1 Center for American Progress | 9 Solutions to Secure America’s Elections
9 Solutions to Secure America’s Elections
By Danielle Root and Liz Kennedy August 16, 2017
Te legiimacy o sel-governmen ress on he consen o he governed. In our demo-craic republic, ha consen is maniesed hrough he adminisraion o ree and air elecions. Bu in 2016, our democraic process came under atack rom a oreign sae seeking o exercise power and influence in U.S. domesic poliics. I’s possible ha Russia believed ha i i could inerere in he U.S. presidenial elecion, i could change he course o American hisory.Las summer, Americans learned ha Russian operaives were behind leaks a he Democraic Naional Commitee (DNC).
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Tose leaks exposed sensiive inormaion abou DNC saffers, including Social Securiy numbers, home addresses, and personal deails ha resuled in harassmen, atemps a ideniy hef, and workplace marginal-izaion.
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In January 2017, he counry’s inelligence communiy unanimously confirmed ha he Russian governmenunder orders rom Russian Presiden Vladimir Puininerered in he 2016 elecions, engaging in a mass disinormaion campaign o assis Donald rump in winning he presidenial elecion.
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Ta was only he beginning. In June 2017, repors suraced ha Russian hackers infilraed 39 sae elecion sysems in he lead-up o Elecion Day, while a op secre Naional Securiy Agency (NSA) repor published by Te Inercep in July revealed ha Russian miliary inelligence, or he Main Inelligence Direcorae (GRU), sen spear-phishing emails o 122 email addresses associaed wih hose likely “involved in he managemen o voer regisraion sysems” in an atemp o probe or infilrae voing daabases.
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Afer successully breaching elecion records in Illinois, hackers atemped o delee and aler voer inormaion. Te Illinois daabase conained he personal inorma-ionincluding names, birhdaes, gender, driver’s license numbers, and parial Social Securiy numberso 15 million people.
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Bloomberg esimaes ha as many as 90,000 records were compromised.
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According o he U.S. Deparmen o Homeland Securiy (DHS), here are no signs, as ye, ha Russia ampered wih voe oals or succeeded in removing eligible Americans rom sae voing liss.
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Bu we sill do no have a ull picure o wha he Russians were doing, and he FBI has said ha i is conducing muliple invesigaions ino wha happened.
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2 Center for American Progress | 9 Solutions to Secure America’s Elections
Inelligence expers warn ha he 2016 U.S. elecion cycle is only a preview o wha’s o come.
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Russia may have used he 2016 cycle as a esing ground o deermine vulnerabili-ies in U.S. elecion daabases in preparaion or more sophisicaed campaigns in uure elecions. As Sen. Angus King (I-ME) warned, “[]hey are going o be back, and hey’re going o be back wih knowledge and inormaion ha hey didn’ have beore.”
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Russia is no he only U.S. adversary honing is skills in cyberinrusion. Norh Korea and Iran have also engaged in desrucive cyberatacks agains Wesern democracies, and he Islamic Sae has made sraegic use o he inerne o advance is goals.
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Unorunaely, our elecion inrasrucure is woeully ill-prepared or uure inererence. Oudaed voing machines, lack o verified paper ballos or records, and inadequae cyber-securiy measures or voing machines and daabases are jus a ew vulnerabiliies ha leave U.S. elecions open o subversion by hosile eniiesoreign and domesicseeking o undermine he democraic process and even skew elecion resuls.
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While urher effors are needed o address he wider influence campaign ha exended well beyond elecion sysems, i is o exreme imporance ha America begins o inves in and updae is elec-ion inrasrucure o proec agains uure inererence and disrupion.
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Proecing our elecions is a mater o naional securiy, requiring immediae acion and coordinaion a all levels o governmen. In he lead-up o he 2016 general elecion, 33 saes, along wih 36 localiies, requesed assessmen o heir elecion sysems by DHS.
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More requess have been made since November 2016.
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For is par, DHS has made clear, “[]his is o he umos urgency or he deparmen and his governmen o ensure ha we have beter proecions going orward.”
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Elecion officials and poliicians a he local, sae, and ederal levels have a criical role o play.Tis issue brie deails nine recommendaions o address some o he mos serious vulnerabiliies in America’s elecion inrasrucure:1. Require voer-verified paper ballos or records or every voe cas.2. Replace old voing machines.3. Conduc robus poselecion audis o confirm elecion oucomes.4. Updae and secure oudaed voer regisraion sysems and e-poll books.5. Require minimum cybersecuriy sandards or voer regisraion sysems and oher pieces o voing inrasrucure.6. Perorm mandaory pre-elecion esing on all voing machines, as well as coninuous vulnerabiliy analysis.
3 Center for American Progress | 9 Solutions to Secure America’s Elections
7. Expand hrea inormaion sharing, including comprehensive hrea assessmens accompanied by mandaory reporing requiremens.8. Elevae coordinaion beween saes and ederal agencies on elecion securiy, includ-ing real-ime noificaion o securiy breaches and hreas.9. Provide ederal unding or updaing elecion inrasrucure.Te righ and abiliy o conduc ree and air elecions ranscend parisan poliics.
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A he Senae Selec Inelligence Commitee hearing on June 21, 2017, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), vice chairman o he commitee, reminded hose in atendance ha “only wih a robus and comprehensive response will we be able o proec our democraic pro-cesses rom even more dramaic incursions in he uure.”
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Te commitee’s chairman, Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), voiced a similar senimen during he hearing, saying in reerence o oreign inererence, “In 2016, we were woeully unprepared o deend and respond and I’m hopeul ha we will no be caugh flaooed again.”
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Finally, Sen. King declared, “[S]hame on us i we’re no prepared.”
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U.S. elecion sysems are no equipped o handle sophisicaed cyberatacks and oher inererence. Even in he absence o a malicious campaign, he negaive consequences o his vulnerabiliy o he srengh and resiliency o U.S. democracy and governmen are seep. A July 2017 poll conduced by
Te Hill
ound ha one in our Americans will consider no paricipaing in uure elecions due o concerns over cybersecuriy.
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As Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) noed, “[I] is really criical ha people have confidence ha when hey go voe ha voe is going o coun and someone’s no going o come in elecronically and change i.”
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Luckily, here are pracical seps ha local, sae, and ederal officials can ake o creae resilien elecions and proec sel-governmen. In he words o Sen. Burr, “ogeher, we can bring considerable resources o bear and keep he elecion sysem sae.”
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9 recommendations to address vulnerabilities in U.S. election security
1. Require voter-verifiable paper ballots or records for every vote cast
Voing machines ha record voes and ally hem are run on sofware ha is vulnerable o cyberinrusions.
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Well-resourced hackers, wheher unded by oreign governmens or criminal syndicaes, have he access, abiliy, and moivaion o inec compuer-ized voing machines and allying sysems across America. Tis can occur even i he machines are no conneced o he inerne. Atackers, or example, can deploy sofware such as Suxne and Brual Kangaroo o arge offline voing machines.
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