Our election systems are still plagued by outdated and vulnerable equipment.
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Members of Congress are currently discussing whether to provide funding to protect U.S. election systems and election officials against attack. In case they’re wavering, it’s worth remembering why we embarked upon this project in the first place.

In 2016, Russian hackers targeted election systems in all 50 states. No votes were actually changed, but the hackers penetrated at least Illinois’s database deeply enough to have the ability to delete or change voter data. Few election officials even noticed the digital incursions.

It couldn’t have been a particularly difficult mission for Russia’s army of hackers: Many U.S. voting machines were more than a decade old. Some were so outdated that officials had to buy spare parts on eBay. A few were running Windows 2000. (Kids, ask your parents.)

The author and commentator Sarah Vowell observed

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that “the noun ‘infrastructure’ never appears in an American newspaper anymore without being preceded by the adjective ‘crumbling.’” Our election infrastructure was crumbling, and 2016 exposed its creaky girders.

After lobbying from state election officials and advocacy groups (including the Brennan Center), Congress devoted $380 million to upgrades in 2018 and added an additional $400 million in 2020. That money was critical. It helped deter new attacks on election infrastructure, and it allowed our election systems to stand up to the withering — albeit cosmically wrongheaded — scrutiny of election deniers.

The most visible change was the rapid transition away from paperless voting systems, allowing 93 percent

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of voters to use paper ballots in the 2020 election. Voting on paper lets people verify that their ballot accurately reflects their choices and enables election workers to confirm the accuracy of the machine count by checking it against the physical ballots.

The importance of this switch is difficult to overstate. The hand recount of the 2020 election results in Georgia, for example, would have been impossible with the paperless voting machines that predominated just two years earlier. Paper ballots will also provide a critical reality check if there is any suspicion of hacking in future elections.

But the work is far from done. Too many Americans continue to vote on outdated, paperless voting machines, including everyone in Louisiana, more than half of Indianans, approximately 40 percent of citizens in New Jersey and Tennessee, and a significant number of Texans. Members of Congress should take particular note of the slow pace of modernization in New Jersey. A lack of funding combined with a legal mandate to adopt paper ballots has forced some New Jersey officials to retrofit old machines with paper verification systems rather than buy up-to-date equipment. It’s a recipe for trouble.

And our need to upgrade goes beyond the transition to paper balloting systems. State and local officials need help to enhance cybersecurity. Postelection audits should be funded. Voter registration systems must be upgraded. To ensure the safety of our election officials, many of whom have been threatened for merely doing their jobs, we must continue the rollout of intrusion detection systems in their workplaces. All of this requires money.

Ensuring the ongoing security and integrity of our elections is one of the few truly bipartisan issues remaining in U.S. politics. Congress must act during the lame duck session to finish the job it started.

A New Hub for News and Analysis on State Constitutions

State courts and constitutions have recently come under the spotlight as venues for safeguarding a broad range of rights in the absence of federal protections. The Brennan Center’s newly launched State Court Report

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will offer up-to-date context and commentary about notable cases, legal trends, and cutting-edge scholarship related to this important but chronically underappreciated area of law. SUBSCRIBE HERE

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Progress at the FEC

After a decade of regulatory gridlock, the Federal Election Commission advanced the process for two long-awaited campaign finance rules. One aims to improve transparency for online political ads, and the other would make running for office more accessible to non-wealthy candidates. While these are positive steps, Daniel Weiner and Gabriella Sanchez write, “there is only so much the FEC can or will do — congressional action remains as important as ever.” Read more

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Major Strides for Public Campaign Financing

New York launched its small donor match system last month, joining the growing number of states and municipalities adopting public campaign finance programs to counter the outsized influence of big money in our politics. These popular efforts are crucial to giving everyday Americans a bigger say in who represents them. “With New York’s leadership, and amid growing demand across the country for alternatives to the status quo, voters should hope and expect to see this reform continue to spread nationwide,” Julia Fishman and Joanna Zdanys write. Read more

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Legislative Assaults on State Courts

This year, lawmakers in 25 states introduced 74 bills that would weaken the power and independence of state courts. Many of these bills would hinder the enforcement of court decisions, especially relating to abortion and guns, and subject judges to more political pressures. “These measures undermine the critical role that state courts play in our democracy to ensure lawmakers do not overstep their authority and to act impartially when vindicating individual rights,” our judiciary experts write. Read more

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Coming Up

VIRTUAL EVENT — Secret War: Unauthorized Combat and Legal Loopholes

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Wednesday, January 18, 3–4 p.m. ET

Since 9/11, the United States has secretly engaged in armed conflict across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia for the sake of combating terrorism. Little-known laws have also enabled hostilities in the name of “security cooperation” — authorizing the Pentagon to create and use paramilitaries without notifying key decision-makers in Congress and permitting presidents to counter not just terrorist groups but also states, such as China, Iran, and Russia. Through these laws, a handful of government officials, working with minimal oversight and no notice to the public, could stumble the United States into a major conflict. Expert panelists will take on the question of how Congress should address this danger. RSVP today

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Want to keep up with Brennan Center Live events? Subscribe to the events newsletter.

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News

Gowri Ramachandran on the need to increase federal funding for elections // MS. MAGAZINE

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Daniel Weiner on the lasting election denial threats // GUARDIAN

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Wendy Weiser on gerrymandering // NEW YORK TIMES

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Thomas Wolf on the high stakes in Moore v. Harper // CBS

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Feedback on this newsletter? Email us at [email protected]


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