Apparently bothered by the moniker “Moscow Mitch,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell supposedly reversed himself on the issue of funding election security last week.
He is finally allowing $250 million in a Financial Services spending bill to move to the Senate floor in upcoming weeks.
But Democrats and watchdog groups say the move is a sham, as Bloomberg reports.
Critics began calling McConnell “Moscow Mitch,” because he refused to take action to prevent Russia from meddling in the 2020 election. But his bill doesn’t require audits of election systems, hand-marked paper ballots, or set minimum cybersecurity standards.
So the Russians and others can still mess with our election returns.
States may even be able to buy additional insecure voting machines with the money rather than more secure ones, noted Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee.
This money can be used for anything relating to elections. Including giving states taxpayer dollars to buy insecure voting machines.
This isn't election security, it's a sham.
cc: @senatemajldr https://t.co/7lSCReGNlv
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) September 20, 2019
Wyden wants the much stronger SAFEAct, passed by the House, to come to the floor.
.@SenSchumer is right. Throwing money at this problem is not a solution. If McConnell is serious about securing our elections, then he will bring the #SAFEAct to the floor to require audits of election systems, hand-marked paper ballots, and set minimum cybersecurity standards. https://t.co/Ylc7Qb70nS
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) September 20, 2019
The Senate bill won’t do enough to upgrade voting equipment across the country, according to Public Citizen. The watchdog group said the Senate bill allocates much less than the $600 million allocated in the House bill, and it doesn’t prioritize upgrading machines that don’t have paper ballot backups.
So Moscow Mitch still deserves the nickname.
