It's late, but better than never. The Senate Intelligence Committee released a draft summary of its review of Russia's interference in the 2016 election and recommendations for securing the 2018 election.
"It is clear the Russian government was looking for the vulnerabilities in our election system," said Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), the chairman of the Intelligence panel [...]
"Russia was trying to undermine the confidence in our election system," Burr added. [...]
"Russia attempted to penetrate 21 states; we know they were successful in penetrating at least one voter database," Burr added at a bipartisan news conference on Capitol Hill. […]
Their recommendations for what the federal government and states can and should do make sense and actually do something if the occupier of the Oval Office wasn't in Vladimir Putin's pocket and if Republican Congress leadership wasn't all but inviting Russia in for 2018.
Burr and committee recommend that the federal government "clearly communicate to adversaries that an attack on our election infrastructure is a hostile act, and we will respond accordingly." The federal government might say that to Russia, but Trump never will. The committee also calls for "information-sharing among the various U.S. intelligence agencies and federal, state and local governments," and state and local governments to use resources already in place in the Department of Homeland Security for evaluating the safety of their voting systems.
They also recommend that states do some relatively simple and inexpensive security measures, like require two-factor authentication on access to voter databases, but also some expensive things, like replace voting machines that "at a minimum" have a "voter-verified paper trail and no WiFi capability." The replacement of voting machines is critical and long overdue. In a large majority of states—41 of them—jurisdictions are using equipment that's a decade old or older, with software and equipment that's often not just outdated, but which vendors are no longer supporting or repairing.
Replacing these systems takes money. That's money that the Intelligence Committee is recommending Congress send to the state, but which won't be forthcoming this year. After Congress does the omnibus spending bill this week (if they even manage that) they are unlikely to take up any other legislation. Events might transpire which would require a response from Congress before November, but with House Speaker Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell up to their eyebrows in the Trump/Russia collusion, don't count on it happening.