Dem rep’s bill would require paper voting, recounts in close elections

A new bill would require states to use voting machines with paper backups and conduct audits in close elections.

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) introduced the Safeguarding Election Infrastructure Act on Wednesday, which aims to increase elections security by requiring voting machines funded by the federal Help America Vote Act print a paper receipt of each vote.

{mosads}

“Our democracy depends on free and fair elections, and we must do everything we can to protect the security and integrity of that process,” said Dingell in a written statement.

“The reality is, many of our voting machines have not been updated in nearly two decades and are susceptible to cyberattacks. We know that foreign adversaries pay very close attention to our elections, and until we address these vulnerabilities, our democratic process is at risk,” she said.

A growing group of critics believes that possible election hacking can be curbed, in part, by providing an auditable paper trail of votes that can corroborate if digital records are changed.

Dingell’s proposed measure would trigger automatic, federally funded recounts in any election with under 59 percent of the vote going to the winner.

Like another recently introduced bill, the Securing America’s Voting Equipment (SAVE) Act introduced by Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), the bill also contains a provision to improve cybersecurity information sharing between the federal government and state elections organizers.

Like SAVE, the Safeguarding Election Infrastructure Act would encourage the Department of Homeland Security to aid each state’s top voting official in getting the necessary security clearance to receive federal threat information.