AT A PIVOTAL MOMENT, DEMOCRATS FAILED TO MODERNIZE ELECTIONS
At the center of the failure was the Brennan Center, which bucked local election officials and told Congress to focus on matters other than election funding. THROUGHOUT 2020, as then-President Donald Trump issued baseless claims of voter fraud, local election officials called on the federal government to spend more to ensure a secure election season. Turnout was expected to break records; the pandemic had upended voting plans and safety protocols; and cybersecurity threats mounted . Leaders were acutely aware of the vulnerabilities in their aging election technology: Thousands of counties, for example, still ran their voting machines on Windows 7 , an operating system so old it no longer receives routine security updates. Congress did authorize $400 million to run elections in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, with funds permitted for expenses like buying personal protective equipment and hiring temporary staff to process the increase in absentee ...