hovland. thank you for being here. please go forward with your opening statement. mr. hovland: thank you, chairman. i'm the head of the eac. i appreciate the opportunity to testify on the impact of the grants. the story of election administration in 2020 cannot be told without acknowledging the tremendous job state and local election officials did to run their elections while facing unprecedented challenges. with a record of nearly 160 million americans voting in the november general election in the middle of a global pandemic, the effort required to conduct this election was herculean, and the officials who managed this task deserve our thanks and praise. while politics in the aftermath of the election have distracted many from how it was run, i can unequivocally say this is the best administered election i have seen in my career, for many reasons. first and foremost, the officials that run elections put their personal health on the line and worked countless hours for their voters and our dem

hovland. thank you for being here. please go forward with your opening statement. mr. hovland: thank you, chairman. i'm the head of the eac. i appreciate the opportunity to testify on the impact of the grants. the story of election administration in 2020 cannot be told without acknowledging the tremendous job state and local election officials did to run their elections while facing unprecedented challenges. with a record of nearly 160 million americans voting in the november general election in the middle of a global pandemic, the effort required to conduct this election was herculean, and the officials who managed this task deserve our thanks and praise. while politics in the aftermath of the election have distracted many from how it was run, i can unequivocally say this is the best administered election i have seen in my career, for many reasons. first and foremost, the officials that run elections put their personal health on the line and worked countless hours for their voters and our dem

hovland -- for you, mr. hovland.in october, two right wing individuals were charged in connection to racist activities attempting to dissuade and discourage people in detroit and other cities from voting in november, telling them that voting by mail would subject them to arrest, debt collection, and a forced vaccine. what do we need to do to fight this and fisher measuring -- fight disinformation campaigns, particularly in underserved communities and the black and brown communities? what campaigns is the tac employing to combat -- is the eac employing to combat misinformation? we know it we struggled most with in this last election was misinformation. thank you. mr. hovland: thank you, representative lawrence. great question. that is one of the biggest challenges. i think there were a lot of things that you hit on that are important to dive into. one, you know, we see more and more misinformation and disinformation, you know, both domestic, but also amplified by foreign adversaries. that is a real concern. if it is d

hovland: thank you, chairman. i'm the head of the eac. i appreciate the opportunity to testify on the impact of the grants. the story of election administration in 2020 cannot be told without acknowledging the tremendous job state and local election officials did to run their elections while facing unprecedented challenges. with a record of nearly 160 million americans voting in the november general election in the middle of a global pandemic, the effort required to conduct this election was herculean, and the officials who managed this task deserve our thanks and praise. while politics in the aftermath of the election have distracted many from how it was run, i can unequivocally say this is the best administered election i have seen in my career, for many reasons. first and foremost, the officials that run elections put their personal health on the line and worked countless hours for their voters and our democracy. federal grant money also played an essential role in assisting election officials with challenges.

hovland. in october, two right wing individuals were charged in connection to racist robo calls attempting to dissuade and discourage 12,000 black people in detroit and other cities from voting in november, telling them that voting by mail would subject them to arrest, debt collection, and a forced vaccine. what do we need to do to fight this and fight disinformation campaigns from our citizens, particularly in underserved communities and the black and brown communities? what public engagement campaigns is the eac employing to combat this misinformation? we know that election security and what we struggle with the most in this last election was misinformation. thank you. mr. hovland: thank you, representative lawrence. great question. that is absolutely one of the biggest challenges. i think there were a lot of things that you hit on that are important to dive into. one, you know, we see more and more misinformation and disinformation, you know, both domestic, but also amplified by foreign adv

benjamin hovland . >> let's just a few housekeeping matters. it designated by the chair. [inaudible]. when not under recognition for purposes of a nominations background noise. members are responsible for muting and amusing themselves. and those who have not a muted themselves them will ask you if you would like to have the staff and you'd you. if you give approval by nodding, that will unmute your microphone. i remind all members and witnesses that the five-minute clock still applies and there's a technology issue, we will move to the next member until "the issue is" resolved . and you'll retain the balance of your time for unit the notice the clock on your screen that will show how much time remains . and at one minute remaining the clock wille turn yellow . by 30 seconds, i will gently tap the gavel to remind members that the time is almost expired. when the time has expired, the clock will turn red and it will begin recognize next member . in terms of the speaker we will follow the orders set forth

chairman hovland, thank you for being here. it's well-known our foreign adversaries even breached the u.s. election system to varying degrees in 2016, 2018, and the 2020 elections. u.s. officials at all levels of government and worked tie early to address vulnerability in the election system. as a result, the 2020 election was declared quote, the most secure in american history by the previous administration's own department of homeland security. the fact those dedicated election officials were able to achieve this feat amid a global pandemic is even more remarkable. now is not the time to proclaim mission accomplished, even though the 2020 election was secure. we know there was malicious activity from foreign adversaries leading up to election day. threats to democracy are constant and ever revolving. enemies will not be taking a break, so neither can we. the subcommittee has helped lead congress efforts to address this issue. since 2018, we've provided 805 million in grants to states to approve election security. we provided

election assistance commission chair ben benjamin hovland testifies at house appropriation subcommittee hearing. watch live on c-span, online at c-span.org, or listen with the free c-span radio app. announcer: congress returns for legislative business on february 22. until then, committees will continue work on covid relief legislation based

election assistance commission chair benjamin hovland as the eac approved guidelines to overall votingtandards -- to overhaul voting standards, boosting security. the hearing is expected to start shortly. [no audio]

benjamin hovland testifies before a house committee on his assessment of the 2020 election cycle and the challenges posed by the pandemic. this runs an hour and 15 minutes. we must address a few housekeeping matters. the staff may need participants microphones muted for the purposes of eliminating inadvertent background noise. members are responsible for muting and unmuting themselves. if we have noticed you have not unmuted yourself, i will ask you if you would like the staff to unmute you. if you indicate approval by nodding, the staff will on you to your microphone. i remind l

election assistance commission chair hinchman hovland testifies on election administration issues at house appropriations subcommittee hearing. watch live 11 a.m. eastern on c-span come on by the c-span.org or listen with the free c-span radio app. >> you are watching c-span2, through unfiltered view of government. c-span2 was created by america's cable-television companies and today we are brought to you by these television companies who provide c-span2 to viewers as a public service. >> congress returns for legislative business next monday. committees will continue working on covert relief legislation taste on president biden's $1.9 trillion plan. they must submit their bills today at the house plans to take up the release built by the end of the month. the next votes in the house are expected and monday. that davison is scheduled to take up the nomination of linda thomas-greenfield to be ambassador. the confirmation vote is expected the following day for tom vilsack to be agriculture secretary. until then both chambers are holding brief pro forma sessions with no vote plan. >> the

administered election of my i've seen in my career tuesday election assistance commission chair benjamin hovlandandemic did not negatively impact the voting because of funding from the cares act help election officials address. >>some of the additional costs associated with running both the largest mail an absentee ballot election most jurisdictions ever experience and making polling places as safe as possible for voters and election workers. >>the threats to our democracy are constant and ever evolving to keep things running smoothly in the future democrats like illinois congressman mike quigley and connecticut congresswoman rosa delauro want to see that extra election funding continue must ensure that a c. >>as a necessary resources to provide vital support the state's new voting public. >>now more than ever we need to provide the necessary resources support that protection of our democracy secure our elections but despite support for more election security republicans say the country can't afford to keep paying the 400 billion it spent last year we got this significant debt over generations a

hovland: all right, that sounds good. rep. quigley: i want to thank all who helped put this together. although top -- all who participated, the staff was outstanding. these are difficult times, we look forward to seeing you all in person as we do this next time and we will see you all soon. we are adjourned. thank you. announcer: coming up life today on the c-span networks, the house services committee looks at the defense department covid-19 response come at 11:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. on c-span 2 at 10:00 a.m., a house judiciary subcommittee holds a hearing slavery reparations commission. at 10:30 a.m., the monthly fcc meeting looks at the availability of broadband during the pandemic. coming up, taxpayers for common sense president stephen ellis & congressional institute president mark strand discuss the potential return of aramark's -- earmarks. clyde prestowitz discusses his book about u.s.-china economic relations. ♪ host: joe biden was sworn in as the 46th president four weeks ago today. last night, at a town hall, hi