hovland. mr. hovland: yes. essentially at the election assistance commission we are participating in the government coordinating council. we consist teptly work to put out best practices. again, sort of our capacity go beyond our statutory requirements is very limited. we have the world series coming to washington. i would note that if we were a major league baseball player, we would be the 173rd highest paid player. we would be a middle reliever. we have no lack of ambition to take on these challenges and help, but we need the resources to do it. mr. deutch: appreciate the world series reference. mr. hickey: i'm going to answer by analogy. we have a number department components that touch leaks security. f.b.i. agents in the field and headquarters. we have prosecutors in the field. we have public corruption prosecutors and national security prosecutors, computer prosecutors. all of them potentially touch this issue. it's on us to train them so they are aware of each other and coordinate t that's what we are do

hovland saying they have been kicked around like a political football. guest: i think it's one of the challenges, it's very easy to look at election security or any of the other issues as purely what is going to help my party or hurt the other party and we are seeing that to some degree on both sides. has had thehe ac challenge of partisanship and polarization to deal with. i think one of the things we're seeing is there are people like commissioner hovland who are trying to de-politicize this process. efforts wese are should support because it's really important. host: you touched on some of the funding that they have distributed. 2018, election assistance commission, $380 million, 41 states and their election cyber security. 34 states purchased new voting equipment, 29 states improved voting registration. by said that you thought 2020, 90% may have a paper ballot? guest: that's right. states like pennsylvania which previously had the majority voting on paperless systems, they are moving to all paper. georgia, they are moving to paper in time for 2020.

hovland? >> no. >> on approximately june 16th -- quote, on approximately june 2016, the gru, a russian intelligence organization compromised the network of the illinois state board of elections and, quote, gained access to a database containing information on millions of registered illinois voters. closed quote. the russian hackers successfully breefrped the databases and failed to alter and delete voting records. last month i asked expert witnesses to ask if the possible impact if the russian his been able to alter the databases. the former director of the security council during bush and clinton said that would be devastating because tens of thousands of voters could have been turned away at the polls. our intelligence community confirmed that the threat of this again is very real. indeed, the white house has intentionally cut your budget and cut your staff going into an election our intelligence community has confirm side under the biggest threat that our nation has seen. the inspector gene

one of the things we're seeing is there are people like commissioner hovland, people at dhs trying to depoliticalcize this. those are very -- efforts we should support because it's important to deplit zblooiz. >> you talked about funding -- specifically in 2018, the election assistance commission, $380 million, 41 states improved cybersecurity, 34 states purchased new voting equipment. you said that you thought by 2020, 90% may have a paper ballot? >> that's right. states like pennsylvania which previously had many, many voters voting on paperless, they're moving to all paper. georgia which had paperless throughout the state through 2018, they're moving to paper in time for 2020. we're seeing this in other states as well. south carolina for instance. it's unusual now for states to have paperless voting, and as states move to paper we're seeing better and better audits of that. we're going to have the most secure election in 2020 that we've ever had. we're going to have to be more secure than that in 2022 and 2024. >> isn't it the ultimate -- the national election, are there best pract

hovland saying they have been kicked around like a political football.: i think it's one of the challenges, it's very easy to look at election security or any of the other issues as purely what is going to help my party or hurt the other party and we are seeing that to some degree on both sides. has had thehe ac challenge of partisanship and polarization to deal with. i think one of the things we're seeing is there are people like commissioner hovland who are trying to de-politicize this process. efforts wese are should support because it's really important. host: you touched on some of the funding that they have distributed. 2018, election assistance commission, $380 million, 41 states and their election cyber security. 34 states purchased new voting equipment, 29 states improved voting registration. by said that you thought 2020, 90% may have a paper ballot? guest: that's right. states like pennsylvania which previously had the majority voting on paperless systems, they are moving to all paper. georgia, they are moving to paper in time for 2020. we are

hovland, your testimony was that 8,000 local jurisdictions conduct elections. many of those local jurisdictions used direct recording and electronic voting machines, known as touch screen voting election machines in the 2016 presidential elections and also in the 2018 presidential elections. in investigating election interference after the 2016 presidential election, how many of the tens of thousands of direct recording electronic v e voting machines were directed to a federal audit? >> i'm not aware of forensic audit that is were performed. >> what about any other type of testing or analysis on any direct recording electronic voting machines used in the 2018 elections? >> i would say that as far as the election assistance commission goes, that -- >> are you aware of any federal agencies that have conducted any analysis of direct recording, electronic voting machines used in the 2018 or 2016 elections. >> sir, we haven't been asked and i don't think it's our role to audit election systems. the states certify the accuracy of the votes. >> my question is has the

hovland? good morning members of the committee, i thank you for the opportunity to testify before you this >> morning to detail the work of the u.s. election assistance commission better known as the eac to fulfill its missions and help america vote act. i also appreciate this opportunity to highlight the great work of the states state and local election officials around the country. as you know the nation's elections are run at the state and local level with each of the 50 states and u.s. territories running elections in different ways. officials in over a thousand local8, 000 localjurisdictions are ultimately responsible for conducting our elections and their work truly protects and ensures the most fundamental pillar of our democracies of the vote. since 2016 there's been an enormous increase in focus on the security which is just one of the many responsibilities election officials must address. i'm pleased to report from my vantage point at the community has responded in an aggressive fash