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Chair Lee's full opening statement as prepared for delivery:
Today, the Subcommittee on Elections will discuss the different ways that states can strengthen election security.
The best practices we’ll cover today include enhancements to physical security and cybersecurity.
Addressing potential vulnerabilities improves voter experience and voter confidence.
Preparation and resilience strengthens the integrity of our elections systems, because it prevents an issue before it arises.
I look forward to discussing best practices for securing elections, and how Congress can be supporting those efforts.
I’d first like to highlight the different resources the federal government makes available to election administrators for election security.
The resources include federal grants, testing programs, and guidance from the Election Assistance Commission.
One great example is the EAC’s Election Supporting Technology Evaluation Program – or E-STEP.
This program offers voluntary security standards and evaluations for nonvoting systems like pollbooks, election day reporting systems, or other election supporting systems not covered by the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines.
The EAC’s Voluntary Voting System Guidelines serve as a baseline certification for new voting systems to evaluate functionality, accessibility, and security.
There’s also great work that many states and localities are doing on their own to enhance security and protect against threats to their elections.
For example, in 2024 the University of South Florida hosted a cyber tabletop exercise with county supervisors of elections, the FBI, and local law enforcement to strategize responses to potential threats to election cybersecurity.
To quickly disseminate information about cyber threats, North Dakota uses a whole-of-government approach, which allows agencies, cities, counties, and localities to have access to the same statewide system.
In North Carolina, the National Guard and state Emergency Management agency work collaboratively to monitor and respond to cyber threats.
To respond to physical threats, several states have implemented commonsense integrity measures like tamper seals for ballots, monitoring systems, and backup power sources at polling locations.
What’s great about these physical security upgrades is that HAVA grants can be used for this exact purpose.
I am very interested in hearing more about how these grants are administered and what the results have been in states across America.
Another important measure that increases voter experience and voter confidence is access for election observers.
The Committee on House Administration deploys Congressional staff to serve as election observers for U.S. House races and ensure elections are run in a secure manner.
State parties and individual candidates also deploy observers, because their presence at polling places builds trust with voters and allows for the rapid flow of information to necessary parties.
While no two states administer their elections the exact same way, one thing should be universal: election officials must take a comprehensive approach to administering secure elections.
They should consider every factor to minimize security risks.
By implementing strong risk management approaches, they not only strengthen their election systems – they also build trust and transparency.
When voters feel confident their elections are secure, turnout increases.
That’s a good thing for our democracy.
The best practices we’ll discuss today can help every state improve their election security efforts.
I want to thank our witnesses for being here today and look forward to our conversation.
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