The entire intelligence community and pretty much everyone but Russian asset Donald Trump and the worst of his congressional minions admit that Russia didn't just monkey-wrench the 2016 election, they're still at it in 2018. Those minions of Trump's continue to rebuff Democrats' efforts to raise the issue in Congress and do something while there's time.
But now it's not just congressional Democrats urging action. A bipartisan group of 21 state attorneys general are demanding Congress' assistance in protecting the 2018 election. Writing to Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and Sen. Roy Blunt, Senate Rules and Administration Committee Chairman, the AGs ask for "assistance in shoring up our systems so that we may protect our elections from foreign attacks and interference."
"As the latest investigations and indictments make clear," they write "during the 2016 election, hackers within Russia's military intelligence service not only targeted state and local election boards, but also successfully invaded a state election website to steal the sensitive information of approximately 500,000 American voters and infiltrated a company that supplies voting software across the United States." Combatting that incursion and giving the electorate "confidence in our democratic voting process" is "imperative," they write. "The integrity of the nation’s voting infrastructure is a bipartisan issue, and one that affects not only the national political landscape, but elections at the state, county, municipal, and local levels."
Their direct demands: "Prioritizing and acting on election-security legislation" in the form of the Secure Elections Act (S.2261), a bipartisan bill that would provide additional grants and assistance to states to shore up systems; "Increasing funding for the Election Assistance Commission to support election security improvements at the state level and to protect the personal data of the voters of our states"; and, "Supporting the development of cybersecurity standards for voting systems to prevent potential future foreign attacks."
It should be a simple and non-controversial enough set of tasks for even this Congress to accomplish at least in part by November. Just a sense that they took this seriously and condemned Russia's actions would be a goddamned start. The nation is under attack. Republicans seem to be welcoming that attack, because it helps them win seats and cut taxes and install troglodyte judges. We just have to overcome them with actual votes.
Please give $1 to our Senate and House funds to fight back.