House Republicans Just Voted to Eliminate the Only Federal Agency That Makes Sure Voting Machines Can’t Be Hacked | The Nation

["Dave Farber" <dave () farber net>]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Shannon McElyea <shannonm () gmail com>
Date: Fri, Jun 2, 2017 at 1:17 PM
Subject: Fwd: House Republicans Just Voted to Eliminate the Only Federal
Agency That Makes Sure Voting Machines Can’t Be Hacked | The Nation
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>, Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>


perhaps of interest to your readers

https://www.thenation.com/article/house-republicans-just-voted-to-eliminate-the-only-federal-agency-that-makes-sure-voting-machines-cant-be-hacked/

 In a little-noticed 6-3 vote today, the House Administration Committee
voted along party lines to eliminate the Election Assistance Commission,
which helps states run elections and is the only federal agency charged
with making sure voting machines can’t be hacked. The EAC was created after
the disastrous 2000 election in Florida as part of the Help America Vote
Act to rectify problems like butterfly ballots and hanging chads.
(Republicans have tried to kill the agency for years.) The Committee
also voted to eliminate the public-financing system for presidential
elections dating back to the

RELATED THERE ARE 868 FEWER PLACES TO VOTE IN 2016 BECAUSE THE SUPREME
COURT GUTTED THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT


“It is my firm belief that the EAC has outlived its usefulness and
purpose,” said Committee chair Gregg Harper (R-MS), explaining why his bill
transfers the EAC’s authority to the Federal Election Commission.

Thirty-eight pro-democracy groups, including the NAACP and Common
Cause, denounced the vote. “The EAC is the only federal agency which has as
its central mission the improvement of election administration, and it
undertakes essential activities that no other institution is equipped to
address,” says the Brennan Center for Justice.

This move is particularly worrisome given reports that suspected Russian
hackers attempted to access voter-registration systems in more than 20
states during the 2016 election. Moreover, the Presidential Commission on
Election Administration set up by President Obama in 2014 outlined an
“impending crisis” in voting technology and the Brennan Center found
that 42 states used voting machines in 2016 that were at least a decade-old
and at risk of failing. The EAC was the agency tasked with making sure
these voting systems were both modernized and secure. ... /snip/



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