[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 182 (Wednesday, November 8, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H8644]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              THE STATE OF AMERICA'S VOTING INFRASTRUCTURE

  (Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, 17 years ago, the United States began a 2-
month-long crash course in voting machines and election infrastructure. 
The 2000 Presidential election opened our eyes to the fact that voting 
equipment in most places was out-of-date and unsafe.
  We didn't learn the lessons of 2000, and in 2017, America's election 
infrastructure remains in a bad state. We must act immediately.
  First, we need to help all local and State governments replace their 
outdated paperless machines with more secure systems.
  Second, we need to require postelection audits of all paper records 
to make sure that the results tabulated by voting machines have not 
been hacked.
  Third, we need to help election officials at the local level upgrade 
their database and election infrastructure to protect against all cyber 
attacks.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting all 
efforts to modernize and protect our voting infrastructure and 
legislation dealing with cyber attacks.

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