The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) recently joined the Congressional Task Force on Election Security in calling on Congress to direct $396 million in existing funds to modernize aging election systems across the country. Congress authorized nearly $3.9 billion to help states replace and modernize election systems under the Helping America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002. Today, nearly $396 million in HAVA funding remains unused. Citing reports that Russian actors had targeted 21 states voting systems, compromising voting machines and voter registration databases, the Congressional Task Force on Election Security previously called on Congress to apply the HAVA balance to election security.
“When a sovereign nation attempts to meddle in our elections, it is an attack on our country,” U.S. Reps. Robert Brady (D-PA) and Bennie Thompson (D-PA), the co-chairs of the caucus, said in a joint statement. “We cannot leave states on their own to defend against the sophisticated tactics of state actors like Russia.”
On Thursday, NASS joined the lawmakers’ call for Congress to use the $396 million in remaining HAVA funding to help secure state election systems.
Full Article: National Association of Secretaries of State calls on Congress to modernize state election systems – Homeland Preparedness News.