WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman David G. Valadao (CA-22) and Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (VA-07) introduced the Strengthening Election Cybersecurity to Uphold Respect for Elections through Independent Testing (SECURE IT) Act. This bill would require that voting systems undergo simulated attacks as part of their standard certification process to help bolster the security of our election systems from foreign and domestic bad actors.

“People need to have confidence in their vote and our elections in order for democracy to succeed,” said Congressman Valadao. “The SECURE IT Act will help us find and fix the vulnerabilities in our voting systems that could be exploited by foreign or domestic adversaries. This is an important step to ensure the safety and security of our nation’s elections.

“We continue to hear reports of foreign governments, individuals, and companies actively working to influence U.S. elections and subvert our democracy,” said Congresswoman Spanberger. “The sanctity of our free and fair elections is core to our identity as Americans. I’m proud to lead this bipartisan legislation to help uncover potential vulnerabilities in our election systems, strengthen our elections infrastructure, and raise our defenses against bad actors.”

Background:

The SECURE IT Act would direct the Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) to require that voting systems undergo cybersecurity penetration testing — a practice that allows researchers to search for vulnerabilities by attempting to attack a system with the same tools and techniques used by cybercriminals — in order to receive certification. Additionally, the bill would direct the EAC to create a voluntary program for vetted researchers to access voting systems provided voluntarily by manufacturers to discover vulnerabilities and disclose them to the manufacturer and EAC.