Durbin Statement On Administration Briefing Regarding Election Security
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Rules Committee, today released the following statement after an all-Senators briefing by the Trump Administration on election security:
“Our intelligence agencies are spending millions of dollars to stop the Russians from making a mockery of the 2020 election. Unfortunately, Leader McConnell is blocking critical, comprehensive election security legislation that would help to assure every vote will be counted.”
In May, Durbin helped introduce election security legislation that would require backup paper ballots and provide election security grants to states for cyber improvements and audits. The Election Security Act represents the election security portions of H.R.1.
In June, the Senate took a small step forward when it passed the bipartisan Defending Elections against Trolls from Enemy Regimes (DETER) Act, which was introduced by Durbin and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC). This bill will make “improper interference in U.S. elections” a violation of U.S. immigration law, and violators would be barred from obtaining a visa to enter the United States.
Beginning in June 2016, the Illinois State Board of Elections was the target of a malicious, month-long cyberattack that enabled the intruder to access confidential voter information and view the registration data of approximately 76,000 voters in Illinois. Last year, thanks to Durbin’s leadership, Illinois received $13.2 million in new federal funding to strengthen its election security systems, part of the Fiscal Year 2018 federal omnibus spending bill that provided $380 million to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC).
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