Media Advisory: Congressional Briefing on Election Cybersecurity
On Tuesday, July 10, a bipartisan group of leading authorities on election administration and cybersecurity will be on Capitol Hill to present an overview of current election security challenges facing federal and state policymakers. Introduced by Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, the panel conversation comes one day ahead of a Senate Rules Committee hearing on the issue and months before November’s midterm elections.
WHEN:
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
1:30 PM – 3:30 PM EDT
WHERE:
Capitol Visitor Center, Room SVC 202/203
First St NE, Washington, DC 20515
Experts will discuss key steps states should be taking to shore up electronic voting systems, which remain not only vulnerable to cyber-attacks but also a prime target of them. According to a recent report issued by the Senate Intelligence Committee, foreign agents targeted election systems in 18 states, conducted malicious access attempts on voting-related websites in at least six states, and additionally gained access to voter registration databases in a small number of states.
Several states including Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina and Pennsylvania have recently announced new programs and spending to secure election websites and voter registration databases. But in large part, surprisingly little has been done since 2016 to secure vote tallies by replacing paperless voting machines and mandating post-election audits. Congress recently set aside $380 million for states to spend on these types of improvements, and experts on the panel will discuss how these and other safeguards can be implemented before November and into the 2020 election.
The event is sponsored by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, Common Cause, FreedomWorks, the National Election Defense Coalition, and Verified Voting.
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Opening Remarks or Closing Remarks (as scheduling permits):
The Honorable James Lankford @senatorlankford
United States Senator
Moderator:
The Honorable Trey Grayson, @KYTrey
Former Secretary of State of Kentucky
Panelists:
Alex Halderman, Ph.D., @jhalderm
Professor of Computer Science, University of Michigan, Verified Voting Technology Fellow
Former Deputy Commissioner of Elections, Virginia; Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law
Computer Scientist and Organizer of the Voting Village at DEFCON, the world’s largest hacker convention
Shantiel Soeder
Election and Compliance Administrator, Cuyahoga County, Ohio; post-election audit expert
Lt. Colonel Tony Shaffer, @T_S_P_O_O_K_Y
Former Intelligence Official, Fox News Commentator
Legislative Outreach Manager, FreedomWorks