Mueller remarks put spotlight on election security bills

Legislation aimed at securing U.S. elections got an unexpected shot in the arm this week when Robert Mueller devoted a fair share of his first remarks on the Russia probe to the threat posed by foreign actors seeking to undermine democracy at the ballot box.

Mueller emphasized that “the central allegation of our indictments” was “there were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election.”

He ended his 10-minute statement by saying this “deserves the attention of every American.”

The problem: Election security bills have been languishing in Congress for months, due in large part to Republicans who do not want to shine a light on Russia’s actions and risk the fury of President Trump.

Democrats have made it a major focus, with lawmakers introducing several bills designed to combat foreign interference.

However, most legislation has been at a standstill following Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) “case closed” comments earlier this month regarding Mueller’s Russia investigation.

McConnell has instead highlighted the work put into securing election systems during the 2018 midterm elections by the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration, saying that combating threats “requires serious work.”

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of Senate GOP leadership and chairman of the Rules Committee, said during a hearing this month that “the majority leader is of the view that this debate reaches no conclusion” on the topic of election security legislation. Blunt added that he was not planning on scheduling any markups of election security legislation because “at this point I don’t see any likelihood that these bills would get to the floor.”

Latest from Trump: The president weighed in on the issue Thursday, telling reporters that “we are doing a lot, and we are trying to do paper ballots as a backup system as much as possible, because going to good old-fashioned paper in this modern age is the best way to do it.”

Those remarks came after he said Russia did not help him secure the presidency — his first on-camera response to Mueller’s comments, though he tweeted earlier in the daythat Russia helped him win the election.

But at least one election security bill has the potential for movement: Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) told The Hill on Thursday that he plans to reintroduce the Secure Elections Act next week. The measure stalled during the previous Congress due to a lack of GOP support in the Rules Committee but was one of the election security bills with the highest profiles in Congress.

While Lankford said there will be some changes to the bill text, the underlying legislation would strengthen cybersecurity information sharing between the federal government and state and local election officials, while also requiring all jurisdictions perform post-election audits to verify Election Day results.

He said the new version of the bill will not include funding for states to improve their election security practices but will require all jurisdictions to implement audits if they want any future funding.

Would Trump, McConnell be on board? Lankford added that his office has been working closely with the White House counsel on the bill’s language but did not go so far as to say whether Trump would support the legislation.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

It also remains unclear whether McConnell will support the GOP bill when it is reintroduced.