Rep Gibbs Introduces Voting Machine Security Bill

WASHINGTON, DC - On Monday, Congressman Bob Gibbs introduced the No Wireless Installations in Federal Instruments for Voting Act (No WIFI Act), which amends the 2002 Help America Vote Act to prohibit voting systems with capability to wirelessly transmit data to be used in federal elections.

Last month, the Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) weakened cybersecurity requirements in an update to the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) by allowing voting systems with components that have wireless transmission capability. This move was criticized by elections security and cybersecurity experts, who said it 'will introduce very real opportunities to remotely attack election systems.'

'After such a contentious election, taking steps that actually reduce Americans' confidence is the last thing Congress or the EAC should be doing,' said Congressman Gibbs. 'Yet between H.R. 1 and the ill-advised update to the VVSG, we are making it easier to cheat in elections and inviting domestic and foreign hackers to tamper with our election hardware. It makes absolutely zero sense for a federal agency responsible for assisting states in securely and safely administering their elections to actually weaken security standards. The No WIFI Act takes the warnings of cybersecurity experts seriously by closing the EAC's wireless loophole.'

In January of 2020, technical analysts with the National Election Defense Coalition announced they were able to identify and connect to dozens of election systems across the country, despite local officials and the companies insisting their machines were not connected to the internet.

Original cosponsors include Rep Anthony Gonzalez (OH-16), Rep Lisa McClain (MI-10), and Rep Scott Perry (PA-10).

The text of the No WIFI Act can be found here.

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