Transcripts For CSPAN3 Election 20240705

Medicaid expansion, a number of things, greater awareness by people. It will be interesting to see what impact covid has had on those numbers. Were going to leave this, but you can watch it in its entirety on our website. We take you live to capitol hill for a Senate Hearing on senator klobuchar would like to be her but cant. Im going to be expressing many of her views in this opening statement. Im going to say on her behalf that she appreciates your work, and appreciate you being here. I want to thank you, and acknowledge the eac was established with broad bipartisan support. Thats good news. That was about 20 years ago, and tasked with the important security, establishing cybersecurity guidelines for promoting accessibility. We want everyone to have the opportunity, who can, to cast their ballot and for that to be counted. Your resources and the administration in all 50 states has been as well as the district of columbia. It has been very important. And as were approaching the 2024 elections, and the eac Mission Remains important. Even more so, as officials are now doing the dedicated planning that it takes to administer elections effectively. Well also confronting the array of new challenges confronting election workers, the spread of disinformation and Artificial Intelligence to mislead voters in our elections. Weve got to continue to support the Election Officials on the front lines of our democracy. We need to be able to rely on regular and federal funding to do their jobs. With these vital resources, including the over 900 and 31 million in security grants since 2018, and enable state and local officials to everything from securing our elections against foreign interference and keeping pace with the evolving technology, to recruiting and training poll workers. One urgent issue that the commission can help to address is the barrage of harassment that is targeting election workers. These Public Servants are essential to the administration for both free and Fair Elections which is why i joined chair klobuchar and a number of our colleagues on this committee to lead comprehensive legislation to take this issue head on. Its an area where we do need Bipartisan Solutions and im glad that last year the eac voted unanimously to allow Election Officials to use federal funding to protect election workers from threats and harassment. Since then, states Like Washington and georgia have used vac funds to improve the physical security of voting and ballot processing centers. I look forward to hearing from you. In addition, the eac has helped enhanced the security of election infrastructure. Essential for Public Confidence in the elections, including issuing new guidance to improve Security Standards for the voting machines. These efforts and significant investments in Election Security help ensure that the 2020 in 2022 elections were secure with a department of Homeland Security repeatedly making clear. The Commission Also serves a very Important Role in combatting misinformation. My home state of vermont is experiencing the same challenges with disinformation as others. Our secretary of state has done everything with the former one, and now in her power to combat the spread of false claims about elections. And im proud to report that independent audits of the 2022 election in vermont found no major discrepancies, despite having a record turnout. That has not stopped people from making false claims to destabilize our elections. This can stop the spread of election disinformation and making sure that theyre ready to face new challenge in 2024. Finally, while we must continue to invest in our elections, i remain concerned that are voters remain its why i and many others embrace the vote act, and it is worth noting that our country has a history of asking federal laws to strengthen our democracy. A few weeks ago we recognize the 20th anniversary of the National Voter registration act, that was enacted with bipartisan support last october. It marks 20 years since last october when we passed the help motor go vote act. Thats where this organization was started. I look forward to hearing about the efforts to support local and state Election Officials. Now i want to thank our witnesses but i will turn it over to our Ranking Member. Good afternoon and thank you for holding the hearing today. Its a pressure to sit with you and i told senator i would keep him under control. She can do it. I also want to extend my gratitude to our witnesses we look forward to hearing your perspectives and experience in guiding the eacs work. As we set our sights on this elections and beyond, todays hearing provides an opportunity to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the operations, and identify areas for improvement. And address existing and emerging challenges. The aca plays an Important Role. Its the only agency with the sole responsibility of helping states improve their federal elections. Which in turn, helps to secure the legitimacy of the voting franchise. It shares best practices, accredits testing laboratories, certifies Voting Systems, and provides vital resources to help ensure elections are conducted with integrity. In recent years, Election Officials have confronted an increase in threats to Election Integrity and cybersecurity. The eac stands to help Election Officials respond emerging challenges in an ever evolving landscape. To that end, i look back to hearing the overhaul of the recent guidelines. I understand these updated standards include significant improvements, aimed at preventing attacks on our election infrastructure. As you will know, states are tasked with the important work of recruiting, training, and retaining Election Officials and poll workers. It is concerning, then, that we continue to hear about difficulties with recruitment and retain meant. Dealing with emerging Election Security issues has become all the more difficult as those with the most experience retire. However, the eac has done its part by raising awareness through the valued role of poll workers and inspiring greater Civic Engagement through the establishment of National Poll worker recruitment day. I was very pleased to hear that on this day, it was so successful that i was pleased to hear it was so successful that the eac also designated august 16th 2022 its help america vote, to help encourage americans to sign up as poll workers. While we in the senate recognize the accomplishments of the eac we must remain diligent in the positive improvements. Our duty is to ensure that the eac is equipped with the necessary tools, resources, and guidance to fulfill its mission effectively. Once again, i extend my sincere appreciation to my witnesses for their commitment to help preserve the public trust. Thank you. Thank you, senator fischer. Our first witnesses, Christine Mccormack confirmed for september 2014. She priests and lay served as an attorney for the department of justice at the u. S. Embassy. Where she oversaw iraqs national elections. Thank you for that. She received her bachelors degree from the university of buffalo and a lot degree from george mason. Our next witness will be vice chair been hovland who was confirmed in 2019, before joining the commission, he spent several years working here at the rules committee. Thank you for that, first four leader schumer, and then for senator klobuchar. And served as deputy counsel for the missouri secretary of state. He received his bachelors degree from Central Arkansas and from the university of oregon. Our third witnesses commissioner tom hicks, who joined the commission in december of 2014. And prior to his current role, commissioner hicks Service Counsel for the committee on house administration. And work for common cause, and the office of Personnel Management in the clinton administration. He received his bachelors degree from clark university, and his law degree from Catholic University of america. Our final witnesss commissioner donald palmer, confirmed in january 2019. Commissioner palmer previously served as secretary of the Virginia State board of elections as the director of elections and attorney with a voting section. He also served for more than two decades as an Intelligence Officer in the navy. He has his masters degree from George Washington and lee autographing from stetson university. I will now swear in our witnesses before we proceed to their testimony. If you would stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony you will give before the committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god . Thank you. You may be seated. We will now proceed to your testimony, and i will recognize you for five minutes. A five minute statement, and we will start with chairwoman mccormack. Ranking member fischer and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the work of the u. S. s elections commission, as we prepare for the 2024 elections. We appreciate the committees crucial oversight efforts and close attention to the eac. Our nations elections have faced increased scrutiny in recent years, and this committee has responded by demonstrating leadership in helping to secure administrators. Whether listening to the needs of officials, or providing grants for Election Security, congress has worked closely with states to reinforce this Critical Infrastructure. As an independent bipartisan agency, the eac stands in a unique position to work with congress in the efficient and accurate administration of elections. Over the past decades, the field has graced evergrowing challenges in the need for improvements to our election systems. Many of these challenges include questions about Adequate Funding and security for Voting Systems. Others, however, had increased suddenly in recent years. For example, social media continues to evolve with new platforms in generative a. I. Tools, making Voter Education more challenging. In addition to administering Voter Education, officials must still prepare for personal security threats. Many Election Officials have left the field, citing safety, increase requirements, and expectations. Some local communities have seen their entire election departments resign. Now, more than ever, Election Officials need our support. With the help of this committee, the eac is prepared to do all it can do to meet these challenges. Over the past year, commissioners have rate doubled outreach by resuming travel across the country for inperson meetings, presentations, and visits with state and local Election Officials. Discussions during these visits underscore not only the outstanding work of Election Administrators in the 2022 midterms, but also the Significant Impact of efforts by the federal government to provide guidance, monetary resources, and best practice materials. Officials have expressed gratitude for resources related to safety and security. This includes over 900 million of security grants provided by congress, and administered by the eac. With support from congress in the form of an increased agency operating budget and more consistent have a funding for the states, the commission continues to fulfill its mission to improve the administration of federal elections and help americans vote. As you are aware, the decentralized nature of elections result in a diversity of laws and regulations. With more than 3000 counties and thousands of localities, it takes nearly 1 million poll workers to operate election polling sites. This process supports more than 209 million registered voters. To support the countrys diversity of election situations, they are charged with developing election guidance. The eac has produced more than 60 product since 2021 to assist Election Administrators. These documents reflect the need for unbiased trusted source guidance as Election Officials navigate the complexities of Election Administration. Earlier this year we hired an experienced government leader, stephen fridge, to serve as our new executive director. One person does not an agency make, so the eac has hired needed support staff to assist in the election process and the role it plays as Critical Infrastructure. Additionally, the eac marked the 20th anniversary in 2022, commemorating this district milestone with a launch of help america vote day. And the Second National recruitment day. The eac continues to strategically promote election worker information on social media and on our website. Recreated help america vote. Gov in 2020, in service of the First National worker recruitment day. This current reach platform offers a custom look up tool, with details as jurisdictions visited context require training and what the ages had over 20 and 63,000 views. We regularly receive modifications from election offices and based on the responses, informations regularly updated on the site. We will continue to offer resources relating to poll worker recruitment, retention, and training leading up to 2024. Including National Poll worker recruitment day and help america vote day. Given the interest members of this committee have shown in this efforts, we welcome our input moving forward. And looking forward to 2024 with ongoing support from congress, the commission will provide the necessary assistance to Election Officials to mitigate challenges and protect the integrity of u. S. Elections. I would like again to thank the committee for its oversight and support of the eac, as well as for the opportunity to speak here. I will now turn discussion over to commissioner to discuss the commissions internal oversight and grants management. Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you, chairman welch and Ranking Member fischer. Id also like to think chairwoman klobuchar and members of the committee for inviting us to testify about the work of the assistants commission. My name is been hovland and im the current vice chair of the eac. I look forward to sharing updates about the commissions grants management, internal controls, and budget. A core component of the eacs mission is distributing, monitoring, and auditing the use of federal grants for the improvement of Election Administration and security. Federal have a funds include the 900 and 55 million provided since 2018, are a key resource for Election Administrators responding to the increased technology and changing demands of the field. To emphasize the importance and impact of this funding, i would note the election infrastructure specific plan states, quote, it is impossible to make an honest assessment of the election infrastructure subsectors risk, and the potential to mitigate that risk without an understanding of the chronic resource issues the subsector faces at all levels of government. And quote. As we look toward 2024, i believe it has never been more challenging to administer elections, or more expensive. Thats why Grant Funding and partnership with the states is so crucial. And we value your efforts to address the needs of state and local governments through congressional appropriations process. As of march 31st, 95 of the fy 2018 Election Security funds have been expended. Including additional security funds for fy 20, 22, and 23. States have spent a total of 529 million in funds awarded between 2018 in 2023, which is approximately 56 of the available Grant Funding. The spending rate depends on some states allocating the funds for long term programs or resources. Some states provide these funds to local governments in the form of sub grants, while others rely on these funds for staff and materials at the state level. With each state having their own security needs and different timetables for significant purchases, such as Voting System replacement or new statewide Voter Registration databases, usage rates have varied across the country. The next expenditure reports are due to the eac on july 30th, and we will update you on the continued impact made possible by these much appreciated funds. They will expand the provided funds, and the Administration Efforts with new staff leadership in place, the agency has invested in building up staff capacity strategically across the eac. However, the eac still faces significant attrition challenges. Its essential that we remain adequate Staffing Levels and critical functions to ensure statutorily mandated requirements are met. The eacs Inspector General has raised structural issues, relate to have a that are discussed in her report on management challenges for the u. S. Assistance commission in fiscal year 2023. My colleagues and i concur with those observations, and have included them in our legislative recommendations. Of particular note, the inability to pay competitive wages compared to congress or other federal agencies campers our ability to attract and retain talent. We are however committed to doing everything we can with the resources we have. The eac is grateful for the increased funding provided by congress in recent years. After facing over a decade of significant fiscal constraints, the eac return to pre2010 budget levels for the first time in fy 2023. For fy 2021 and 22, the eac successfully adapted and executed the operating budget provided by congress. Ending each year with an obligation rate of over 99 . Congressional funding has been fully utilized, enabling the agency to provide muchneeded assistance to address some of the pressing challenges facing the Election Community. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today, and i look forward to answering any questions you may have. Senator brit was here briefly, thank you. Commissioner palmer . Thank you, chairman. Ranking member fischer, and members of the committee, i welcome my fellow commissioners and our appreciation for the investment you have made in the nations elections. Through continued support for the eac. Building up chair hovlands comments, i will share with you some of the ongoing work of the commission to test the security of the nations Voting Systems and ensure that their vote will be counted. In 2023, the eac will advance our Testing Certification efforts in cell phone areas. Voting certification does not end with a successful test in an accredited laboratory. Rather, the review of the systems continues through the lifespan of the voting equipment. As a result, the agency is preparing to launch an Innovative Field Services program to help Election Officials secure their overall posture, and preparedness with eac certified untested systems. This onsite collaborations support for several reasons. First, the implementation of system reviews in the field will ensure that equipment, deliberative jurisdictions, is equivalent to what was purchased. The effort will also analyze system hardware and Software Configurations to verify equivalency of the equipment eac certifications. Additionally, there would be jurisdictions site surveys, best practices assessments, collections assistance assessments, and anomaly reports. We look forward to building at the submission, in 2022 the commission made considerable progress to building operationalized versions of the voluntary Voting System guidelines. The new guidelines incorporate technological in fans minutes in cybersecurity, accuracy, excess ability, usability, and ought ability of those systems. It is a necessary step for the realization of systems that will be two point oh tested and certified. The eac currently has one system that is being tested against venus g a two point oh. We would also like to take this opportunity to emphasize that be the esg one point oh and 1. 1 certified Voting Systems will not be certified by the eac as a result of migration to the new guidelines. Voting systems that are currently employed are still accurate and reliable. They continue to be used and do not need to be immediately replaced. Or recertified by two point oh. In addition, they will continue to be tested and updated with security patches. It will take time and significant monetary expenditures for jurisdictions to implement under the rigorous two point oh process. So it is unlikely that system certify two point oh will be used in the 2024 elections. Congress and the American People should have absolute confidence in this process. The eac has amplified this message, by recently publishing a Communications Tool kit to assist Election Officials in communicating about vsd standards, updates, and Election Security and helping to boost confidence in the Critical Infrastructure of our election systems. As part of our election efforts, we launched the election Evaluation Program or east step in 2022. This will involve electronic voting databases in registration portals. These elections supporting technologies are crucial tools for both Election Officials and voters. As more states and localities adopt these technologies, officials are looking to the federal government for voluntary standards and guidance, similar to what is provided in the bts gene. Currently, Election Administrators must rely on patchwork state laws, regulations, and Certification Programs of varying degrees of review. Established ac programs will provide for the development of robust voluntary standards, testing, guidance, and training materials to cover election supporting technologies. This has specifically targeted election assistance in the past. And these attacks are only going to escalate. The First Technology pilot for east up is electronic pull books, referred to as vp bees. Election officials have leveraged these to streamline the checkin process, automate we currently have five apb manufacturers participating in the initiative and the expectation of two state programs joining later this month. As a cybersecurity threat across the Election Community continues to evolve, eac is planning a voluntary coordinated vulnerability disclosure program. The eac will lead a program to quickly identify and respond to vulnerabilities in the Voting System, along with our federal partners at the National Institute of technology. The development of this program is preliminary, and will require resources in the future. I would like to thank the committee for allowing us to speak today. I will not turn it over to commissioner tom hicks to further expand upon clearinghouse products. Thank you. Thank you again, chairman welch, Ranking Member fischer, and members of the committee. For having us here today, in addition to the developments of my fellow commissioners have shared. The agency has also invested in increasing our clearinghouse capabilities. We share resources for both the administration and other resources pain court writ the eac is working on a National Study to document the experience of voters with disabilities for the 2022 midterms. The survey results will be finalized for this summer, and will include Key Information on voter access. But the commission intends to use these results to produce actionable items that are necessary to meet has vision a fully accessible elections. The numerous and other resources for accessibility, nbc has released checklists for Election Officials on accessibility for inperson voting, Voter Registration, vote by mail, and assistance for voters with Language Access needs. The Language Access resources were updated following the most recent release of section 203 of the Voting Rights act requirements. Which required 330 jurisdictions to produce Language Accessibility resources for voters. This includes division of have a calls on the ac to insist Election Officials and voters and meet the mission wholeheartedly. Similarly, the nonpartisan approach of the Election Administration have continued promote confidence in elections in voting, while advocating civility throughout americans electoral process. With the new 24 election cycle already here, Election Officials face an ever growing list of responsibilities and challenges. Including escalation of threats to Election Officials, and poll workers. The eac is working diligently to help them prepare for the expected and unexpected, in order to provide the best experiences for every voter. Thank you for the opportunity to share some of the vote of the eac and for administrators and voters. We have just had an excellent presentation by all the witnesses. What i wanted to acknowledge was that they clearly spread out the information so that we were getting a comprehensive view of what it is theyve been doing, and what the challenges are. On your behalf on the committees behalf, i want to thank all the commissioners we are good work. Now, senator klobuchar, i want to defer to you. Thats actually okay. I just got here. All that senator fischer asked some questions. Go ahead. Okay. Thank you, one of the areas of real concern for all of us is this disinformation, and how its all escalated. We saw evidence of it in past elections. But now everybody is concerned about a. I. And one of the mediums by which we track Bad Information as well as good information is through these platforms. And these platforms, in the large tech companies, they are starting to do layoffs and i dont have the information, but i have the apprehension that many of these layoffs are targeted to those functions that have to do with monitoring misinformation. Just as an example, twitter is a special case. It effectively disbanded its ethical a. I. Team in january. Middle reported that it into the contracts with about 200 content moderators, and laid off at least 16 members from instagrams wellbeing group. More than 100 positions were laid off from the trust integrity of responsibility. In february, google laid off about a third of its stuff projects soon for misinformation and censorship. Which, theres about 50 employees who came out that division. Since we do realize, so many americans, on social media for our information. That could be an issue with the capacity of more disinformation to get out. I will start, chairwoman, with you. And i will ask you what kind of challenges have local Election Administrators seen with the spread of information . Is it a situation where they can provide misinformation, and if not, does it have a plan to do that . Thank you for the question, senator. The eac has heard from local Election Officials on instances where Bad Information or misinformation, disinformation has been provided on social media platforms. We continue to urge people to go to a trusted source. Such as a local or state Elections Administration to get their information. We also have started an internal a. I. Working group. This is obviously a very new issue that is coming up, and it is of great concern. We have been having discussions with both sza and our federal partners on how we might combat the misinformation. And especially with a. I. , which is going to be quite complicated and challenging. We have an elections process toolkit which includes posters and sample social media, updates, and all kinds of information that we urge the state and local Election Officials to utilize in communicating with voters. The actual true information, the eac stands behind them with our facts. With our eac, our eaves report. And we are happy to provide that to anybody who asks including social media platforms if they ask us. One other question, in vermont, the secretary of States Office did launch a site called elections versus fact. And it was a web page intended to work to combat disinformation. Im going to ask you, commissioner palmer, whether you think efforts like that can be effective and do you recommend other states adopt them . It is no reboot school to be rude you dont know importers and, in order to have credibility. But voters, whether youre going to vote for a conservative or liberal, i think all of us want to know that the information were acting on is accurate. Is that that step that vermont has taken, is it something youve ever had thoughts about . Weather could be helpful elsewhere . That is absolutely in best practice. This goes back decades, where Election Officials, theres all types of rumors out there, and incorrect information. So if you have a myth buster or a rumor buster, its important that the election official provide the true information in a very nonpartisan, down the middle, just the facts manner. And thats exactly what we did when i was in florida and in virginia. And its the same thing that the ac does with my frequently asked questions. The issues that chairwoman mccormick brought up. We are very much involved in the testing and development of the systems and how those machines work. We provide the facts on our website and we also answer questions from reporters, and all types of groups that have questions with a process. We do the best we can to propagate that message, sir. Thank you very much. Id like to now yield to senator fischer. Thank, you senator welch. Chair mccormick, ive wanted to ask some questions about grant funds and specifically, on the hobble grants. How do you overseeing the reporting on the use of those funds . Watch reports, financial documents, does the eac require of states . And what types of issues does the eac look for in its review, and youre going through the reports and documents . Thank, you senator fischer. The eac requires completion of the federal financial reports. No less than twice a year, with a recent amount of money that was provided for quarterly reports. We require all states who have received grants to fill out those reports to us. Those grants teams look for incompletion on those reports. They look for possible increases in funding that seem odd. We also look for whether there are any uses of the money that are disallowed under havre. We look for insufficient information about what theyre doing. Theres a number of issues, a checklist of issues we look at. And we communicate those concerns to the jurisdiction. We give them a chance to update and correct their financial reports. But we also do follow up with them to make sure the funds are being used appropriately. So when you find an issue there and you went through a number of red flags that come up, and you contact them, how much followup does it take before you get an answer . And to try to rectify the problem. What is the process there . We start with an email and we email the officials on the findings that we are concerned about. We follow up as much as we need to, and including in person if possible. We have had issues where thats not been possible, but we continue to follow up as much as we need to, either through writing, through telephone calls, our grant staff is on basically they are there to help people work through those issues. And to fix any issues that may have come up. There was a report out from the ig. There was some issues in the commonwealth, the northern marianna islands with their accounting and reporting on the grants. Did you learn any lessons from that . Is there something that could have helped prevent that situation . I think part of the problem was the northern ariana islands had not been a traditional recipient of have a grants. They had not been through the training and work that the other states have been through. I think it wouldve been helpful to have an inperson training with them. Theyre very new to this, theyre also new Election Officials themselves. We did follow up with him many times in different ways. Obviously, the pandemic precluded anyone from going out to visit the northern ariana islands. But i believe and in training and in person guidance would have help that situation. Do you see an issue there . In my opening statement, i talked about the retirements we see with coworkers. And retention issues that we have. How does that affect your job for oversight . I think this is a great example, that youre going to have to do a lot of educating. This is where we do a lot of educating and this is where all of our clearinghouse products have come into play. Weve updated what we call the election management guidelines, which is basically a textbook for Election Officials on the basic issues they need to know. Weve got quick start guides, weve got numerous products to help the new Election Officials. We are going out to as many state conferences as we can and talking to the new officials, and trying to provide them with whatever information we can. To help get them up to speed because we have somewhere between a third and a half of new administrators coming up in 2024. Vice chair of limb we have seen that the g. A. O. You told the g. A. O. That the Electronic System is used for states to submit Care Progress reports, and it allowed the states to omit or miscalculate some of their expenditure totals. In the financial section of the progress report, officials told g. A. O. That this system doesnt have the capability to automatically calculate a states total expenditures based on the expenditures listed in different categories. Have you address that issue . We were in the process of implementing new systems to help streamline the process and grant reporting. We are reviewing all that, and certainly we cant get back to you with any specifics to your staff. I appreciate that. It seems like a pretty high number that may involve nearly 20 of the total reported for a nationwide spending for care sack grant funds. It just didnt have how they were categorized on that so if we could get you a question in detail and if you get back to us, i appreciate that. Absolutely. Thank you. Very good. I want to think first of all senator welch for filling in for a new guy, hes doing pretty well. Only in congress are you consider new when youve been here for 18 years. And also, my friend, senator fishburne, thank you. I want to say how important the work you do is, as we know, in the eac was established with broad bipartisan support. To get the mission clear, fund, help states improve Election Administration security. Cybersecurity guidelines, a very important in the last few decades. And accessibility for voters. And i hear time and time again from secretaries of state on both sides of the aisle how important it is, the work that you do. We know you are confronting new challenges ahead, with everything from Artificial Intelligence to the challenge i know you have been experiencing as ive heard from our local officials, of harassment of secretaries of state, and volunteers at election places and Election Officials. Regardless of party. I guess id start with you, vice chair hovland, since you used to work for me. Can you briefly expand on what you see is the most urgent needs of state for additional federal funding . Absolutely. Thank, you chairwoman klobuchar. Right now, i think the Election Community really faces so many challenges. As i said in my opening statement, i think Election Administration is more challenging, its more challenging to administer elections now than its ever been. And more expensive. And a more than one singular issue, i think its the totality of issues. There is the cyber Security Issues, there is the physical threats and harassment. Adding to buildings, and the security of buildings. Obviously, incentivizing recruitment of poll workers. Senator welch asked about disinformation earlier. One of the things i think about all the time, there are two sides of that coin. Theres the whackamole of the falsehoods that you hear. But theres also the Voter Education piece. And so often, Voter Education falls to the backburner. But thats an integral part of combatting misinformation with those, debunking pieces. So giving people money to make sure they have the resources to do that is critical. Just talk about the importance of steady funding and how that would be helpful for the states when you deal with different threats that appear every election. Thank, you senator klobuchar. Its great to see you. Having steady funding ensures the states can allow for an adequate budget each and every election cycle. We know that there is going to be a lot of additional costs that are coming down the pipe for Election Officials who want to replace their voting equipment with two point oh voting equipment. That will probably not be ready for 2024, but as they look towards doing their budgets, they will need a significant amount of money to replace those machines. At reelection cycle, theres something that may come up that they did not budget for. So they have to look back to see what sort of things they need to pay for, as they move forward. No one saw 2020 coming along, with the pandemic. With Congress Stepping up, and they provided enough funding to the states. As you remember, your predecessor to our Ranking Member. Also, stepping up at that time. Exactly. Very good. So youre talking about the election equipment. You dont know each election. Maybe well just i want to give my colleagues time here. We have several of them here. Could we turn to that election issue and weve heard from kentucky secretary of state, the difficulty of attracting volunteers sometimes to work the polls. And where you see this coming up, rural areas not having the funding for as many Law Enforcement to help these volunteer workers at the polls. Absolutely, senator. There has been an uptick in safety and Security Issues across the country. With consistent funding, that would be quite helpful to the states to be able to provide more security for the election workers. We also want to make sure that the public trusts where the funds are coming from. I think obviously, congress is a trusted source of funding. So there are many reasons for congress to continue to provide consistent funding. We are a good. Do you want anything, commissioner palmer . Oh, wow. Thats not what we do around here. Thats very good. I want to thank all of you for your leadership. I know its a tribute to how important your work is that we have so many senators here. And well turn it over to senator haggard. Thank, you senator welch for getting us started off here today. I would like to start with you, the commission believes transparency is important for voter confidence and Election Administration. Is that correct . Yes, senator. Thank you. Im sure youre familiar with President Bidens executive order, number 14 019. That directs federal agencies to submit plans to the white house for using taxpayer resources to expand mail in ballots. The white house refuses to release these. For me, this raises significant concerns about the Biden Administrations Voter Mobilization plans to help President Biden in the next election. My question for you, you were great earlier that administration is important. For that reason, do you support these plans . We are independent agencies. Im not in a position to tell the white house what to do. But i think that a piece of Election Administration is critical, and one of the challenges weve seen a lot of is let me come back to this. I sent a letter to President Biden, along with every other republican member of this committee, requesting that they release these plans. A month has passed, and theres been no response. Theres nothing to hide. These plans should be released. Its very disturbing. Lets go to a different topic, though. Id like to change gears and talk about the u. S. Alliance for are you familiar with that . Somewhat. For the rest of our members, this is an 80 Million Dollar Initiative Funded by a web of left wing entities to help local Election Administrators conduct elections. Its a new form of zach or bucks is what it is. Its connected with the Democracy Fund and arabela advisers with a Massive Network of leftwing nonprofits. Theyve pulled nearly two billion per year in 2020, and in 2021. Thats a massive amount in our elections. This network of it kitties has received tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars from a foreign leftwing billionaire named hahns george v. s. Hes not a u. S. Citizen, so we can contribute to elections directly. But hes found a way to be involved in our elections. So is it concerning to you then a foreign actor is heavily influencing private groups that are assisting American Local governments . I testified before the House Appropriations committee in 2021 and i was asked about the zuckerberg contributions. And at the time i noted that i dont believe that elections should be supported, or election funding should be dependent on the charity of billionaires. But i believe can answer me that . What about foreign billionaires . I dont think any billionaires should be our Election Administrators shouldnt be dependent on any financing from billionaires. But its a failure of government if we do not provide with them with sufficient funds. Do you support foreign donations for u. S. Admit elections . I do not. But its also not our place. But sir would be foreign election interference in your mind . Senator, there were people in 2020 who were using those charitable contributions for their personal safety, they were putting their lives on the line, that was used for ppe, and hand sanitizer. I want to be clear with that then. The government failed to provide that funding. Coming from a foreign billionaire, involving themselves in our election. What i want to make certain is that this commission, that no Election Commission dollars or comingled in any way with these foreign funds. Of course, not sir. We provide funds if you can guarantee me that we provide money that congress provides to us and formula grants as prescribed by the american votes act and the bills are passed. We follow the law, absolutely. I look forward to seeing a plan for you. And id like for you to submit that to this committee. If i are going to ensure that these foreign funds coming in are no way coming going or supporting the same election activities at the local level. Sir, we dont have, as you know, elections are very decentralized in this country. Its up to each state and locality on the funds that theyre able to accept. Our job is to distribute the funds from congress. We are proud to do that. We hear regularly from state local administrators that they need additional funding, they need regular funding. And we would welcome those dollars from congress to support those officials. Certainly not from foreign billionaires. Thank you. Thank you very much. And just to clarify, a vice chair, the funding during those 2020 elections was used in both red and blue states. And it was focused on adapting to holding an election during a pandemic. Was that part of this funding . Youre referring to is a charitable contributions . He has. Thats my understanding. Okay. So what you are saying here is that if the state governments had the Adequate Funding to run elections, that that would be very helpful. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you, senator padilla . Thank you madam chair before i get to my questions, i want to make sure that the record actually reflects governor hobblings response to whether or not he supports foreign donations into our Election Administration without me interrupting. Can you reiterate your answer for the record . I personally do not, though it is not in the purview of the elections system. Thank you very much. I want to say hello, again, to all of you. I had a chance to not just talk, but visit with conferences or welcome due to california during my prior capacity as californias secretary of state. So, a lot of timely issues to discuss. From i know senator welch already threats of election misinformation, disinformation, a topic weve referenced over safety. I know the chair has been a leader in that regard, retention and security for volunteer poll workers, election staff at the state and local levels and beyond. The need to upgrade our Voting Systems and nationally. Not just set the standards, but helping jurisdictions with those Infrastructure Improvements and speaking of infrastructure, i know there is a desire for additional funding for our election, i support them. Not just one time, not just once in a denigrate generation, its been too long since ongoing, sustained funding that reflects the fact that our elections infrastructure is Critical Infrastructure by the United States government. Has been for several cycles now. But i want to really focus my questions to the chair. Chart mccormick. You have claimed to have personally witnessed voter fraud and seeing data supporting the assertion that voting fraud is threatening our elections. What data have you seen. It would be great for you to share with the committee. I believe there are several reports out there, senator. I personally witness it while i was observing an election in mississippi many years ago. That is not to say that fraud is a huge problem. I think it is probably pretty minimal, but i think its important that we have accuracy and integrity and our elections. When you witness, was that reported are prosecuted . Yes, that was recorded by the department of justice in the observer reports and i was with the observers from opm who witnessed it. It was part of a case in mississippi, United States versus egg brown. Okay, i hope folks were held accountable for that. Chair mccormick, do you vote by mail as a secure method of voting . Well, being a new resident of california, yes, sir, i have voted my last election, i voted by mail for the first time. And did you sign up for ballot tracking . I have not signed up for ballot tracking. I highly encourage you to. Www. Desk sos. Ca. Gov. I will give register logan a call and ask him to sign me up. He cant do it for, you have to do it yourself. I understand, sir. Automatic Voter Registration is a safe method to increase registration and turnout . Sir, i think thats a good way to do it. However, i think we need to give a good option for people to opt out, if they do not want to be automatically registered. There are groups in this country that do not want to vote. Some religious groups and others. So, i believe in automated registration. I think it is a good tool to register folks who have not been registered previously and give them an opportunity to do that. To the extent that its been implemented in multiple states, i have to believe thats the option. Yes, there is a significant difference in awe versus opt out, but its not mandatory in Voter Registration. Because like we dont have mandated people who deserve to have the option. We highly encourage people who are eligible to register to maintain the registration record current. And to vote in every single election. I just ate this because i know there is a tremendous amount of research on this topic that points in the exact same direction. Voter fraud is exceedingly rare. This includes voter impersonation, you know, in ballots and more. In fact, mailin ballots are both secure and essential for secure elections that are as accessible to voters as possible. I hate to have to continue to raise this year after year, cycle after cycle, but the misinformation, disinformation about the integrity of elections, the integrity of Election Administrators, and elections workers, continues to be under attack. And we need to take every opportunity we can to set the record straight. Thank you very much. Thank you very, very much, senator padilla. Senator ossoff . Thank you, madam chair. We vice chair hovland, i want to touch on something weve seen particularly in georgia over the last few cycles. Which is the partisan and malicious, and frivolous use of voter challenges to tie up county election boards and these challenges are often filed by groups that are spreading baseless conspiracy theories about why it spread voter fraud. Just a few numbers for the panel. In 2022, across just eight counties, out of 159 in georgia, there were 65,000 challenges to Voter Registration. In garnett county alone, in 2022, one group called voter jh allen the registrations of 37,500 voters. In december of 2020, madam chair, if you can wrap your head around this, one group, and this is during the Senate Runoffs in which i was elected. One group called truth of the vote challenged 364,000 Voter Registrations across the state of georgia. My understanding is that two or three dozen folks who had perhaps moved or change residency may have been disqualified. 364,000 challenges to Voter Registration coordinated by one partisan group during a Crucial Senate runoff. I know vice chair, you are not here to comment on policy. Georgias state Legislature Passed a law in their two sessions ago that made it much easier for anyone to bring unlimited challenges of their fellow citizens, Voter Registration. What i want to ask you is this. How does it impact a county election board already of stretched thin . Already, and i think we can agree, regrettably, relying upon funding other than from the state, in many cases, just to cover the basics. Already perhaps unable to fill enough polling places, already having difficulty dealing with all of their responsibilities. How does it impact a county election board . When they suddenly get tens of thousands of frivolous challenges to the registrations of voters in that county . Thank you, senator, for the question and i would say im recently returned from georgia, where i met with folks who than the secretarys office, as well as Fulton County and the athens clark county unified government, and, you know, i think when you look at the issues sort of broadly, again, i will not comment on the georgia specific issue there. But what we are seeing across the country are, you know, again, based on miss and disinformation, sort of offices being inundated with tasks. And again, election offices are often very limited in the number of staff they have and, you know, when i think about some of the challenges they face when they have this kind of impact, you know, there are only so many hours in the day. That time is such a valuable commodity. And so, when something that would normally get triple checked only gets double checked, that creates more opportunity for error and you have the potential to create a self fulfilling prophecy that you do see these human mistakes that happen in elections. But simply because people were overtaxed, based on inquiries around false information. So, a large number of frivolous voter challenges can tie up the resources of a local election board, correct . Certainly. They can distract those resources from administering the election, correct . Yes. They can make it more difficult, therefore, for voters to access the franchise because the Election Administrators are tied up dealing with a torrent of frivolous challenges, correct . That is certainly possible. I will just close, madam chair, by sort of moving the point. What does it say about where weve come to, in terms of the level of polarization in this society and the scorched earth politics of victory by any means, that people are reduced, for obviously partisan reasons, to try and disenfranchise their own neighbors on false pretenses, or try to tie up already stretched thin Election Administration resources by saying, you know what . We are going to take a blunt instrument here and just say, there might be hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens. We want to make it harder for them to vote. With no basis for the challenge, whatsoever. It is a deeply immoral practice and the fact that georgias state legislature has explicitly sanctioned it, i think, is repugnant. I will yield. Thank you. Thank you very much, senator ossoff, and you want to add any other questions . Deputy senator . Yeah, go ahead, senator fischer. Thank you, chairman klobuchar. I have some questions on cybersecurity. And the preparedness that we are looking at their. I know that the eac recently adopted the bibi eshchi to point out, marking the first major changes to the standards in many years. Could you please elaborate, chair mccormick, on how the b vso g has been updated to address any cybersecurity threats that we are facing . And if you see any risk to the electoral process, if the state decides not to use an eac to certify Voting System. Thank you for the question, senator fischer. Yes, with the new b vsd 2. 0, we have numerous additional requirements over one point oh and 1. 1 for security measures. Including the elimination of transmission by wired or wireless capabilities. We are now going to be requiring Penetration Testing. We have more audit ability of the machines, more requirements on audit ability. We are requiring the use of modern equipment encryption. We are also requiring software independents, so that the software cannot change the vote totals on its own, without it being detected by the machinery. And most important is that we try to get as many states as possible using our more secure standards. We are also going to be requiring, i dont know if i mention this, Penetration Testing of all systems. As far as the risks to the electoral process, most states use some portion of our standards or our laboratories. We dont test for all the states, but we do provide documentation and information for the states that do their own certification. Obviously, you know, we have Performance Products that we will share. We are very willing to provide as much information as we can to the states to dont use our systems to be able to evaluate the security of the systems that they are working on. You know, we have seen an increase the most cybersecurity threats over the past several years and in 2020, the eac launched the cyber access and Security Program to help address the issue. Since the implementation of that program, how have Election Officials utilized the offerings . Do you see officials having pretty good buy in for this . And does the program stay up to date when we have this constantly evolving space . Yes, obviously, we need to stay on top of the current threats. I mean, its a neverending project to stay ahead of the bad guys. Our cast program has been utilized by Election Officials in 49 states. Weve trained over 11,000 Election Officials and we are currently working on producing a security component for e pull books and our evaluation pilot. So, were working toward guidelines for all of the election supporting technology and the cast program at the eac is part of that. Do you think the electronic pull books, you just brought that up, is that going to help further protect election infrastructure . And is it going to be able to enhance that security . Yes. Easy pull books are connected to the internet, so its important that we have high security measures on them. Isnt one of the things we dont want to be connected to the internet . Well, theres a reason why they are connected and that is to make sure that voters are not voting in multiple places. So, we have to be able to be assured that, you know, somebodys checking in, they have does that put in jeopardy the entire system . No, theyre separate from the Voting Systems. They usually are just checking into register, to get a ballot and to provide the correct ballot. And we usually do that by he pulled books usually used drivers licenses and, you know, they swept those drivers licenses, but there is usually a connection. It has nothing to do with the voting machines. No, theyre not connected. Okay, i think that needs to be made clear. Because theres deep concern about anything thats connected to the internet. Yes. And the possibility that could be hacked in any way. Yes and we are, you know, we ask Election Officials to ensure theres an air gap between any kind of system thats connected to the internet with the Voting Systems. So that the Voting Systems are not affected by, you know, any kind of internet connection. Right, thank you very much. All right, well, thank you and im sure we will keep the record open of the hearing for a week, if our colleagues have other questions. Youve all done very, very well. I want to thank Ranking Member fischer as well as senator welch, members of the committee, i also want to thank the commissioner for sharing your testimony for sharing your work that you do and while you may come from different political backgrounds, we see the consistent themes of wanting to make sure that our state elections are well administered, that there is funding for those state administers, and that Administration Elections and that be Election Officials there are protected, so that they can do their jobs in addition to responding to the many new challenges that we are all seeing and many aspects of american life. But always, elections are kind of the canary in the coal mine, when it comes to where you have, whether its foreign interference or whether it is threats. And we want to make sure that the fundamental reason we are all here, our democracy, the reason i met with 300 interns from democratic and republican members of Congress Today that are also eager, some of them may be here, to be part of this democracy and the reason we all get up every morning and you are really why want to thank you for guiding us there. So, i look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on the committee to support this commission. The work that you do, and the hearing is adjourned. Thank you. All right. Watch a video on demand anytime online at cspan. Org and try our points of interest feature, a timeline to let uses markers to quickly guide you to newsworthy and interesting highlights of our key coverage. Use points of interest anytime online at cspan. Org. 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A house panel is looking into whether the Biden Administration tried to influence or censor social Media Companies during the covid19 pandemic and if there were any First Amendment violations. Missouri senator, eric schmidt, and louisian