Hoyer Statement on Election Security Task Force Final Report
For Immediate Release:
February 14, 2018
Contact Info:
Mariel Saez 202-225-3130
WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement on the final report and legislation recommendations from the Election Security Task Force co-chaired by Committee on Homeland Security Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson (MS-02) and Committee on House Administration Ranking Member Robert Brady (PA-01):
“This report could not have come at a more important time. With Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats’s testimony in the Senate yesterday that Russia intends to target the 2018 midterm elections, it is imperative that Congress take steps not only to identify vulnerabilities in voting systems but address them. I commend Ranking Members Thompson and Brady for leading the Congressional Task Force on Election Security as it has compiled this report and issued its findings.
“When I sponsored the bipartisan Help America Vote Act of 2002, it was in the aftermath of an election mired in uncertainty in part because our voting systems were outdated. That’s why Congress established the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to set guidelines for quality and accountability as well as to help states adopt best practices that secure our elections. Now, the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress have been working to undermine the EAC and defund it, precisely at a time when its work has never been more important. I hope this report – and Director Coats’s troubling statement – will spur Congress and the Administration to work in a bipartisan way to shore up the EAC and take other steps necessary to ensure states are prepared for any attempt at interference by Russia or any other actor seeking to undermine our democracy.”
“This report could not have come at a more important time. With Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats’s testimony in the Senate yesterday that Russia intends to target the 2018 midterm elections, it is imperative that Congress take steps not only to identify vulnerabilities in voting systems but address them. I commend Ranking Members Thompson and Brady for leading the Congressional Task Force on Election Security as it has compiled this report and issued its findings.
“When I sponsored the bipartisan Help America Vote Act of 2002, it was in the aftermath of an election mired in uncertainty in part because our voting systems were outdated. That’s why Congress established the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to set guidelines for quality and accountability as well as to help states adopt best practices that secure our elections. Now, the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress have been working to undermine the EAC and defund it, precisely at a time when its work has never been more important. I hope this report – and Director Coats’s troubling statement – will spur Congress and the Administration to work in a bipartisan way to shore up the EAC and take other steps necessary to ensure states are prepared for any attempt at interference by Russia or any other actor seeking to undermine our democracy.”