AP18:131
For Immediate Release
August 22, 2018
Contact:
SOS Press Office
(916) 653-6575
Secretary of State Alex Padilla Statement on Stalling of Secure Elections Act
SACRAMENTO - California Secretary of State Alex Padilla issued the following the statement on the bipartisan Secure Elections Act.
“Congress has the opportunity and responsibility to pass the Secure Elections Act and make the first major investment in election security and administration in more than 15 years. I am troubled by reports out of Washington suggesting that the Act will be watered down or stalled as a result of partisanship. Election security is a matter of national security and should not be treated as a partisan issue.”
“Earlier this week, I sent a letter outlining my concerns that the most recent markup of the Act contained no funding for state and local elections officials to further strengthen cybersecurity. The latest markup also misguidedly removes the requirement for a manual tally of paper ballots during post-election audits, instead allowing machine audits of machine tallied results. Given the cyber threats to our voting systems, only audits of physical, paper ballots can provide the security we need and the confidence voters deserve to have in the accuracy and integrity of election results. That policy has served California well for more than a decade, and it should be a national standard.”
“Ensuring the integrity of our elections is at the very foundation of our democracy. State and local elections officials are doing our part to protect and secure our elections. We need Congress to do theirs.”
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