Securing Our Elections

Dear Friends,

Every day it seems like there is a new development about Russia's efforts to undermine our democracy. As a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, I am continuing to work on our investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. We must follow the facts wherever they may lead.

Earlier this week, we learned that President Trump's campaign chairman and a top advisor were indicted for conspiracy against the United States, and another senior advisor pled guilty to false statements to the FBI about coordinating with Russians during the Trump campaign. Yesterday, our committee also held an important open hearing with representatives from Facebook, Google, and Twitter to learn more about Russia's use of illegal online advertisements, bots and trolls to spread misinformation and division organically through social media networks.

We also know, based upon intelligence assessments, that as part of Russia's larger hostile effort to interfere in last year's election, Russian actors targeted state election voting centers and state-level voter registration databases. These intrusions demonstrate a troubling vulnerability to future cyber-attacks and manipulations by foreign hackers in our democratic process. That's why I am partnering with Senator Collins to introduce the bipartisan Securing America's Voting Equipment Act -- or the SAVE Act -- to provide increased security for American election systems. I consulted closely with New Mexico's Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver in drafting this legislation to ensure it provides the security measures that state election officials need to keep our voting systems secure.

I hope you can take a moment to watch an interview I did on CBS News to explain our bipartisan legislation.

We are at a critical juncture in the Russia investigation, in which the public is seeing the tactical evidence of how the Kremlin sought to influence our election. I am committed to finding bipartisan, pragmatic solutions to protect the integrity of our voting process. Until we set up stronger protections of our election systems and take the necessary steps to prevent future foreign influence campaigns, our nation's democratic institutions will remain vulnerable.

Sincerely,

MARTIN HEINRICH
United States Senator