Letter to the Editor: State needs election security funding

Dear editor,

While the country processes hours of testimony pointing to President Donald Trump soliciting election interference from the president of Ukraine, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is slow-walking critical election security funding. Clearly, he doesn’t think protecting our democracy from foreign attacks is important. It’s no wonder he’s been dubbed Moscow Mitch.

This isn’t just unacceptable, it’s dangerous. Moscow Mitch is prioritizing partisan politics over the safety and integrity of our elections, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that hostile foreign powers like Russia, China and Iran already are working to compromise our elections. 

We’re less than a year away from the presidential election and time is running out. It’s critical that the Senate pass election security funding to safeguard the upcoming election.

The House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill that would allocate $600 million in election security funding to states. This gives states the ability to replace old and insecure voting equipment with systems that use voter-verified paper ballots and other security measures that would safeguard election results from hacking and cyberthreats. Moscow Mitch has said he would support $250 million in election security funding, but let’s be honest: Not a single penny has actually passed on the Senate floor.

The buck stops here. If we don’t secure this funding now, we are telling the world it’s OK to meddle in our elections. And making it easier for them to do it. I’m calling on my senators and their colleagues to take a stand and approve election security funding now before it’s too late.

—Enoch Morris, Springfield