August 15, 2018

Common Cause Endorses Wyden Bill Requiring Paper Ballots, Election Security

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today announced the endorsement of his election security bill by the grassroots voting rights group Common Cause.

“With state election systems facing constant cyber threats, this legislation would institute the most critical safeguards needed to defend against sophisticated cyberattacks,” said Susannah Goodman, the Director of the Election Security program at Common Cause. "Under this bill, states would be able to detect AND recover from an attack on election infrastructure. Simply by requiring paper ballots, and then requiring that those ballots be used to check election results using a risk limiting audit, states will have the resilience they need in this Code Red cybersecurity environment."

Wyden’s bill, the Protecting American Votes and Elections (PAVE) Act of 2018 requires the use of paper ballots and “risk-limiting” audits for all federal elections, ensuring that election results have not been changed by hackers or foreign governments.

“The PAVE Act implements vital safeguards to protect our country’s free and fair elections,” Wyden said. “Common Cause is a powerful voice in the election and voting rights community, and I appreciate their support of my legislation as we work to protect the foundation of our democracy.”

Learn more about the need for paper ballots here: https://nowthisnews.com/videos/politics/senator-wyden-on-why-we-need-paper-ballots.

Current cosponsors of the PAVE Act include Sens. Gillibrand, Warren, Markey, Merkley, and Murray.

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