Conservative and Progressive Groups Unite to Pressure Governor Bill Lee And Tennessee Elections Officials to Ensure Safe, Secure Elections in November
Letter sent to Governor Bill Lee and Secretary of State Tre Hargett, highlights problems of upcoming Tennessee elections
Washington, D.C. —August 6, 2020– Americans for Tax Reform, Public Citizen, Business for America, the National Election Defense Coalition and others call for immediate investment in cyber security, voter-verified paper ballots and COVID-19 safety and security measures.
As COVID-19 cases reach record highs, the problems that manifested in many of the nation’s primaries offer a warning of what November’s election could look like. It also reveals what immediate low-cost steps the state of Tennessee should take to secure the voting process, says a group of conservative and progressive NGOs in a letter to the Governor and Secretary of State.
The letter calls on Tennessee leaders to protect voters and the state from foreign interference by ensuring that the state’s voting and tabulation systems are disconnected from the Internet, a vulnerability to foreign interference. An NEDC-NBC investigationreported that nationwide there were 14,000 modems installed in voting tabulation systems in a large number of counties across the nation, and that some of this technology was manufactured in China.
“Tennessee should immediately investigate and disconnect any voting or tabulation technology from the Internet, to ensure elections are conducted securely,” said cyber security expert Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer (ret), president of the Conservative London Center for Policy Research and a consultant to the Pentagon. “We already know that the threat to our elections is real and foreign actors are trying to cast doubt on the integrity of November’s election. There are concrete steps states like Tennessee can take now to ensure voters stay safe and elections are not manipulated.
The letter also called for measures to fund safe in-person voting options to prevent both infection and chaos on Election Day and calls on the state to print a sufficient amount of emergency backup paper ballots, in case Tennessee’s voting machines break down or are hacked.
“American businesses strive to give our customers a positive experience and confidence in our products,” stated Sarah Bond, founder and CEO of Business for America, which represents corporations that collectively gross over $80 billion dollars. “We believe the same principle should apply to how our election systems are run. We must do everything we can to ensure our elections proceed smoothly and every voter can cast their ballot without risking their health. Anything less will undermine the election’s legitimacy, which would be highly disruptive to our economic well-being.”
Presidential primaries this spring at the onset of the pandemic forced some early-voting and Election Day polling sites to close, and saw poll workers cancelling at the last minute. The surging COVID-19 pandemic means that election officials still need to prepare for in-person voting options this November, by hiring younger poll workers, preparing for drop off curbside voting, and mailing absentee voters ballots as early as possible to their homes.
“Our elections should be ironclad, and we benefit from being able to double-check the results,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. “The steps outlined in this letter will help Tennessee shore up elections in 2020 and beyond.”
“Both Republican and Democrats want to vote safely, and they want to know that their votes are counted as cast,” said Ben Ptashnik, a former Vermont state senator and president of the National Election Defense Coalition (NEDC). “Lack of preparedness only serves to disenfranchise voters of both parties. They should not have to worry about infection from the corona virus, or from a hacker spreading a malicious computer virus that steals their votes.”
The letter, organized by NEDC and signed by a bipartisan group of organizations including Americans for Tax Reform, Business for America, Public Citizen, and the London Center for Policy Research, addresses a number of security issues while encouraging the state to spend federal election security funding allocated for 2020 in cost-effective ways that secure this November’s election. These include:
· Ban all voting technologies that are connected to the Internet or disconnect their modems immediately, and scan systems for viruses.
· Place sufficient emergency back-up ballots for all voters in case electronic voting. machines break down, or for those who don’t wish to vote on touchscreen machines.
· Print hard copy back-up of electronic pollbooks in all precincts.
· Disinfect or limit the use of touchscreen machines to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
· Ensure that voting machines produce human-readable, voter-verified paper ballots, not ballots which are not publicly auditable because they carry information on QR or bar codes.
· Conduct post-election, risk-limiting audits of paper ballots.
· Implement 24/7 video monitoring of all ballot tabulation processing areas.
About the National Election Defense Coalition:
Founded in 2013, NEDC’s mission is to build a bipartisan movement to secure the nation’s vulnerable voting systems from manipulation and fraud, and to protect every American’s right to have their vote counted. The organization brings together national NGOs, experts in cybersecurity, policymakers, intelligence community advisors, and concerned citizens, to build consensus on a comprehensive, cost-effective plan to protect the vote in the coming 2020 elections and beyond. NEDC allies include civil rights advocates, libertarians and liberals, national security conservatives and many members of the tech and elections community. For more information, please visit www.electiondefense.org.
Read the full letter: https://www.electiondefense.org/8620-letter-tennessee-bill-lee-tre-hargett
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Contact: Media@ElectionDefense.org