The House passes bill to stop “harmful interference in elections,” and, among other things, requiring that all election service vendors provide their source code to federal and state authorities for independent inspection.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced the bill on October 8. The bill is HR 4617, called the “Stopping Harmful Interference in Elections for A Lasting Democracy Act,” or the SHIELD Act.
Title II of the legislation concerns cybersecurity. Section 201 “requires that optical scanning devices must, among other things:
- “be designed and built in such a manner that it is impossible for the device to add or change a voter’s decision on a printed or marked ballot,”
- enable tracking of the “point-of-origin upstream hardware supply chain information that has been provided to the Election Assistance Commission, DHS, and each state where the device is used;”
- “only operate using software for which the source code, compilation parameters, and build tools have been provided to the EAC, DHS, and the chief state election official of each state where the device is used, and such software maybe shared with independent experts for cybersecurity analysis….”
The SHIELD Act passes the House but the Senate will not bring it to the floor for a vote.
Source:
1. Official text of SHIELD Act:
https://www.congress.gov/116th-congress/house-
2. Rep. Lofgren’s text of SHIELD Act:
https://democrats-cha.house.gov/evo-subsites
3. Legislative history and status of SHIELD Act:
https://www.congress.gov/116th-congress
1. Why did Rep. Lofgren’s SHIELD Act, like her SAFE Act, pass the House (with almost unanimous Democrat support) but die in the Senate?
2. Why did most House Republicans oppose the bill, and why did they not introduce a version of their own?
3. What influences might have been at play to kill the legislation without debate or vote in the Senate?
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