In the face of Americans’ growing concern over Russian tampering in U.S. elections, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) on Tuesday introduced a bill to protect election systems from foreign interference.
The Securing America’s Voting Equipment (SAVE) Act would provide guidelines for election security and facilitate funding for states to develop their own threat-management solutions.
The bipartisan bill was introduced by Collins with U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), both members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
The measure also features a hacking awards competition, or “bug bounty,” to identify vulnerabilities and develop solutions to overcome them.
“While the Intelligence Committee’s investigation is still ongoing, one thing is clear: the Russians were very active in trying to influence the 2016 election and will continue their efforts to undermine public confidence in democracies,” said Collins. “The fact that the Russians probed the election-related systems of 21 states is truly disturbing, and it must serve as a call to action to assist states in hardening their defenses against foreign adversaries that seek to compromise the integrity of our election process,” Collins said.
Under the Cooperative Hack the Election Program, competitors would collaboratively work with election system vendors to probe any vulnerabilities in inactive voting and voter registration systems and find remedies for them, according to the bill. Competitors finding the most significant problems would earn a reward and would share the information with the system vendors.
“The SAVE Act would ensure states are better equipped to develop solutions and respond to threats posed to election systems,” Heinrich said. “Until we set up stronger protections of our election systems and take the necessary steps to prevent future foreign influence campaigns, our nation’s democratic institutions will remain vulnerable.”
If enacted, the bill also would require the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to sponsor security clearances for persons who administer and certify federal elections in each state, usually the secretary of state. The DNI would also share classified information with state election officials who have the appropriate clearances.
States could also upgrade their election systems through a grant program. Grant applications would include plans for pre- and post-election security and accuracy and “for preserving a durable record of votes cast,” according to the bill. The U.S. Comptroller General would be directed to do quadrennial audits of state systems to ensure that the grants were conducted with fidelity to grant program goals.
In October, Collins and Heinrich joined a bipartisan group of 12 of their colleagues in a letter to Elaine Duke, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), sharing their concern about election tampering. They asked the DHS to work with state election officials on technical assistance against interference, inform Congress of its threat-sharing policy, and “reinforce with states their primacy in running elections.”