In May of 2019, Sen. Ron Ryden (D-OR) and 14 Senate Democrats proposed a bill that would have mandated hand-marked paper ballots, automatic election audits and new cybersecurity standards for every state.
Mitch McConnell refused to take it up for a vote.
wyden.senate.gov/news/press-rel…
Mitch McConnell refused to take it up for a vote.
wyden.senate.gov/news/press-rel…
I'm not kidding. The bill literally tried to formalize into law all the things the Trump campaign is now PAYING FOR and GOING TO COURT OVER. And McConnell didn't bring it to a vote because he was scared of Trump's reaction. 
The bill had $500 million for new secure ballot-scanning machines and would have reimbursed states for conducting post-election audits. But Republicans refused it because the justification was foreign interference and not voter fraud.
Fortunately, 95% of all ballots and every ballot in every swing state was still cast on paper. But nearly 2 years ago we could have been setting up the infrastructure for immediate post-election audits, and the only reason we aren't is because Republicans refused to play ball.
Don't care about your politics, don't care who you voted for, if you're pissed off or feel like you can't trust the outcome of this race — there are clear and obvious lines between the ppl who tried to fix it and the ones who didn't.
Sen. Ron Wyden* -- no Ryden. Duh
Democrats also tried to pass measures that would ban voting machines from the internet and prevent machines from being produced in foreign countries.
Guess what?
Those got blocked too.
thehill.com/homenews/house…
Guess what?
Those got blocked too.
thehill.com/homenews/house…
Writing about this in my newsletter today: tangle.substack.com/about
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