With less than a month remaining before the 2018 elections, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., announced that his bill to strengthen election security and require paper ballots has gained the support of Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Gary Peters, D-Mich.
The Protecting American Votes and Elections (PAVE) Act of 2018 requires the use of paper ballots and “risk-limiting” audits for all federal elections, ensuring that election results have not been changed by hackers or foreign governments.
“The longer we wait to put real measures in place to protect our election systems, the more vulnerable our democracy becomes to the threat of hackers and foreign adversaries.” Wyden said. “I welcome the support of my colleagues today, which demonstrates the increasing need for Congress to take real action to confront these threats head on.
Additional cosponsors of the PAVE Act include Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Edward Markey, D-Mass., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Patty Murray, D-Wash., Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Cory Booker, D-N.J., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Bernard Sanders, I-Vt.
