Sanders: Public should be ‘very concerned’ about election security in 2018

Democratic and Republican senators have warned that Americans should be concerned with election security ahead of the midterms in November.

On Wednesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee heard from social media experts about efforts from Russia and other countries to meddle in the 2018 elections.

 

And Facebook briefed lawmakers this week after discovering a new disinformation campaign, saying it removed more than two dozen pages operating on the platform.

 

Sanders said Wednesday that the U.S. must be clear with Russia that election meddling won’t stand.

“We have got to do everything that we can, not only to protect the sanctity of our process, but to tell the Russians that we will not accept their meddling in our elections,” Sanders said. 

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who is running for reelection this year, said President Trump must tell Russian President Vladimir Putin that election meddling will not go unpunished. 

“We need a president of the United States who will look Putin in the eye and say ‘if there is one more attack on our election system from the Russians – from any Russians – we step up sanctions on your banks, on your oil industry, and do all we can to cripple your economy,” Brown said in an interview with Hill.TV. 

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) also said that voters should be concerned about potential election meddling. 

“We need to remain vigilant, we’ve heard from our intelligence community that the red lights are blinking and we should not allow any Russian interference in U.S. elections,” Daines said.