Sec. 2. Findings; Sense of Congress
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Congress finds as follows: Free and fair elections are central to our democratic system of government. An attack on election systems in the United States by a foreign government is a hostile act, and protecting our election systems from such attacks is a critical national security objective. The March 2019 Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election , known as the Mueller Report, concludes that Russian military intelligence officers targeted individuals and entities involved in the administration of the November 2016 elections, including State boards of elections, Secretaries of State, county governments, and private technology firms responsible for manufacturing and administering election-related software and hardware.
The Mueller Report states that Russian military intelligence officers sent spearphishing emails to over 120 email accounts used by Florida county officials responsible for administering the 2016 elections, and further states that the Federal Bureau of Investigation believes that this operation enabled Russian military intelligence officers to gain access to the network of at least one Florida county government . In May 2019, it came to light that Russian military intelligence officers had gained access to the computer network of a second Florida county in the run-up to the 2016 elections.
To date, government officials have not publicly disclosed or confirmed the identity of the Florida counties whose voter registration systems were breached. As a result, voters in affected counties do not possess the information necessary to take appropriate responsive action, such as taking affirmative steps to confirm that their individual registration data is accurate and holding State and local election officials accountable for their actions or inactions. It is the sense of Congress that the principal victim of an attack on election systems in the United States is the voting public and, except in certain narrowly defined cases, the voting public should be promptly informed if Federal officials have credible evidence of an unauthorized intrusion into an election system and a basis to believe that such intrusion could have resulted in voter information systems or voter tabulation systems being altered or otherwise affected.