Four lawmakers on the powerful House Intelligence Committee, including two Republicans, are introducing legislation to help states secure the nation’s digital election infrastructure against cyberattacks following Russian interference in the 2016 election. The bill, which is a companion to a measure in the upper chamber spearheaded by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), is a direct response to the effort by Moscow’s hackers to target state websites and other systems involved in the electoral process in the run-up to the 2016 vote. “Although the Russian government didn’t change the outcome of the 2016 election, they certainly interfered with the intention of sowing discord and undermining Americans’ faith in our democratic process,” said Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) in a statement Friday. “There’s no doubt in my mind they will continue to meddle in our elections this year and in the future.”
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Russian hackers targeted election-related systems in 21 states before the 2016 vote. In a small number of cases, the hackers were actually successful in penetrating systems; Illinois saw its state voter registration breached, though officials say no data was altered or deleted.
While officials say no actual voting machines were tampered with — experts say those would be much harder, if not impossible, for remote hackers to breach — the development has prompted widespread concerns and debate about the security of U.S. election infrastructure.
Full Article: House Intel lawmakers introduce bipartisan election security bill | TheHill.