The Independent: ‘Not enough has been done’: US election security still vulnerable to Russia heading into 2020 – even with new funding, experts warn

With less than five months until the first votes are officially cast in the run-up to the 2020 election, congress this month finally made moves to try and shore up election security after a bitter fight that has played out in the long shadow cast by Russian attacks on the 2016 election – and, for some election security experts, the effort is quite literally the least that could be done.

Staring down a potential government shutdown at the end of the month should an agreement not be made on the federal budget, Democrats in the Senate had put pressure on their Republican counterparts to include a budget amendment that would provide $250m (£203m) to the Trump administration to help states with their election infrastructure woes.

Amid that criticism, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell – whose reticence on the issue had led some to bestow upon him the nickname “Moscow Mitch” – signalled his support for the amendment. …

Karen Hobert Flynn, the president of the activist group Common Cause, says McConnell’s decision to support funding is a “step in the right direction”, but that the funding “still falls far short” of what is needed to solve the problem.

“Election systems across the country have been breached by Russian intelligence assets and those attacks continue to this day,” she adds.

“These attacks and those of other hostile foreign powers will continue to ramp up as we approach the 2020 elections, and cash-strapped local elections officials desperately need significant federal assistance. The federal government must step in to provide the resources and the expertise to help states and local governments secure the integrity of their election systems against sophisticated foreign cyber attacks.”