National Association of Secretaries of State calls on Congress to modernize state election systems

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.

“The challenges faced by state and local election officials in 2017 are quite different from those we faced in 2002,” Connie Lawson, the Indiana secretary of state and president of NASS, said. “My colleagues and I agree that providing the remaining $396 million that was promised by Congress, would go a long way to aiding the states as they prepare for 2018 and beyond.”

HAVA succeeded in improving the voting experiences of Americans over the last 15 years, NASS noted. However, with aging infrastructure and new cybersecurity threats, state elections officials are increasingly required to innovate and modernize election systems to ensure secure and efficient elections.

“As the National Association of Secretaries of State correctly stated, the money that states desperately need to take crucial security steps has already been authorized by Congress, is available, and can be appropriated right away,” Brady and Thompson said. “It is time our colleagues in Congress recognize that ensuring the security of our election systems is a bipartisan issue. With the next federal election less than a year away, Congress must act immediately.”