Election Integrity

Aaron Scherb, director of legislative affairs at Common Cause, said that far more is needed to secure the election system. "Providing $250 million in additional election security funding is like asking an army to go fight a war with horses and bayonets," Scherb said. The House passed a bill that would give states nearly three times more — $600 million.

While the $250 million in election security spending approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee today is a step in the right direction, that amount still falls far short of the funding and assistance required by state and local election officials facing ongoing attacks from hostile foreign powers. The amendment that Sen. McConnell voiced support for is virtually identical to one he and nearly all Senate Republicans voted against a year ago. In that time, millions of Americans and tens of thousands of Common Cause supporters have contacted Senate Republican offices encouraging them to support additional election security funding. The House-passed $600 million in election security funding is much closer to what states need to update their voting machines and replace outdated equipment vulnerable to hacking. As the appropriations process proceeds, we encourage Congress to advance solutions that fully address the magnitude of threats our democracy faces.

Today, Common Cause, Verified Voting, and The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law released a report on Rhode Island’s pilot program to identify the most effective methods to implement the risk-limiting audits (RLA) required by the state for the 2020 election. The three organizations were part of a working group that helped the state design and run the pilots earlier this year.

“Cabinet-level positions reflect priorities,” says John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, which is focused on election security. “Eliminating this independent office has lowered the priority of cybersecurity in Rhode Island state government.”

Politics is a series of moments that, over time, frame issues and define candidates -- occasionally with such devastating accuracy that the politician targeted is forced to react. Last week, #MoscowMitch blinked. That ensures we'll see the meme everywhere and vulnerable Senators in his caucus must be growing anxious. Unfortunately, conservative talk show host Buck Sexton is devastatingly inaccurate in his assessment of the costs of protecting our democracy from foreign influence.

Mark Bowden, author of "Black Hawk Down" and Chad Hurd, the art director of "Archer" collaborated to bring out the drama of The Mueller Report -- one more way to get more Americans to engage with this important record of historic levels of unethical, illegal, and unconstitutional behavior by the Trump campaign and White House.