Blue Dog Democrats urge action on election security

The leaders of the House Blue Dog Coalition and the House Blue Dog Task Force on National Security on Thursday sent a letter to House and Senate leaders calling for action to prevent foreign interference in U.S. elections and to secure election systems.

The House Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 26 moderate Democrats, urged congressional leaders to “put politics aside and pursue bipartisan solutions” to bolster election security ahead of 2020. 

{mosads}“We are calling on Congress to take further action to secure our elections, punish Russia for its attempts to meddle in the 2016 and 2018 elections, and deter our adversaries from meddling in future U.S. elections,” the leaders of the Blue Dog Coalition and the Task Force wrote. “The threat to our national security could not be more clear.”

The letter was sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). 

The House has passed two major election security bills earlier this year, both along party lines. 

The SAFE Act, passed in June, would provide states with $600 million for election security efforts, and would also ban voting machines from being connected to the internet and from being manufactured outside the U.S. The House also approved the For the People Act, which includes sweeping language on election security and voting reform.

Both bills have been blocked from a vote in the Senate by Republicans, who cite concerns around federalizing elections. 

Senate Democrats launched a sustained campaign this summer to pressure Republicans to allow votes on these bills and others on election security, with Schumer sending a separate letter Thursday to Senate Democrats emphasizing election security going into the fall. 

The House Blue Dogs noted that all members of Congress have “sworn to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic,” adding that “it is our sacred duty to uphold that oath to our country.” 

“A lack of action by Congress to secure our elections would embolden our adversaries and pose a danger to the national security of the United States,” the House Blue Dogs wrote. “Americans must have confidence in the security of our country’s electoral process in order to ensure full faith in every election’s result, no matter the outcome.”

The letter was signed by Blue Dog leaders Reps. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), Lou Correa (D-Calif.), Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.), Jefferson Van Drew (D-N.J.), Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.), Anthony Brindisi (D-N.Y.) and Kendra Horn (D-Okla.).