National: No new legislative momentum after election security briefings | Niels Lesniewski/Roll Call

Sen. Marco Rubio emerged from a closed briefing on the Trump administration’s efforts to secure elections and made a renewed push for his own bipartisan deterrence legislation, even as he acknowledged there has not been momentum. “In my view, they’re doing everything you can do,” Rubio said of the administration efforts. “Election interference is a broadly used term, and understand this is psychological warfare. It’s designed to weaken America from the inside out, to drive divisions internally so we fight with each other, to undermine our confidence in the elections and in our democracy and particularly to undermine individual candidates either because they don’t like that candidate or because they know someone else.” Rubio, a Florida Republican, then plugged the DETER Act, a bipartisan bill he introduced with Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, that is designed to provide for new sanctions to be imposed against Russia or other adversaries in the event of future interference.

National: Feds Don’t Regulate Election Equipment, So States Are On Their Own | Matt Vasilogambros/Stateline

Behind nearly every voter registration database, voting machine and county website that posts results on Election Day, there’s an election technology company that has developed those systems and equipment. By targeting one of those private vendors, Russia, China or some other U.S. adversary could tamper with voter registration rolls, the ballot count or the publicly released results, potentially casting doubt on the legitimacy of the final tally. Nevertheless, there are no federal rules requiring vendors to meet security standards, test equipment for vulnerabilities or publicly disclose hacking attempts. With the 2020 presidential election approaching, security experts, lawmakers and even election vendors themselves are calling for more rigorous testing of election equipment and stricter security standards for the private companies that provide election-related services. “The lack of vendor regulation in the election technology space is a big gap that needs to be addressed,” said Edgardo Cortés, an election security expert at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School.

National: Portland cybersecurity company aims to design, protect the future | Pat Dooris/KGW

Step inside Galois in downtown Portland and you'll see a lot of smart people working with computers, circuit boards and more. A group of professors from the Oregon Institute of Technology started the company 20 years ago. The company says it performs computer science research and development for commercial, defense and intelligence industries, and that its employees are among the world’s foremost experts in computer science and mathematics, which allows Galois to take on the world’s most difficult challenges in computer science. They are now inventing, creating, testing and protecting against the future. The Ping-Pong table in one room is covered with parts from high-tech components. Soldering irons sit nearby ready for action. At the end of the table is a black box. It’s a prototype optical scanner for voting. The company built it from scratch. CEO Rob Wiltbank said the prototype is an attempt to answer a simple, but tough question. “How can you build a voting system that you can actually trust? A lot of computing systems function, but they don't do only what you want them to do. So, the big experiment we're doing here is, can you build a system that you can prove will only work as it's supposed to work?” Wiltbank said. When it comes to elections, that's a troubling idea.

Editorials: Why America must take the fight against cyberterrorism seriously | Joseph Moreno and Sam Curry/The Hill

cording to the Justice Department, a team of hackers sponsored by North Korea spent years infiltrating American companies to steal trade secrets and intellectual property. We know from the investigation of former special counsel Robert Mueller that Russian military intelligence groups hacked computer systems in the United States and spread social media disinformation to impact the 2016 election. More recently, we learned of a campaign by hackers backed by the Chinese government to spy on individuals through cyberattacks on global carrier companies. These may not be traditional acts of war. But make no mistake, they are hostile military grade actions against our companies, our government, and the public by foreign adversaries, and they are only getting worse. The United States is in a de facto state of war that is no less real for it being fought on a digital rather than a traditional battlefield. If a foreign army killed American citizens at home or abroad, there is no question that a conventional military response would be called for. Every nation has the right to defend itself against an armed attack under the United Nations charter. Similarly, if a foreign country was found to have supported a terrorist group in carrying out a violent assault against Americans, most would agree that some form of military retaliation would be warranted.

Florida: Lawmakers push DHS to notify voters, other officials of election system breaches | Olivia Beavers/The Hill

A pair of House lawmakers from Florida have introduced new legislation that would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to notify voters and other parties of potential breaches to election systems. Reps. Stephanie Murphy (D) and Mike Waltz (R) introduced their measure following revelations earlier this year that Russia infiltrated computer networks in two counties in the Sunshine State ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Members of the Florida congressional delegation blasted federal agencies in May for their lack of transparency about the cyberattacks, saying they only received an FBI briefing on the matter when former special counsel Robert Mueller revealed in his report that the bureau was investigating a Moscow-led hack into "at least one" Florida county. The FBI, which informed the Florida delegation that Russia had infiltrated a second county, has not permitted the members of Congress to reveal the names of which counties were targeted.

Georgia: Judge allows outside inspection of Georgia voting system | Mark Niesse/Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The insides of Georgia’s voting system will be cracked open for inspection as part of a lawsuit alleging that the state’s elections are vulnerable to inaccuracies, malfunctions and hacking. U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg on Tuesday ordered election officials to allow computer experts to review databases used to configure ballots and tabulate votes.The ruling comes in a lawsuit by election integrity advocates who doubt the accuracy of Georgia’s electronic voting machines and are asking Totenberg to require that elections be conducted on paper ballots filled out with a pen.The review of election management databases is needed to understand what caused problems during November’s heated race for governor between Republican Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams, said Bruce Brown, an attorney for some of the plaintiffs.Voters reported that voting machines failed to record their choices, flipped their votes from one candidate to another and produced questionable results.“We can see the system malfunctioning, and everybody knows it is intrinsically vulnerable,” said Brown, who represents the Coalition for Good Governance, a Colorado-based organization focused on election accountability. “We’re trying to learn more about the exact causes of the particular problems we’re seeing in Georgia.”Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s attorneys objected to allowing a review of election databases, which have a variety of information including candidate names, party affiliations, ballot layouts and vote counts for each precinct. The databases don’t contain confidential information, Totenberg wrote.

North Carolina: ‘A risk to democracy’: North Carolina law may be violating secrecy of the ballot | Jordan Wilkie/The Guardian

North Carolina may be violating state and federal constitutional protections for the secret ballot in the US by tracing some of its citizens’ votes. The situation has arisen because North Carolina has a state law that demands absentee voting – which includes early, in-person voting as well as postal voting – is required to use ballots that can be traced back to the voter. The laws are in place as a means of guaranteeing that if citizens cast multiple ballots during early voting or that if ineligible residents – like non-citizens or people who have not completed sentences for criminal offenses – cast ballots, those votes can be retrieved and removed. Likewise, if a voter casts an early ballot then dies before election day, that ballot can then be discounted. But voting rights advocates think the North Carolina law breaks one of the most sacred tenets of the democratic system: preserving the secrecy of the ballot. “Anytime you can link a ballot back to the individual voter, that’s a violation of the secret ballot,” said Caitriona Fitzgerald, the chief technology officer for the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Pennsylvania: Despite GOP objections, Wolf moves to upgrade voting machines | Katie Meyer/WITF

Governor Tom Wolf is taking matters into his own hands when it comes to funding upgrades for Pennsylvania’s voting machines. The move comes after he vetoed a funding bill the GOP-controlled legislature sent him during state budget negotiations. It would have given counties $90 million to upgrade machines — about 60 percent of the up-front cost. But it also had strings attached; most crucially, an election code change that eliminated automatic straight-ticket voting. Democrats balked, saying it might depress voter turnout. Wolf now plans to get the $90 million without add-ons by issuing a bond through the state’s Economic Development Financing Authority. He said as far as he knows, it’s allowed as long as the agency’s board authorizes it. “I’m not a lawyer,” he said when asked about the specific law that authorizes such an action. “The point that I think everybody in this building recognizes is that we’ve got to support the counties. This cannot be an unfunded mandate.” Wolf’s office later clarified, they interpret the Pennsylvania EDFA has having broad authority to provide funding in order to promote things like health, safety, economic activity, and general welfare for people in the commonwealth. Voting machine funding, they said, fits that mission.

Pennsylvania: Wolf orders $90M bond issue to help counties buy voting machines | The Intelligencer

Gov. Tom Wolf is moving to borrow up to $90 million to help Pennsylvania’s counties pay for new voting machines ahead of 2020′s election, announcing the step Tuesday after a dispute between the Democrat and the Republican-controlled Legislature doomed funding legislation last week. The bond issue would reimburse each county for 60% of their cost, according to Wolf’s administration, which provided little detail about the financing it will seek or the timeline for the move. Wolf began pressing counties last year to replace their voting machines with ones that provide verified paper ballots before 2020 after federal authorities warned Pennsylvania and at least 20 other states that Russian hackers targeted them during 2016′s presidential election. That prompted a wide range of election integrity advocates and experts to urge states to switch to machines that produce an auditable paper trail.

Media Release: Verified Voting Praises Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf for Announcing Bond Financing to Reimburse Counties for Purchasing Voting Machines

Marian K. Schneider: “This move will ensure the smooth transition to secure and verifiable voting systems and will free up money for counties to use toward cybersecurity training and voter education.”

“Verified Voting is pleased with Gov. Wolf’s commitment to replace electronic voting systems. The availability of this $90 million financing will allow counties to fund the necessary replacement of unverifiable systems with verifiable ones. We are gratified that the Governor, as well as the Pennsylvania General Assembly, recognized the need to reimburse counties.

“This move will ensure the smooth transition to secure and verifiable voting systems and could free up money for counties to use toward cybersecurity training and voter education. Election security is a nonpartisan issue and the goal of hardening our voting systems against potential threats is shared across the aisle. Counties’ access to these funds is what is needed to ensure a smooth transition to paper-based electronic systems and routine, robust audits.

Texas: Taylor County approves funding for new voting machines amid backlash | Daniela Ibarra/KTXS

The Taylor County Commissioners have approved $2.1 million in funding to replace Taylor County's current voting machines, which have been in use since 2005. … "A number of vulnerabilities that computers are susceptible to can be exploited," said Marian Schneider, the President of Verified Voting. … Schneider said that DRE systems do not print out a paper ballot after each voter casts their vote, and if a voter makes a mistake when making a selection, she said that there is no way to refute the claim. "There’s no way to validate that what the voter inputted is actually what got recorded," Schneider said. "Calling up the computer memory after the fact does nothing to validate that that’s what the voter intent was captured."

Washington: ‘Not ready for prime time.’ Washington State election officials sound alarm over new voter registration system | Austin Jenkins/NW News Network

County election officials in Washington are warning that a new statewide voter registration database system is not ready for the state's August 6 primary and could result in some voters getting incorrect ballots or no ballot at all. The concerns reached a crescendo on Tuesday at a work session of the Washington Senate's State Government, Tribal Relations and Elections Committee. A panel of county auditors and election chiefs told members of the committee that the new VoteWA system is "not ready for prime time" and that they are proceeding with the primary election "on a hope and a prayer." Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman, a Republican, acknowledged that she decided to "go live" with phase one of the system over the objections of some county auditors, but defended that decision as necessary because of the age and security vulnerabilities of the old system.  "If you want to know why I made the decision that I made, it was I was so worried and freaked out by my security team that said we cannot keep operating this system," Wyman told the committee members.

Canada: No direct threats to the election yet – but foreign actors are getting ready to meddle: officials | Catharine Tunney/CBC

Canadian security agencies haven't seen any direct threats to the 2019 election so far, but a government official says hostile foreign actors are positioning themselves already to insert themselves into the campaign. A handful of senior officials spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity Tuesday to offer an update on how they'll alert the public to any serious attempts to interfere with the October election. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Communications Security Establishment and the RCMP are monitoring foreign threat activity in Canada and around the world — which is not unusual, said one official. "At this time, we haven't seen direct threats to the 2019 general election," the official said. CSIS continues to observe hostile foreign actors "taking steps to position themselves to clandestinely influence, promote or discredit certain messages, candidates or groups during the campaign," the official added.

Canada: Anti-election-meddling panel would prefer to keep quiet | Carl Meyer/National Observer

Canada’s anti-election-meddling panel will look into domestic threats as well as foreign interference during this fall’s campaign. But the government officials tasked with probing attempts to subvert Canada’s free and fair elections will require all members of the panel to sign off before informing the public of an incident. That’s because the panel sees its power to go public as a last resort, and would prefer that journalists and civil society organizations keep citizens informed through debunking conspiracy theories or exposing fake social media accounts before disinformation spreads too far. Federal government officials speaking on background revealed these and other details of Canada’s Critical Election Incident Public Protocol in a briefing Tuesday. The briefing was related to a cabinet directive that was published July 9, and first announced by Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould. “Canada’s democratic institutions have to be prepared to face incidents similar to those we have seen in other elections around the world,” Gould said in a statement. “This, combined with the various measures announced earlier this year, will allow us to uphold the trust and confidence that Canadians have in their democracy.”

Italy: A Secret Recording Reveals How Russia Tried To Funnel Millions To Matteo Salvini’s Lega Party | Alberto Nardelli/BuzzFeed

Six men sat down for a business meeting on the morning of October 18 last year, amid the hubbub and marble-columned opulence of Moscow’s iconic Metropol Hotel, to discuss plans for a “great alliance.” A century earlier, the grand institution was the scene of events that helped change the face of Europe and the world: Czarist forces fought from inside the hotel as they tried and failed to hold the Bolsheviks back from the Kremlin in 1917, and it was here, in suite 217, that the first Soviet Constitution was drafted after the revolution succeeded. The six men — three Russians, three Italians — gathered beneath the spectacular painted glass ceiling in the hotel lobby last October had their eyes on history too. Their nominal purpose was an oil deal; their real goal was to undermine liberal democracies and shape a new, nationalist Europe aligned with Moscow. BuzzFeed News has obtained an explosive audio recording of the Metropol meeting in which a close aide of Europe’s most powerful far-right leader — Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini — and the other five men can be heard negotiating the terms of a deal to covertly channel tens of millions of dollars of Russian oil money to Salvini’s Lega party.

North Carolina: Senators question DHS on North Carolina voting equipment malfunctions | Maggie Miller/The Hill

Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) are demanding answers regarding voting equipment malfunctions in North Carolina during the 2016 presidential election, as election security continues to be a contentious topic on Capitol Hill. Klobuchar and Reed sent a letter to acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan late last week asking him to explain the steps taken by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to investigate the “unexpected behavior” of voting equipment made by VR Systems during the 2016 election in Durham County, North Carolina. On election day, electronic poll books in this county made by VR Systems malfunctioned, leading the county to switch to paper poll books. It is not clear if this was the result of a cyberattack or a different cause.  The letter from the two Democratic senators was sent in the wake of the release of former special counsel Robert Mueller's report, which concluded that Russian officers “targeted employees of [redacted], a voting technology company that developed software used by numerous U.S. counties to manage voter rolls, and installed malware on the company network.”

Georgia: Election law resolves lawsuits over absentee ballots | Mark Niesse/Atlanta Journal Constitution

The battle over thousands of rejected absentee ballots appears to have come to an end. Absentee ballots can no longer be thrown out in Georgia because of a signature mismatch or a missing birth year and address, according to a new state law that recently resolved two federal lawsuits.County election officials discarded nearly 7,000 absentee ballots in the November election, often for minor transgressions such as marking the outside of the absentee ballot envelope incorrectly.Judges issued orders at the time preventing election officials from discarding absentee and provisional ballots. Then the Georgia General Assembly passed House Bill 316 in March, a broad elections bill that replaces the state's voting machines and makes many other changes to elections.That legislation led to the lawsuits' dismissal.

National: Senate to be briefed on election security Wednesday | Jordain Carney/The Hill

The Senate will get an election security briefing on Wednesday, as Democrats clamor for Congress to pass new legislation ahead of the 2020 election. Senators will have a closed-door meeting with Trump administration officials, including briefers from the Department of Homeland Security, FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, according to a senior Senate aide.  The House is also expected to be briefed on Wednesday, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announcing late last month that the lower chamber would also have an "all members" briefing. The back-to-back briefings come as Democrats have been pushing for months for Congress to pass new legislation ahead of the 2020 elections. They also follow former special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russia's interference in the 2016 election. House Democrats passed a massive election and ethics reform bill earlier this year and have followed it up with smaller bills as they've tried to put pressure on the GOP-controlled Senate to take action.

National: NAACP hosts election security teleconference call, highlights ongoing threats to African American community | The Philadelphia Sunday Sun

In his extensive investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election — which revealed that Russia had interfered “in a sweeping and systemic fashion” — Special Counsel Robert Mueller uncovered evidence which surprised many – that the African American community in particular was singled out and targeted by Russian-based troll farms and propaganda campaigns. These destructive forces took their cues from historic, home grown voter suppression tactics, entrenched American racism and tensions amongst Black people themselves. The Russians — not unlike the GOP — recognized the sheer power of this voting block and set out to disenfranchise it, largely through the use of digital and social media. They are determined to do so again, employing even more sophisticated technology and real time tactics. The NAACP recently held a teleconference featuring policymakers and thought leaders that addressed these challenges frankly and boldly.

National: Senate Democrats asking Republicans to help pass new election safeguards | Lyanne Melendez/KGO

The Democrats vowed to turn up the heat to force Republicans in the Senate to approve new election security bills. Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted Monday the new safeguards are necessary to defend itself against any possible voter meddling-like what the country saw in 2016. "People have said to us, 'ok, the Russians disrupted our elections, they made a difference in our elections, what are you going to do about it?' SAFE," said Speaker Pelosi. Democrats have proposed a few bills that, they say, would help protect our elections from future foreign interference. One of them is called the Securing America's Federal Election Act, known as SAFE. SAFE would upgrade or replace electronic voting machines, hire information technology staff and give financial assistance to states to secure and maintain their election infrastructure.

Editorials: Facebook is ripe for exploitation – again – in 2020 | Siva Vaidhyanathan/The Guardian

We won’t need Russia in 2020. We will hijack our democracy ourselves. And Facebook is sure to be a major factor in that hijacking – once again. The platform is ripe for further exploitation by domestic forces bent on distorting the political conversation and stirring up irrational passions in a way sure to benefit Donald Trump’s re-election efforts. The continued proliferation of white supremacists on Facebook, and its refusal to block a heavily doctored video of House speaker Nancy Pelosi, are just the latest demonstrations of Facebook’s cowardice. Despite scrutiny in the three years since Facebook’s troublesome role in Trump’s 2016 election – embedding Facebook staff in the campaign itself, hosting millions of dollars of targeted ad spending, and distributing false and divisive messages sponsored by Russia and meant to divide the United States and promote Trump – Facebook remains vulnerable to the sorts of divisive propaganda that motivate nationalist and authoritarian movements. This was evident in recent elections in Brazil, Italy, and India, where nationalist forces assumed power with the aid of Facebook-centric election campaigns filled with vitriol and conspiracy theories. Such propaganda starts with a concerted effort using platforms other than Facebook, such as Reddit, YouTube, state-sponsored systems like Russia’s RT, or private media like Fox News in the US. The messages then migrate to Facebook, with its 220 million American users and 2.4 billion users worldwide. Once there, Facebook’s algorithms take over, amplifying extremist content and connecting susceptible people who might never otherwise find each other. It’s a complex ecosystem that can’t be examined properly by isolating its elements. What happens on Reddit and Fox changes Facebook, and what happens on Facebook changes Reddit and Fox.

Florida: State approves new round of vote security grants | Scott Powers/Florida Politics

Fifty-five Florida counties’ Supervisors of Elections offices will get state grants to improve their elections and voter database security, thanks to redistribution of more than $2.3 million in unexpended funds authorized by Gov. Ron DeSantis and approved by Secretary of State Laurel Lee. The grants respond to applications from the counties, and range from $524,838 for Orange County to just $229 for Hendry County. The redirected funds are in addition to $2.8 million for election security that the Florida Legislature approved, making available in the upcoming fiscal year. that makes for a total of $5.1 million for election security heading toward 2020. The newly announced awards and the earlier appropriations have come after revelations that Russian hackers had managed to infiltrate two Florida Supervisors of Elections’ computer systems in the 2016 election. The identities of those two counties have not been publicly revealed.

Editorials: One Lesson From the Katz-Cabán Recount | The New York Times

New York, long home to some of the more arcane, incumbent-protecting election laws in the country, has made rapid progress in bolstering the right to vote. In recent months, the State Legislature enacted early voting, passed a measure to automatically transfer a voter’s registration if she moves within the state and gave initial authorization for a constitutional amendment to make absentee voting easier. But when lawmakers left Albany last month, some of the work remained unfinished — 31 election-related bills that have been approved by the Legislature but have not been signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The importance of at least one of those measures has become clear since last month’s Democratic primary for district attorney in Queens ended with a razor-thin margin that set off an automatic recount. Tiffany Cabán, a public defender, declared victory on election night, June 25, with a margin of some 1,100 votes. But several days later, after election officials reviewed the roughly 6,300 paper ballots cast, Borough President Melinda Katz was ahead by 20 votes.

Pennsylvania: Rep. Gene DiGirolamo to introduce new $90M voting machine bill | Anthony DiMattia/Bucks County Courier Times

State Rep. Gene DiGirolamo on Monday announced plans to introduce legislation to help counties buy new voting machines only days after Pennsylvania’s governor vetoed a similar bill passed by the Senate. The proposed legislation would float up to $90 million in state bonds to reimburse counties about 60% of the more than $100 million estimated to replace voting machines across the state. “Our counties are in the midst of replacing voting machines. They are working diligently, within a short time frame, to make the right choices for their respective voters,” DiGirolamo, R-18, of Bensalem, said in a statement. “This is a costly endeavor, and we must take steps to provide needed funding.” On Friday, Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed legislation that carried $90 million to help counties buy new voting machines. The bill also ordered changes to election laws that the Democrat said wouldn’t help improve voting security or access, such as eliminating the straight-party ticket voting option on ballots. Wolf said eliminating it could lead to voter confusion and longer lines at polls, while Democrats had argued that it is designed to benefit down-ballot Republican candidates. DiGirolamo said he is hopeful Wolf will support the legislation since it does not include the elimination of straight-party voting.

Pennsylvania: Despite impasse over state funding, Pennsylvania counties are plunging forward on voting machine upgrades | Charles Thompson/PennLive

Most Central Pennsylvania counties are taking a damn the veto, full speed ahead approach to replacing voting machines in advance of the 2020 presidential election cycle. They are acting now, and then hoping Republican lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf will eventually agree on a plan to reimburse them for up to 60 percent of the cost of the new equipment designed to build more back-ups into Pennsylvania elections.\ “We’re still going ahead and getting the machines, and we will have them in operation as mandated by April of 2020,” said Vince DeFilippo, chairman of the Cumberland County board of commissioners. Cumberland’s Board of Elections recommended a new system for purchase in late June. It’s position was the overwhelming consensus from a check of midstate counties Monday.\ Wolf, who put the counties on this track in a 2018 lawsuit settlement, had attempted to strike a deal with legislative leaders for a $90 million bond issue intended to reimburse counties for close to 60 percent of their costs. But that deal fell apart as the bill became enmeshed in other election reform issues - including a provision to abolish straight-party balloting - that raised the ire of many Democratic lawmakers who argued it could discourage voting by the disabled, people with low literacy skills, or even casual voters who could be turned off by rush hour lines.

West Virginia: Clarksburg courthouse cyber attack concerns local residents, business owners | Jonathan Weaver/The Exponent Telegram

Nearly a month after a cyberattack at the Harrison County Courthouse led to commissioners paying a ransom and several county officials losing access to their files, local residents have mixed feelings on whether the attack is a sign that more are forthcoming — either against themselves or local, state and national governments. “It’s going to get worse everywhere you go. It’s just a way of life,” Doddridge County’s Lynn Bennett said. “Everything’s getting sophisticated on your phone and I think it’s just inevitable. “You have to be careful with what you do and what you put on it.” The McClellan District resident heard about the Harrison County Courthouse cyberattack, but did not foresee cyberattacks during upcoming local elections or during the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.

Europe: Finland brings cybersecurity to the fore as EU presidency commences | Catherine Chapman/The Daily Swig

Finland is to hold exercises in cyber defense as part of the nation’s EU presidency term, which officially started this month. The so-called “hybrid exercises” will produce fictional cyber-attack scenarios for EU member states to participate in, with the aim of increasing awareness and cooperation between computer emergency response teams across the region. This includes activities to prepare for a wide range of threats directed at a country’s critical infrastructure or democratic processes, such as cyber-attacks, election interference, and disinformation campaigns. “Finland strives to build member states’ awareness of hybrid threats and of the existing EU instruments and policies to counter them,” reads the country’s presidency program.

Europe: The EU’s election interference alert system isn’t working properly | Jon Fingas/Engadget

The European Union was quick to report online interference in its recent elections, but the system designed to catch that interference apparently needs some improvement. The New York Times has learned through records and interviews that the EU's Rapid Alert System hasn't been very effective in aggregating meddling data or transmitting alerts. Most member states haven't contributed to its database, and what data is there tends to be a "mishmash" that may go unanalyzed. Disagreements over the seriousness of interference attempts have also led officials to avoid issuing alerts. The political landscape is a significant problem by itself. Russia frequently exploits European websites and far-right political parties to further its agenda, but EU analysts aren't allowed to send warnings or debunk campaigns when they come from European outlets. The restriction is billed as an attempt to protect free speech, but ultimately limits Rapid Alert System users to either monitoring official Russian outlets or running generic myth-busting initiatives. And then there are the disagreements between countries. When Hungarian leadership repeats Russia's false claims about the Ukraine, for example, how does the EU go about chastising one of its own?

India: Raj Thackeray requests Election Commission to hold assembly polls by ballot paper | The Statesman

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Monday wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding “restoring faith in the election process in the country”. Raj Thackeray has written, “Individuals have communicated their dissatisfaction with the manner in which elections are being conducted in the last few years and raised questions regarding EVMs. We request you to get back to ballot papers and appeal to have assembly election in Maharashtra with ballot papers only.” In July 2018, Raj Thackeray had alleged that the BJP had won the past elections by manipulating the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). “The EVMs had helped the BJP win the elections in the past. Otherwise, how can any candidate get zero votes in polls?” he had questioned while speaking to reporters. Representatives of 21 opposition parties led by TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had met the Election Commission raising concerns over the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and VVPAT slips two days ahead of counting of votes for the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. The opposition parties have been complaining about EVM malfunctioning and demanding the use of ballot papers even before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Libya: Arrest of Russians in Libya raises questions over Kremlin election meddling | Jonathan Brown/The National

Authorities in the Libyan capital Tripoli say that two Russians arrested in May were involved in attempts to influence public opinion and swing possible future elections. The Foundation for National Values Protection, a Russian NGO, said on Friday that two of its staff were arrested while carrying out opinion polls. But according to Tripoli authorities, laptops and memory sticks discovered in their possession identified the men as working for Russia’s troll farm that “specialises in influencing elections that are to be held in several African states”. A letter stamped by the attorney general’s office and obtained by Bloomberg named the troll farm as Fabrika Trollei, Russian for "troll factory", a collection of media sites and political organisations connected to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked Russian tycoon. Mr Prigozhin was placed on the US sanctions list last year for orchestrating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The United Nations and western countries have been trying for several years to hold elections in Libya as a way of bringing about an end to the impasse between the internationally recognised government in Tripoli and rival officials in Benghazi.