Sherrill chairs subcommittee meeting on election security

Rep. Mikie Sherrill is pushing for more election security.

“It is imperative that we protect the integrity of our election system,” said Sherrill. “When I was in the Navy, I was a Russia policy officer and I saw firsthand how the Russians work to sow divisions, and I know the methods that foreign and domestic actors use to corrupt our elections are growing more sophisticated every day. It is our responsibility in Congress to help states arm themselves with advanced, adaptive strategies to prevent, detect, and recover from intrusions.”

The first-term congresswoman holds a rare role for a congressional newcomer.

She chairs House Science, Space, and Technology Investigations & Oversight Subcommittee, which on Wednesday held a hearing to explore policies to increase election security for next year’s races.

“I remain worried about the enormous risks our election systems still face heading into 2020. And I have been really concerned about how attacks on our election system affect the American psyche. We have all seen anecdotes in the press about counties and states across the United States, where experts learn after the fact that an election system has been hacked,” Sherrill said in opening remarks at the committee meeting. “It is worth pointing out that we don’t always see election systems actually being breached when they are targeted. Sometimes our systems work the way they are supposed to and keep intruders from doing harm.”