一份新的选举报告警告说，只有三家私营供应商控制着美国全国80%以上的投票系统，联邦政府几乎没有监督权力。
布伦南司法中心发布了一份报告关于美国投票设备和选举供应商的脆弱性，他们控制着美国绝大多数的选举进程。
该报告警告说，联邦政府对彩色铅笔的监管权限比它对国家选举基础设施的监管权限要大。布伦南中心警告说，在2020年总统选举之前，投票技术供应商没有“多少财政激励”来优先考虑选举安全和防范网络攻击或外国干涉。
该报告一再敦促国会为选举供应商建立联邦认证程序，而不是允许各州规避投票技术标准。这些发现证实了几个最近的报告立法者，他们自己是使用这些完全相同的供应商和机器当选的，几乎没有动力去实施选举安全标准。
周二发布的报告称，“外国势力利用宾夕法尼亚州一个县的供应商的弱点的能力可能会对该国产生非同寻常的影响。”。"最终，最好的行动方案是国会为选举供应商创建一个统一的框架。"
布伦南中心报告提出的联邦认证计划将授权选举援助委员会在“党派政治操纵”之外对供应商进行独立监督
自治领、东南西北和哈特国际三家公司控制和监督着美国绝大多数投票机。作为2018年9月纽约时报 报告这表明，这一小部分人控制着每年3亿美元的投票机行业。
“今天使用的投票系统中，超过80%属于三家供应商，”报告警告说。“对这些公司中任何一家的成功网络攻击都可能对该国大片地区的选举产生毁灭性后果。”
布伦南中心选举改革项目主任诺顿说:“即使(国会)有意愿，也不能及时通过。”。"这是国会尚未解决的另一个安全漏洞。"
2002年，国会通过了“帮助美国投票法案”，拨款39亿美元帮助联邦政府确保选举安全。但是正如2008年前东非共同体主席德福特·苏亚雷斯告诉美国广播公司新闻的那样，他和其他选举官员“恳求国会”允许他们在将设备发送到所有50个州之前研究投票机。然而，国会拒绝了
“政治家不在乎。华盛顿认为机器不会那么糟糕，因为毕竟是它制造的在片段中说上周日在美国家庭影院重播上周今晚和约翰·奥利弗在一起。"所以如果他们赢了比赛，这台机器会有多糟？"
布伦南中心的报告说明了联邦当局无力监管选举供应商，称通过消费品安全委员会的标准，联邦政府拥有监管彩色铅笔的更多权力，而不是确保美国选举基础设施的安全。
2016年星期二，民主党候选人希拉里·克林顿在接受英国广播公司采访时继续警告选民和政治家，“尤其是俄罗斯，决心要塑造西方民主国家的政治。不是对我们有利，而是对他们有利。”
报告的结论是，“对网络安全的严重投资不足”必须通过国会的行动得到纠正，联邦政府必须启动统一的认证程序。
Only three private vendors control more than 80 percent of U.S. voting systems across the country and the federal government has almost zero oversight power, a new election report warns.
The Brennan Center for Justice issued a report about the vulnerability of U.S. voting equipment and election vendors who control an overwhelming majority of the country's electoral process.
The report cautions that the federal government has more authority to regulate colored pencils than it does to enforce regulations on the nation's election infrastructure. The Brennan Center warns that voting technology vendors have "little financial incentive" to prioritize election security and guard against cyber attacks or foreign interference ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
The report repeatedly urges Congress to set up a federal certification process for election vendors instead of allowing states to circumvent voting technology standards. And the findings corroborate several recent reports that lawmakers, who themselves were elected using these very same vendors and machines, have little to no incentive to implement election safety standards.
"The ability of a foreign power to exploit the vulnerabilities of a vendor in a single county in Pennsylvania could have extraordinary repercussions for the country," the report released Tuesday reads. "Ultimately, the best course of action would be for Congress to create a uniform framework for election vendors."
The federal certification program proposed by the Brennan Center's report would empower the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to conduct independent oversight of vendors outside of "partisan political manipulation."
The three companies, Dominion, ES&S and Hart InterCivic, control and oversee a vast majority of all U.S. voting machines. And as a September 2018 New York Times report indicated, this select few dominates the $300-million-a-year voting machine industry.
"More than 80 percent of voting systems in use today are under the purview of three vendors," the report warns. "A successful cyberattack against any of these companies could have devastating consequences for elections in vast swaths of the country."
Lawrence Norden, a co-author of the report, conceded in an interview with the Associated Press that it's too late for any changes to take effect prior to the 2020 election next November. But adding to the report's claim that the EAC has a "history of controversy and inaction," Norden said he doubts lawmakers would take any action even if it could help secure the 2020 election.
"Even if (Congress) had the will, it couldn't be passed in time," said Norden, director of the Election Reform Program at the Brennan Center. "This is another security vulnerability that Congress hasn't addressed."
In 2002, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act, which allocated $3.9 billion to help the federal government ensure election security. But as former EAC Chairman Deforest Soaries told ABC News in 2008, he and other election officials "begged Congress" to allow them to research voting machines before sending the equipment to all 50 states. However, Congress said no.
"Politicians don't care. Washington believes that the machines can't be that bad because, after all, it produced them," Soaries said in the segment which re-aired last Sunday on HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. "So if they won the race, how bad can the machine be?"
The Brennan Center report illustrated the powerlessness of federal authorities to oversee election vendors, saying that through the standards of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal government has more authority to regulate colored pencils than to secure America's election infrastructure.
Speaking with the BBC on Tuesday, 2016 Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton continued to warn voters and politicians that "Russia, in particular, is determined to try to shape the politics of Western democracies. Not to our benefit, but to theirs."
The report concludes that the "severe underinvestment in cybersecurity" must be remedied by congressional action and the federal government must start a uniform certification process.
