Dear John,

We still have time to secure our elections ahead of the 2020 presidential vote, but we must act now. Join us in demanding Congress do its job and fund election security across the country.

Our democracy was attacked in 2016. Russia did far more than hack campaign emails. It targeted state and local election infrastructure across our nation, sent phishing emails to over 100 election officials and vendors, and exposed 126 million Americans to Russia-backed ads on Facebook to sow discord in the presidential election.

Now, intelligence officials warn that 2016 may have just been the beginning. There is reason to believe that Russia, along with other hostile governments, will be back in 2020.

Every state is facing urgent election security needs. We’ve spoken with election officials across the country who want to make important improvements, but simply lack the funds to do so.

Without federal funding, we estimate that some voters in at least 8 states will cast their 2020 vote on paperless voting machines with no paper backup of their ballot.

In 2020, only 24 states with a paper backup of every vote will require post-election audits before finalizing election results. Paper records can be used after an election to check whether electronic tallies are accurate. This process helps detect hacks or other inaccuracies in election results.

Americans deserve safe and secure elections — but time is running out to shore up our elections before 2020. Congress must act now to provide adequate election security funding before it’s too late.

Lawrence Norden
Director, Election Reform
Brennan Center for Justice