Democratic senators are calling for a "full account" of the Election Assistance Commission's security work in the last election, and for an overview of potential threats, The Hill reports.
"We are writing to request a full account of the EAC's efforts in the cybersecurity sphere in 2016," wrote the group, led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, in a letter to commissioners.
They also asked the agency to detail "the full extent of foreign interference and hacking that occurred in any national, state or local election system" in the year's election.
"Based on your work with election officials, cybersecurity experts and federal law enforcement, we also would appreciate an impartial assessment of the challenges that state and local election officials face in protecting future U.S. elections from cybersecurity threats."
Independent Sens. Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont joined 24 of their Democratic colleagues in signing the letter.
"As motivated and sophisticated cybercriminals will continue to target our election systems, we must ensure that our state and local election administrators have the resources they need to make critical cybersecurity upgrades."
"Aging machines are vulnerable to hacking since they lack the latest security features. In 2016, 43 states used electronic voting machines that were at least 10 years old," the senators added. "While there was no reported damage to actual voting machines or voter registration data last year, we hope you will agree when we say that the 2016 election was a wake-up call. We must do more to protect our U.S. elections from foreign interference."
Earlier this month, the House Administration Committee voted to close the EAC.
"It is time for the EAC to be officially ended," chairman Gregg Harper, R-Miss., said, according to USA Today.
"We don't need fluff," he added.
This is the fourth time Harper has submitted a bill to eliminate the EAC, but it's unclear if the bill will pass in the House.
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