Press Release

Attorney General Ellison leads AGs in asking Congress to protect integrity of America’s elections

Leads 21 other AGs in asking for grants, security standards, and bipartisan election-security legislation to address “persistent threats to our election systems”

June 18, 2019 (CITY) — Citing his “significant concern regarding the persistent threats to our election systems,” Minnesota Attorney General Ellison led a coalition of 21 other attorneys general from around the country to ask Congress to take action to protect the integrity of America’s elections.

In a letter sent today to key U.S. Senators, including Senator Amy Klobuchar as ranking member of the Senate’s Rules and Administration Committee, Attorney General Ellison and the other attorneys general ask Congress to provide additional election security grants to states and localities, support the establishment of cybersecurity and audit standards for election systems, and pass bipartisan election-security legislation.

“Our democracy works only if we can trust the integrity of our elections — and that integrity was breached in 2016. What we need to do to rebuild it is not a mystery to anyone, including Congress. I put together this coalition of attorneys general because as the chief legal officers of our states, we know it is past time for Congress to act,” Attorney General Ellison said.

The attorneys general note warnings that “our election systems have been a target for foreign adversaries and that those same adversaries are currently working to undermine the upcoming elections.” Their letter follows confirmed reports that Russia successfully breached election systems in Florida, installed malware on a voting-systems software company used by North Carolina, and targeted the election systems of all 50 states in 2016.

Joining the letter that Attorney General Ellison led are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. Today’s letter follows up on a similar letter that attorneys general from 21 states sent to Congress in July 2018.

A copy of today’s letter is available on Attorney General Ellison’s website.