Monday, 30 Sep 2024

Opinion | America’s Elections Are Still at Risk. Congress Can Help.

Members of Congress have several major decisions to make after the special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Whether to pursue an impeachment inquiry is the one that’s gotten the most attention — and reasonable people can disagree about that. But Mr. Mueller’s findings leave no room for debate about the need to address the legal and institutional deficiencies that allowed a foreign adversary to tamper with America’s democracy.

From cyberattacks on state voter systems to disinformation campaigns waged on social media to the hacking of materials belonging to a major political party, Mr. Mueller made plain that the country’s electoral infrastructure remains vulnerable to attack. If the problems are left unaddressed, nothing will stop Russia or other actors from once again undermining free and fair elections in the United States — and they seem to be gearing up to try to do just that.

The Democratic-led House recognized these challenges earlier this year by passing H.R. 1, a sweeping pro-democracy bill that took stock of the lessons learned about 2016. Among its key provisions are funding for states to switch to paper ballots and improve cybersecurity protocols, as well as transparency measures for political ads on social media platforms.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, has indicated that he has no intention of bringing the bill up for a vote. However, a number of his Republican Senate colleagues, including South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Oklahoma’s James Lankford, have introduced or co-sponsored their own proposals to strengthen the nation’s voting systems or to respond to circumstances described in the special counsel’s report.

This week, one such bill passed the Senate — a modest proposal to impose immigration restrictions on foreign citizens who are found to have engaged in mischief directed at American voters.

Other Senate bills that have bipartisan support would criminalize the hacking of voting machines, give the Department of Homeland Security a role in assisting states in administering their voting systems, and amend campaign finance laws to subject political ads on Facebook and other digital platforms to the same requirements as television and radio ads.

A worthy slate of proposals from Democrats would bolster funding and security for state voting systems and make paper ballots mandatory.

Far more complicated is dealing with what Russians did with emails belonging to the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign. Proscribing the dissemination of illegally hacked materials may threaten First Amendment protections — a danger underscored by the recent indictment of Julian Assange — and thus Congress must tread carefully when seeking to deter the use of stolen campaign documents. But campaigns and political parties ought to be on the hook for reporting suspicious contacts with foreign actors to federal election authorities, as one bill sponsored by Senator Mark Warner of Virginia would require.

Lawmakers also could consider requiring all presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns or their business dealings with foreign governments.

Last but not least, protecting future special counsels from presidential interference is a good idea; bipartisan legislation that would do just that is waiting to move through Congress now.


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