Russian hackers tried to destabilize our election, and even if the actual damage is undetermined, it is a national security crisis that requires all patriotic hands on deck. The president says there were 3 to 5 million fraudulent votes in the last election, and even if it is an assertion that makes strangers back away warily, he has the power to set up a commission to look into it. And all this happened 21/2 years after a commission warned of “an impending crisis” in voting technology. So exactly what sense does it make for a congressional committee to terminate the only federal agency that is responsible for testing and certifying our voting system? Pause here for cognitive dissonance.
… The rationale: “If we’re looking at reducing the size of government,” committee chair Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) said, “this is a perfect example of something that can be eliminated. We don’t need fluff.”
Fluff? In 2014, the bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration warned that our voting machines were putrefying. Its report found that the vast majority were perilously close to or exceeded their expected lifespans; that lawmakers were unresponsive to calls for new equipment; and that more problems would arise if upgrades were delayed – including security flaws.
Harper has tried to kill the agency many other times, which is not surprise, because a federal agency with the mandate to make voting easier doesn’t match the Republican obsession with making it harder.
Full Article: Elections need oversight, not GOP deceit | Editorial | NJ.com.