Release date: 6/18/2019
(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein today urged Congress to take action to protect the integrity of all upcoming elections by providing additional election security grants to states and localities, supporting the establishment of cybersecurity and audit standards for election systems, and passing bipartisan election security legislation.
“The right to vote is fundamental to our democracy,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “We must do everything we can to ensure that our elections are fair, secure, and protected from outside influence. I urge Congress to act immediately so that everyone is confident that our elections reflect the will of the voters.”
In a letter addressed to key U.S. senators, a coalition of 22 attorneys general, including Attorney General Stein, expressed significant concerns about the persistent threats to our election systems and asked Congress to act immediately. The attorneys general note that “our election systems have been a target for foreign adversaries and that those same adversaries are currently working to undermine the upcoming elections.”
Their letter follows confirmed reports that Russia successfully breached election systems in Florida, installed malware on a voting-systems software company used by some counties in North Carolina, and targeted the election systems of all 50 states in 2016. This is the second letter the attorneys general have sent to Congress asking for action on this issue – a coalition of 21 attorneys general previously wrote to Congress in July 2018. Attorney General Stein also wrote to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Feb. 2018 to get more information about vulnerabilities and possible tampering with North Carolina’s elections infrastructure. He continues to be very concerned about the issue.
Attorney General Stein is joined in sending today’s letter by the Attorneys General of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
A copy of the letter is available here.
Contact:
Laura Brewer (919) 716-6484