. We asked local Election Officials in four states, arizona, florida, ohio, and texas how election lies are impacting their ability to do their jobs. What we heard is chilling, Election Officials are under siege. They face growing campaigns of harassment and threats, all driven by false accusations of fraud. For example, we learned that after the 2020 election conspiracy theorists alex jones, roger stone, and mike lindell singled out one florida election administrator, they publicized his Office Phone Number and encouraged listeners to call with the message that we are watching him and he is a piece of crap. He reported receiving countless threatening calls in texas. The spread of conspiracy theories and National Media outlets drove truly despicable threats on social media. People threatened to kill one election administrator and let his lifeless body hang in public, until maggots drip out of his mouth. Other messages included chilling threats against Election Administrators. Including one stating i think we should end your bloodline. The people who run elections in some states are also being subjected to outrageous new civil and criminal penalties for simply doing their jobs. Republican state legislatures in each state. In each state we investigated have proposed or enacted laws that make it far more difficult to administer elections. Local Election Officials told the committee that they tried to push back against these laws because they did not improve election security, would increase costs, and were inspired by false claims. But a republican legislatures enacted them anyway. These pressures have been so great, that experienced election professionals are quitting their jobs. Lets be clear, the election lies pushed by former President Trump and his allies have inspired truly dangerous efforts to subvert elections. These schemes are not about fairness, election security, or the truth. They make it harder for americans to cast their ballots but easier for dishonest officials to overturn the results of elections they dont like. Todays report details a set of actions that congress and the administration can take to begin addressing this problem. These include establishing a coordinated federal approach to protecting our elections. It also includes ensuring states and local governments have the resources they need to administer elections, while also providing Accurate Information to americans and protecting election workers. We also must establish meaningful penalties for anyone who threatens or intimidates Election Officials. The time to act to protect our elections is now. I hope all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join me this effort. I now want to recognize mr. Sessions for an opening statement. Thank you madam chairman, thank you very much to our witnesses who are here today. The issue that is before us today is a very interesting one because you see where their questions asked especially of Elections Officials. There are no answers. There is silence. Oh, they defend themselves. Yes, maam, they do. But even the federal bureau of investigation, who has been given many, many, many of these what i would call abnormalities, inconsistencies, and irregularities has yet to even acknowledge the receipt of those. They do not even begin to look at the information that were presented to vastly to the presented vastly to the american people. And when i have provided to the federal bureau of investigation three years ago and one year ago detailed information, that we assumed that we were asking questions about and expected to hear something back. We did not call it vote fraud. We called it abnormalities, inconsistencies, and irregularities. And yet, the federal bureau of investigation even refuses to acknowledge receipt of this information. Madam chairman, i do appreciate you holding this hearing today. I do appreciate you having witnesses who come today as experts. Ive seen their titles and their organizations. They consider themselves experts. Madam chairman, i will today provide the same information that i have provided to other Law Enforcement agencies, other Elections Officials, who have yet to even write back, call back, or even make a public statement. And i would like to challenge these officials, these witnesses who are here before today, i before us today, i will give them the same information that i have given to Law Enforcement and i truly would respect and appreciate, since they are experts and being called on today since theyre professionals in these areas, to look at directly the information that were requesting. One of the primary points that we would make is some 57,000 votes that were made in dallas county. Votes that subsequently disappeared from the voter rolls only to appear weeks later. I did not call this broad, i called this inconsistencies, abnormalities, and irregularities. But you see, madam chairman, there has been no explanation. And so, when there are questions, i believe that officials who are responsible, who are professional, as you and i believe, i have an obligation as you and i believe, have an obligation to respond back to credible, professional people. So each one of you here today as witnesses within just a few minutes will be receiving from me an official letter in my duties, not only government form but on this subcommittee, asking you to please take time and to dig in and use your professionalism. We have professionals on our side and wed be very pleased to work with you, but we have been incapable to hear back from Elections Officials and federal Law Enforcement on this issue,. Madam chairman, thank you for the time, and i yield back and look forward to the hearing from these witnesses who will provide us Vital Information about our country. Thank you. Today im thrilled to be joined by an incredible panel of Election Administrators and experts. We will hear from lisa marra, director of elections for cochise county and arizona, and the president s of the Elections Officials of arizona. Were also honored to have tina barton, senior election expert from the Elections Group and a former Senior Program advisor to the Election Assistance Commission. We also welcome nora v. , the senior counsel and director of digital justice and civil rights at the Advocacy Organization free press. And finally, its my pleasure to recognize my colleague, mr. Welch, to introduce our final panelist. Mr. Welch. I want mr. Welch to make the introduction. Hello . I want to just welcome jim condos, vermont, secretary of state, and i want to thank the remarkable panel for being here and for the important work you do for democracy. Now well give each of our panelists three minutes for brief remarks. Secretary condos, let us start with you. Secretary condos, please. Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity. Chairwoman maloney, Ranking Member comer. It is my honor to be here before you and speak to the rest of the committee. For the record, i am jim condos, vermonts 38th secretary of state and chief election official. Im a Second Generation american, and im very proud of my greek heritage. Since taking office, my top priority has been accessibility, security, accuracy, and the integrity of vermonts elections. I am proud that vermont is widely considered one of the most voter friendly states in the country. I am equally proud of the high marks vermont has received from m. I. T. s election performance index, better known as the epi. A highly reputable data driven analysis of state election administration, vermont has scored first in the nation on that in both the 2016 and 2020 president ial elections. In vermont, we utilize the Gold Standard of Election Integrity of voter marked paper ballot. Since the 2006 time period, we have done completed post general election audits that have provided assurances that our elections have integrity. These facts did not stop a man named harry ansbach from calling our office and leaving numerous threatening voice mails for my election team, following the 2020 election. Those voicemails, colored with lewd and profane language, repeatedly told my staff that one, our time was up. We would be hanged or executed by firing squad. Our days were numbered. We would and i quote, get effin popped, and to put a gun in our mouth and pull the trigger. These threats and others were coupled with the same conspiracy theories about the integrity of our elections that our former president and his supporters continue to push to this very day. Lies so insidious, theyre driving people to make violent threats against sworn Election Officials, just for doing their jobs. The voicemails were so concerning, that one of my Staff Members suffered symptoms of ptsd, and he had to receive extensive counseling, while taking a leave of absence. We have had to forego budget issues to install new security features at our office building, and we worked with our legislature and Law Enforcement to strengthen vermonts ability to investigate and prosecute threats like these. Unfortunately, this story is not unique to vermont. This experience is shared by my colleagues around the country, some of whom have added 24 7 security as states. Some of whom have added 24 7 security. As states, we can only do so much to respond. We need Congress Help to ensure we have the support, the tools necessary to keep our committed election workers safe, and we need to have dedicated Financial Resources available to be able to administer their secure, transparent, and fair elections. I always end by saying, no Election Officials should have to fear for their lives while focused on their duties and service to our democracy. Our democratic process cannot survive undefended attacks on the people we rely to vote. Thank you. Thank you for your very moving testimony. Ms. Mara, you are now recognized. Good afternoon from arizona, madam chairwoman and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the round table today. Im honored to be here and honored to serve as an election official in arizona. I look forward to continuing and creating new partnerships across the country, to Work Together to continue to build upon trust in our election system and to educate voters. So theyre reassured that their one vote really does matter. The 15 counties in our great state vary greatly. But what is consistent whether we have 2000 voters or two million voters is our dedication in every county to continue to conduct accurate, safe, and secure elections. Our voters are angry and confused. They simply dont know what to believe. What is clearly apparent, once we can have a conversation and move past that anger, is just frustration. People who voted for years and were never concerned with simple things like candidate rotation on the ballot now think everythings a conspiracy. These conversations saddens me the most, because weve fractured the spirit of many who think voting doesnt even matter anymore. They arent sure who they can turn to for advice and answers, and weve got to repair this damage now. Im really hopeful that we can, we need to continue to speak up and correct these deliberate or misinformational statements, when we hear them. As many angry calls and threats continue across the country, we get more calls and emails from people thanking us for our service, and those are far more in our county. The problem is people say they see these statements and they see these claims against us and they want to speak up and say its not true, but they dont because theyre afraid of being attacked. Understandable. Its why many Election Officials cant speak up. Theyre fearful of becoming attacked, or theyre fearful of losing their jobs. Its easy to attack the small minority, who keep speaking up to defend elections. Its important in america, if everybody spoke up to defend what they know is true, it would be a much bigger target. Wed still be attacked most likely, but theres safety in numbers, and its pretty hard to attack millions of us that speak the truth. Election officials and poll workers are your neighbors, your friends, possibly even your family. Support and defend them. If experienced Election Officials across this country continue to quit or run out of their jobs because of this ridiculous harassment, whos going to take their place . The answer, its inexperienced people, and thats not going to help us move the needle to increase voter confidence in thank you for your testimony. Good afternoon, Ranking Member, and members of the committee. Thank you for convening this roundtable. I recently concluded a 30 two year career in Public Service where i served up the local, county, and public levels. On election night, 2020, my teammate made an error. The error was found and quickly corrected. The following friday a press conference the party that had nam and aided me as their candidate had nominated me as their candidate had lost in there cant in their county but there press conference changed my life forever. Just last night in oakland county, we found 2000 ballots that had been given to democrats that were republican ballots due to error. You could hear the gasps of everyone in the room. I was stunned. I responded with the following statement. My name is tina, as a clark my job is to run elections fairly and securely, all ballots have been accounted for. There were no missing ballots. The accusation that two 1000 were found as categorically false. As a republican i am disturbed that this is being characterized undermined the election process. This was an isolated mistake that was quickly rectify when quickly rectified when realized. Voters should have confidence in our system, and there is a paper ballot backup. I stand by our reported results. One day after that press conference i received my first death threat it was laced with inset obscenities, threats to my life, my families life, and used sexually charged language. Pardon me. Over one 1000 incidents of hostile and harassing content have been we need your help we need funding that was specifically meant to help officials. We need to protect those that administer elections. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next, you are now recognized. Chairwoman, esteem members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to appear before you and for speaking Free Press Action views against election misinformation. This section is of paramount of apartments for the committee and democracy. These concepts are not law are not new. Theyve been used to office gate through truth but these threats are more potent in the digital age. Pew has found that most americans fight use of social media as their information gateway. Social Media Companies like meta and google know that people are vulnerable to incendiary and deceitful content and have built profitable Business Models around amplifying and getting more eyeballs on mis and disinformation. Layered on top of this business incentives are the information gaps left where quality local journalism has withered in the absence of robust news coming to people through other channels. Online users are consuming content largely in their own social media echo chambers. Predicated on platforms, abusive data practices in which they target users based on our behaviors and preferences. In 2020, for example, voters were targeted with content online that discouraged them from voting. With surgically precise efforts to dissuade black indigenous and latino voters from turning out to the polls. The goal of such disinformation campaigns is clear to disenfranchise voters and to build distrust in our institutions and each other. The impact of recent disinformation efforts has outlasted, far outlasted the last several election cycles. For example, policymakers in 18 states have used lies about the 2020 election being stolen or corrupt to legitimize introduction of new laws. These constitutionally troublesome laws narrow voter access and make the electoral process harder. Disinformation is thus not only a vehicle for social division , but is used to advance structural limits on American Freedom and basic rights with basic rights. With the dale tail of harm so long and entrenched in our society, we must move towards cross partisan discussions about how to blunt the spread of disinformation by increasing defensive tactics at the indy at the individual, local, and systemic levels. We must rein in abusive practices by social Media Companies, their Business Models threatened to destabilize our democracy by amplifying lies and calls for violence, reaching audiences with the speed and precision and scale only once unimaginable. Finally, as we develop defenses to malign campaigns that manipulate communities. We must develop proactive measures that rebuild healthy information pathways and strong local news to better empower communities rather than discourage civic engagement. Thank you so much for having me, i look forward to further discussion with the committee. I want to thank all of you for being here and for your remarkable testimony. We will now move into two questions with three minutes allotted for member. I now recognize members in order of seniority alternating between democratic and republican members. Once all the members present have had the opportunity to ask questions. To ask questions, well see if time allows for additional questions the gentleman from questions. The gentleman from maryland now ruskin is now recognized. Mr. Baskett madam chair thank you very much for calling this urgently important hearing. Miss mara, id like to come to you. I was very moved by your testimony this afternoon and id like to ask you um what kind of threats you have received . Did they come in the mail . Did they come in the phone . And what do you think is the source of these threats . Madam chairwoman representative thank you for the question. I have been fortunate in our county cochise county is located in the very corner of arizona and new mexico we border the country of mexico. I have great support from our Law Enforcement, from our board of supervisors. So ive been way more fortunate than most people. I think a big part of the problem is what defines a threat . Its its obvious that if if someone calls and theyre gonna threaten to kill you or murder you or stab you or hang you. But but many of the things we get our threats but but where do our threats are threats, where do we draw the line . I will say we get a lot of phone calls people leave voicemails all hours of the day and night and they come from, theyre not even people in arizona and a lot of it is spurred by social media. Some people that put out our Contact Information to say call these people and leave messages and tell them these things are wrong. So thats a big part of it. We do get some emails, but a lot of them are just voicemails and there, you know, we know youre corrupt, we know youve committed crimes, you need to to resign recently. Resign. Recently, ive had people write letters to our board of supervisors demanding id be fired for no reason. Ive been to the county for over 10 years. So those are really the things i face here. Weve had more problems in our larger counties in arizona, you in arizona. But i wonder what advice you can give us about how to protect election registrars, secretaries of state, the kinds of people who have been suffering from the onslaught of threats. Many of them violent, many of them in the middle of the night. You know, many accompanied by people appearing at their homes. What do we need to do to protect people because we cant have a democracy without elections and we cant have elections if the Election Officials are terrified by people who have been um have been driven to doing extreme things by disinformation. And i am so upset about what donald trump has said about the 2020 elections. Were more than 60 federal judges and state judges rejected every claim of electoral fraud and corruption and yet he continues to spread this egg lie and spread paranoia in the country. So im just wondering if you could give us some thoughts about what needs to be done to protect election workers and Election Officials so we dont lose the experience and the stability that you provide. Madame chairwoman representative thank you for that question. I believe we should we should have some defined laws, we should have some penalties, we should have some things with teeth. Uniform standards for reporting these threats of violence and and acts against Election Officials and poll workers, um coworkers. Poll workers. Criminal penalties for people who knowingly or willingly attempt to subvert the system by damaging equipment property. The threats. Again, were fortunate, arizona, we have great partnerships, Homeland Security with department of public safety. Our local sheriff here has been wonderful for security. I think we need to document these things. I dont think we should take them lightly. And just because theyre angry phone calls, i think we need to make sure that those do get escalated up to someone in Law Enforcement. So that we can keep track of them. It concerns me the longer we go on, the angrier people are getting. And at some point theres a Tipping Point and that concerns me for all of us. Well, i appreciate that very much and madam chair, ill just say, i want to thank you for calling this hearing. Theres no democracy without elections and theres no elections without election workers and registrars and the people who register voters and make the elections work and weve got to do everything we can to protect them. And i hope we can have widespread bipartisan unanimity about that, that the election workers and officials must be protected. I yield back to. Thank you for your leadership. The gentleman from texas mr sessions is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Sessions. Madam chairwoman, thank you very much. And to each of you, the gentlewoman from cochise county from three action press the gentleman from vermont and also the gentlewoman from michigan. I do take to heart everything that you have said, and i would offer my advice back to you. That i think you are seeing this for what it is, and i do think there is a lot of meanness and malicious activity there. I am very concerned about it. I like to ask probably the gentlewoman misses barton and the gentlewoman from cochise county. And jim also because you are officials that handle this and you are professionals. If someone came to you with credible evidence, questions but credible evidence and they presented themselves in a professional way, would you sit down with them to discuss their their problems or the issues. Issues . Thank you. Chairwoman and representative tina barton speaking as an election official. If i had a member of my community who had any questions about the process. I had those who came in after the 2020 election with questions. I was always willing to sit down and discuss what their concerns are hear them out also to um let them hear from the election official, the other side of the story sometimes what appears to be something that is nefarious or something along those lines could be something that is actually a lack of understanding about the process. So um using those opportunities to educate um but also recognizing that every election has a time period after with the canvas and a certification period that during that canvas period if there are irregular irregularities, we do have opportunity to correct those and to fix those issues at that time. As well as the laws, provide opportunity for candidates who feel that they account that the account may not be accurate or that they dont trust what happened that they could request , a recount and we would recommend then that that would be the path that they would take if they dont believe the results and the law does allow time for hand recounts to be done. I was part of the 2016 hand recount when jill stein did that in the state of michigan. So it is something certainly that we could have done in 2020 in the state of michigan if it had been requested. So, i do feel there are avenues for us to address those sorts of things. Thank you. The gentlewoman from cochise county . Madam, chairwoman, congressman. Thank you for that question in arizona elections are are split between different divisions. So the board of supervisors who i work for handles elections, election day, poll workers. Our county recorder who is an elected position in arizona, handles voter registration. So they are by design, two separate areas that work very closely together. So we do spend an enormous amount of time discussing things with voters, answering questions. And certainly things are investigated. We have a very active Sheriffs Office here. And if those complaints rise to that level, they get put to that office and to our county attorneys office. And those things are investigated. Like ms martin said, we do have lots of layers and opportunities and checks and balances and audits. So yes, we do spend an enormous amount of time investigating things. If someone who is credible, brought information to you and you did not respond back at all to credible requests. What conclusion do you think would be drawn by the person asking the question under legal status . I think many people feel they are out cash they are ignored. And i think its an education opportunity. I think we need to make sure that people have an awareness of where to find statutes and laws and procedures so that they dont feel ignored. Well, thats not my point. Im talking about. Miss barton and you, miss mara have said that you would make , yourself available to a credible person that you would attempt to understand what they were saying and rectify the circumstance by meeting with them. Is that correct . The gentle lady may reply, but the gentlemans time has expired. Ms mara, you would meet with someone . We meet with people all the time. That is correct. Incredible incredible people. Thank you very much. I want to thank each of you for this and each of you will be receiving a letter from me that i would like for you to take just as seriously as i take you today. And thank you very much. Thank you madam chairman. Thank you. The gentleman from georgia mr johnson is now recognized. Thank you madam chair and thank you for holding this hearing. Miss mara, do you find that theres a difference between credible individuals and kooks. Madam chair representative, thank you for the question. Im not sure that i distinguish between that um you know, human nature is human nature, people are people and so we deal with everyone of all walks. So i cant really define what a difference would be. I understand that you try to treat credible individuals along with kooks with equal humanity and equal compassion and equal service as a public official. I understand that, but i guess my question is, you know, the difference between a kook and a credible individual. And when it comes time to spending your time in a meeting, you would choose to spend it with a credible individual, truly credible than or as opposed to spending your time entertaining a kook. Isnt that correct . You are correct. And let me ask you this, youve seen a lot of kooks as a result of the perpetuation of the big lie, have you not . Weve seen a lot of interesting characters, representative, thats how i would characterize them and its characterize them. Its made it more difficult for you to do your job. Is that true . It is difficult to do our jobs when we have to spend so much time debunking information and answering routine questions and getting bombarded with phone calls. That is definitely a challenge for us. And then sometimes kookery can travel into threatening behavior. Have you been subjected to threats and intimidation uh, from kooks or credible individuals for that matter . As you have tried to do your job . Yes. I believe that weve had challenges from many different people from all walks of life here and it is very difficult to continue to do the jobs with the phone calls and the the threatening comments. Yes. Yeah. Miss barton, youve overseen elections since 2013 and you were one of those republican Election Officials who was Strong Enough to resist pressure from ex President Trump to overturn the Election Results. Had you ever experienced anything like this in any of the prior election cycles to the 2020 president ial campaign . I think we have to recognize that its been um, you know, recognize that its been building for a few years now, even prior to 20 where we were seeing doubt being cast in our Election Results in people having concern over the election result. So the doubt and the concern and even the questioning of credibility i think had been around for a few years. I went back to his speech that i gave in january of 2019 and i specifically started out as a conversation talking about how doubt had permeated our elections. So while that existed prior to 2020, i would say what changed would be the amount of threatening behavior that we experienced in the election cycle. In my 32 years of government where i had been an ordinance officer and assessor, which are not popular positions in government. I had never had anyone ever threatened my life. And so yes, i would say that the emotion and the threats have escalated to a degree where i have never experienced before. Thank you. And i yield back madam chair. Chair gentleman yields back. Government agencies responsible for protecting our elections have confirmed there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. That would have changed the outcome of the election. Former President Trumps own attorney general bill barr confirmed this. So did the first director of the cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency was also appointed by President Trump. Secretary condos in your opinion why do the lies around , Election Fraud in 2020 persist despite all of the facts that we are hearing on the ground and hearing today . Frankly, thank you, chairwoman. Frankly, i would just say that that the what im seeing is that people dont want to hear the facts. Theyre ignoring the facts that that from our standpoint as Election Administrators. You know, someone will say, you know, well this was fraudulent and i have to try to prove a negative. How do you prove a negative . It just doesnt work. And and and i think you know, weve gone to the point where we developed a facts versus myths page for our our website as miss mara had said, you know, we have checks and balances, we have recounts, we have audits. We have the proof that nothing has gone wrong, we are still and to put it bluntly, vermont is a blue state with the republican governor, and we will still have people who will say to us that we still the election. I just dont know how to how to argue against that except to say we have the audit, we have recounts, we have the numbers that have been verified and in vermont we canvass our Election Results seven days after the election. Members of the major parties have to sign off. And we have not ever had a problem, yet, we still have to try and defend ourselves. And we spend a lot of time doing that. Whether its a conservative log that can serve it if log conservative log blog that uh is writing stuff or or actually has continues to link to stuff on their page. Basically telling us that we cant uh you know that we have no proof that we were right and theyre saying that they are i mean i just dont know how we get around that. Weve taken to education. We we hold media advisories before the election to explain what to expect on election night. We will reach out to anybody that wants to talk to us uh to try to defend ourselves. Thank you. Weve seen how disinformation campaigns can erode trust in the reliability of our elections and endanger the lives of Election Officials and their staff. Weve heard that today, these lies include the big lie that donald twon in 2020 are amplified through television and radio, personalities, newspapers and social media. Miss benavidez, how has social media shaped the spread of disinformation and and have social Media Companies done enough to prevent it . Thank you, chairwoman. Well, social Media Companies know that we engage with disinformation that there are so many psychological, emotional human nature aspects that are driving us to seek this out. They know this about us and they are driving eyeballs to that content because it makes them money. So it means that their Business Models. Their algorithms are actually pushing incendiary content including misleading posts that we may otherwise not engage with. A lot of the disinformation campaigns are specifically targeting communities of color. We know that social Media Companies have actually facilitated profited from and even participated then in these activities, ill give you just a key examples. On facebook, for example, meta has recently settled a lawsuit with the department of justice regarding its housing advertising scheme, admitting in the settlement that it engaged in discriminatory practices, that its algorithms targeted users based on location and other identity markers that could be proxies for protected classes. Ultimately, that meant that black users saw less ads for affected housing. Then there have been a asymmetries in language moderation and non english content, both about the election and bogus voter fraud claims have been less moderated in non english languages including spanish and other languages in arizona. We know that like latinos and native American Communities faced a cascade of untrue digital messaging over twitter about the voting process. In 2020 in wisconsin, we also know that communities of color from madison to milwaukee were targeted with lies about mail in ballot fraud and ballot dumping. These examples go on and on. They touch on the electoral process as well as narratives related to covid, the senses, and otherwise. Ultimately, pointing to the need that some action needs to be taken to reign in these abusive this is by social Media Companies. Thank you. The gentlewoman from the district of columbia, ms norton is recognized for three minutes. Thank you miss madam. Chair for this very timely hearing. As we head into another election. Miss barton during the 2020 election, you had to respond to National Figures spreading lies about your offices work because of a simple and quickly corrected mistake. And i think you testify to that. What steps can we take now to protect Election Officials from that kind of misinformation . What messaging and approaches have you found that worked to prebunk not just debunk these allegations. Thank you, chairwoman and representative for that question. One of the things we have experienced when i was at the e. A. C. Is a Senior Program advisor. We did have a survey that we took of our local leadership council. The number one response that came back from our Election Officials across the country. Their representatives from every state on that council said that they desperately needed help with communications has already been indicated we are working against forces that are able to spread information in a very fast pace, and can isolated isolate that information to their own silos. We need respected leaders like you that can be input can be influential voices to point voters to trusted sources of information, their local Election Officials, the eac, to point toward those types of groups and where truth lies. You have powerful influence over your constituency, we ask that you use that power to do that, to help build trust in our democracy, that youre sharing information that is positive and that youre directing that information and having conversation with your local election official in how you can amplify truth for our voters. Mr condos. Because im interested in remedies. I was interested to learn that your office created something called facts matter. A website to counter misinformation and disinformation during elections. What has the response been so far and what additional steps could help improve its effectiveness . Thank you, congresswoman. That is a tough one to answer. We set that up several months back. We publicized it. At the present time, i dont have accurate numbers that i could even venture had mentioned how many times people have looked at it. We have had a few even though we have that up, weve had a few people attack it saying that we are spreading misinformation at that point in time. So its really difficult. Its just one more piece of the education process that weve put in place. I know several of my colleagues across the country have have done something similar. And i think its just the little pieces that we have to do, and i think ms barton said it the best we need help with communications. Yes, we have our own communications people, but we need help at the federal level to help us with this. Because if you post something on facebook or twitter, it can be spread in a matter of minutes to millions of people and to try to defend that afterwards after it afterwards. After it goes out, is very difficult and almost impossible. I dont have a great answer for you, but i will say that we are doing our part and just keep picking away at how we can do things and communicate. Thank you madam chair, i yield back. The gentlelady yields back the gentleman from , massachusetts. Mr lynch is now recognized for three minutes. Thank you madam. Chair and thank you, gentlemen from texas mr sessions as well for holding this hearing. You know, as the chairman of the National Security subcommittee on this on this committee. I can attest that we received escalating warnings from our intelligence community, warning us of the emerging use of deepfakes in an effort to compromise elections and and uh to launch disinformation campaigns in the midst of those elections. These digital photos and audio and video forgeries are generating, generated using Artificial Intelligence. They appear extremely realistic. Theyre intended to manipulate or deceive their audience. And the Technology Used to create and deploy them is becoming ever more readily available. And it is low cost, easy to use and rapidly evolving Getting Better in a sense. So during our previous hearings to examine election security, our government and private sector panelists testified about the capacity of these deepfakes and deep Fake Technology to weaponize false information on a very massive scale. The Rand Corporation again underscored this danger. Underscored this danger in a report released on deepfakes just last month. According to the report, the potential for havoc is yet to be realized. Miss benavidez, uh i know that you have a wider purview in terms of these elections. What what can we do . I mean, we had 61 judges i think across the country, many of them republican appointees, some of them appointed by President Trump, who dismissed the challenges to many of these Election Results based on lack of evidence. So it was not even there was not even evidence to support the the protests of the election outcomes. And yet now we have uh you know, and yet now we have deep fakes and the possibility of that technology really playing havoc i think with those that would be led astray by this false information. Any sense of what we might do to respond to that . And how prevalent that is becoming . Thank you representative. Given that tools for detecting deepfakes are not yet widely available. Nor, in many instances, very reliable, i have to say im uncertain of the efficacy of certain solutions that could blunt the spread of deepfakes. Theres also a definitional question here. When we talk about deepfakes, what does that mean . Its such a broad term, it covers a wide array of ways that Artificial Intelligence can be used to change or manipulate events, as you have alluded to. It can also create people realistically doing or saying things they never did. Theres really a much bigger question here, if were only looking at the issue of deepfakes. In terms of solutions we have seen some state efforts like california, take on legislation that would limit the spread and otherwise tried to rein in their harm when it comes to deep fakes. This kind of area is not in my wheelhouse. There is however, the broader question of what do we do in the absence of evidence that supports claims that are false. This is the bigger question that i believe we are here to answer. That we must answer and that involves an interdisciplinary set of solutions that are both at the individual level to make sure that you me, all of us here you, me, all of us here, are better equipped to identify what is false. And, that the systems in place that are perpetuating and even compelling us to see false information from our traditional and social media ecosystems are less able to do so. But it is not profitable to do that. And so there is really a wide array of things here to consider beyond just deepfakes. Thank you for the question. Thank you, my time has expired and i yield back. Thanks very much. Chairwoman and thank you for pulling the round table together and i would appreciate i would like to appreciate the testimony that we have from the Witnesses Today who have an compelling and troubling at the same time. First of all, mr. Condos, let me let me assure you that youre not the only person on this roundtable today whos proud of his Greek American heritage, you its good to have you with us. Can you speak briefly to what kind of a resource drain it presents to you to have to be constantly responding to misinformation. I dont know if you can quantify that, but im sure you sort of start election season with an idea of what your staff is going to be able to do, how much time is going to be allocated to mail in ballots. , two registration activities, to counting the votes, and then you get pulled away into just responding continuously to disinformation, just describe what the what that how that upends the kind of resource allocation that you need to have in place to run these elections effectively. I think youre muted. There we go. Thank you for that question. Representative. I met your father at the white house at the Greek AmericanIndependence Day one year. It was a great event under president obama. Let me just say that that um let me just say first, my Elections Division here in the state of vermont consist of five people. We have 246 town clerks that are out there managing the election at the local level, but we dont have county government. We have five people and we do everything in the elections world here. It is a drain on us. Just for security that we have had to put in place, cybersecurity today, im always saying, cybersecurity is a race without a famous line without a finish line. Weve got to stay ahead of it or try to stay ahead of it. And weve spent, i dont know how much since 2016. We actually started earlier around 2012 and 13 to look at the Cyber Security for our system. So weve been looking at cybersecurity. Now, were looking at physical security. Were spending in excess of uh probably 25 30,000 just to secure our building. This building that were in, our Administration Building only houses about 20 people but were spending about 30,000 to uh secure this building better. We used to have the door open to the public. It is now locked, we have cameras, and we put additional plexiglass and whatever around any windows that are on the ground floor. These are the things that were doing. We have cameras within the building now that we never had before. This is all because of these threats that have come down. Weve worked with dhs with the fbi, with the department of justice, with vermont state police, the states attorneys, the ag, local Law Enforcement, since President Biden became president and and merrick garland, the ag, and they started the Election Threat Task force. That has been a help for us. But its still its it doesnt complete the circle. Its just help with little bits at a time. I dont have quantification right now on those numbers. But i can tell you that in vermont and across the country are states are hurting overall, and local officials. We have many several of my colleagues have had to go to 24 7 security. I mean, it is not a good situation. Thank you, madam chair, do ive time to ask the other 28 question . The other two eight question . Miss barton, you said we need your help and i would view that meaning the help of any any person in the country wants to see elections carried out with integrity. But if you and miss mara could speak briefly to how important is it that when an attack on the integrity of the election system is coming from one particular party that elected officials in that party, be the ones to step up and say this is not accurate . This is misinformation. Now, miss barton, you pointed out that the initial attack that led to all the threats on you actually came from some extension of the organized Republican Party there. I dont know was that, were there other republicans though, that did step up in the elected official space and and try to address this information . Could there have been more and whether its, whether the whether the attack on the integrity of this system is coming from the democratic side of republican side, how important is it that officials in those parties who are in elected positions of leadership, be the ones to say this is not Accurate Information. If the two of you could speak to that, that would be great. Thank you chairwoman and thank you representative. Thats exactly why im here today because i am a republican and i do feel a moral obligation to speak up and defend the election that i oversaw in 2020. Even though um, it was an even though it was an election that i lost, and i lost on that ballot. And i feel a need to defend that. I think whether youre a republican or democrat i think , that we all have a moral obligation. We all have to look at the integrity of the situation and put the needs and responsibilities and the laws of our country beyond our own personal political opinion. We cannot become a country that we only believe things when it agrees with our personal perception. We need to look at the facts. We need to look at the laws. If we are truly, as the Republican Party, the rule of law party, you have to respect those that are in place. The processes that are in place to support those. I felt the need to speak up at that time and defend the election that i oversaw as a republican and i wouldve done the same if i had been identified as a democrat. At the end of the day, i am an election official that represents the constituents of my community. My parting vote my party vote has no bearing on that whatsoever. Thank you, that is a very powerful perspective to bring. And your thoughts . Madame chairwoman, representative, thank you. I agree with ms barton. It is really important that prominent political leaders set the tone in determining levels of voter confidence. Voters are not all experts in elections. There are many moving parts to elections. I am not an elected official, im an appointed official. So like miss barton, you know, we all have a political party, but we treat everyone the same. For us its a matter of the , bottom line and we need to defend elections. We need to defend the people that are conducting elections. And that goes from not only a federal level, but people in our state local county leaders, cities and towns, mayors and councils. Many of those are non partisan races, but weve got to look to some bipartisan agreement among political leaders to rebuild trust in elections. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I yield back. The gentleman yields back, and i want to thank our participants because our election workers routinely go above and beyond the call of duty as weve heard from all of you. They are neighbors, working to give back to our communities and their patriots, but we should not be asking them to shoulder these responsibilities alone. And clearly we need a national response. Id like to ask miss barton, 2020 election disinformation snowballed from lies on social media to a violent coup attempt at the capitol. Is there now a federal strategy to counter election disinformation . Thank you, chairwoman and i think that ms mara actually just alluded to that in her answer. One of the things ive always loved about being an election official is that you administer a process that is overseen by an equal number of democrats and republicans on your team. We do nothing in election that doesnt have one member, thats a democrat and one member that is a republican looking over seals and our security processes signing off on documents. , its incredibly important that partisan balance be maintained and everything that we do and for chain of custody. I think that the answer lies there and exactly what ms mara just said that we need combined and collaborative efforts from members in this country that are republicans and democrats that are elected officials who have the power who have the voice and who have the influence to Work Together to promote this message of unity. This message of integrity, election security, and working together. Thats where the answer lies. We need to come together on this issue. Can i ask one more question, what more could the Election Assistance Commission be doing . Be doing to ensure americans have Accurate Information about elections . Thank you. Chairwoman, i can tell you from working at the aec they cant do more unless you fund them more. They are a small agency and they are asked to do a lot of things with a little bit of money. And i have been a part of those budget conversation. So i can say that truthfully. If you want the eac to be a more powerful voice and to be a greater source of truth and information for members of this country, then we need to fund them so that they can be an agency thats greater than 50 people. Thank you. Clearly we need stronger federal support for state and local efforts to combat dangerous disinformation. Our democracy is on life support and election workers are in danger for simply doing their jobs. As we heard from all of you today. I would now like to ask the gentleman from texas, mr. Sessions, if he would like to have a round of questions . Go to closing, mr. Sessions . Chairwoman, thank you, very much. Yes. I would like to ask several questions. Have any of you seen the information that was presented in 2000 mules . Let the record reflect evidence. I can start. I am not sure who youre starting with. Have any of you . No sir, i have not watched that movie. I have left my facts to the facts and and the way its played out in the court system. Okay. Mr condos. I have not viewed it, but i can tell you that mr. Desousa, who produced that video is a partisan supporter. He violated Campaign Laws and was later pardoned. Im not sure what his motive is. I dont think he can be trusted. I have read many reputable news articles that have debunked that film. As not being credible. Thank you, miss benavidez. I have not seen it. I hope we can focus on getting americans facts about the electoral process. The people behind that movie have a history of distorting facts. Ms. Mara . I have seen parts of it. I have not watched the whole thing. I spent an enormous amount of time researching from various sources, all the sources and all the information and then comparing them to laws in arizona and federal laws and then making my own conclusions based on the actual laws in place. Yes, maam. Well, i would encourage each of you to please do that. They used actual video from the secretary of state and that video then was taken down at the time they came and did that. But im sure that its still available. The reason why i say this is even todays hearing is rather interesting because on january the sixth, as you might be aware, there were only two states, two states that were brought up before the congress, that would not have been enough votes to overturn the election. There were substantial questions that were being raised by the legislatures of both those states that were asking for the opportunity, after they had reported their results, after canvassing, that later information came about. And at no point were wasnt even discussed, quote overturning the election on the floor of the house of representatives. Second and third. Its important for us to note that it is true that all these judges did turn down the effort that was made on behalf of President Trump. Its important to note that in every one of those cases, it was filed under criminal charges as opposed to it should have been a civil case. A civil case would have allowed the presentation of facts. And so i think the frailty was on the side of lawyers who filed that. It in no way would it mean that there was not evidence. It would mean that the evidence, because it came from a non Law Enforcement source, it would be difficult for them to accept. So i think its important that we recognize that in a number of states around the country, including my home state of texas, that governors made changes that were around state law. Did not conform to state law, at least in pennsylvania the , governor assembled a group of people who came up with ideas. And then the governor signed that as a decree. It was against the law. In the last year, there have been a number of state legislators who moved legislation that they were roundly criticized for. Where they simply reinforced that state law could not be uh, could not be moved around. You had to follow the law. And there was a vigorous fight all over this country in georgia and in texas and in other areas, pennsylvania. Where they simply reaffirmed present law and said and you cannot do things that would be extraneous to that law. So i think that this has taken a life of its own. I respect each one of you and believe that each one of you does have, not just a story to tell, but a true story to tell. And i would like to see us in this committee, get closer to where we actually brought information that would have to vented publicly vented publicly vetted publicly. Where the federal bureau of investigation, where the federal components would actually go and look at this information and render an opinion about that. So thats why ive asked each one of you, i just signed the letters right here in front of you. Ive had several news organizations asked for a copy of the letter and i will provide that to them. And i would like to ask that if each one of you would take the time, i will personally work with you. And i would like your opinion. But i am not a nut. Im not placing demands on you. But i am asking as a credible reference that i consider each one of you. Please try your best to understand that when you have 57,000 votes that arbitrarily disappear. And the county administrators and county judges will not respond back to you, it does draw some frustration. So these are valid points that we would make on our side, madam chairman, thank you very much, to you, to the committee and to each of our witnesses. I yield back. The gentleman yields back and i would like to respond to the Conspiracy Theory in 2000 mules. That has already been debunked several times. My republican colleague mentioned the film 2000 mules. So lets talk about that briefly. The movie was made by a conspiracy theorist. It claims to have used Location Tracking data to track movements of people around the 2020 election. And that this data shows thousands of people passing by ballot drop boxes from there. Ballot drop boxes. From there, it made the leap that these people are actually, illegally stuffing ballot boxes with stacks of completed ballots from former President Trumps attorney general bill barr investigated these allegations and determined that the claims made in the movie were quote singularly unimpressive end, quote. The truth is 2000 mules is just the big lie on the big screen. And with that id like to go to closing comments. First, id like to see uh before i close, id like to offer my colleague mr sessions the opportunity to offer closing comments. Madam chairman, thank you to you this committee and each of the people who are here today. It is my hope that we will continue this conversation. It is my hope that we will be able to bring realistic data and information that has been unanswered. I believe the people in the state of georgia need to actually respond back whether that was actual data or not. I believe that the people in georgia, in arizona, in texas , and pennsylvania need an opportunity to hear firsthand of the questions that still abound, they are still abound. And i dont know how someone could see 2000 mules and not see a huge amount of questions that need to be answered and simply to toss it aside and say, well, its a conspiracy theorist, that is not good enough. The use of their video is what was done. If its properly accomplished, then showing the metadata that was available and letting a realistic person whos an expert debunked that, then im all for that. But im not for us just outright dismissing this. So i look forward to more information. Another opportunity to be with you and madam chairman, i want to thank you very much for bringing this hearing before us today. Thank you our democracy survives only if people are willing to stand up to defend it. We must combat the spread of lies about voting and protect the people who administer our elections. The time to act is now. I want to thank everyone for their participation, and thi