“I was proud to bring the SAFE Act to the Floor today, and now that the House has passed it, I urge the Senate to do the same.  As we look ahead to the 2020 federal election, Congress and the Administration have a responsibility to ensure that every American’s right to vote will be protected and that our voting systems are safe from foreign cyberattacks.  This bill would improve the resilience of our federal elections by, among other things, requiring voting systems to use individual, durable, and voter-verified paper ballots; providing states with funding to support election infrastructure; prohibiting voting systems from being connected to the internet or wireless technologies; expanding accessibility; and strengthening accountability for vendors.    “Nothing is more important to our democracy than ensuring that every American can safely and securely cast a ballot and have that vote counted accurately.  That’s why I’ve been a cosponsor over the past several years of measures to restore the protections of the Voting Rights Act and expand voter protections.  It’s also why I was proud to bring H.R. 1 – the For the People Act – to the Floor this year, which included automatic voter registration, expanded early voting, a restoration of voting rights to those who had paid their debt to society, and other reforms to secure Americans’ fundamental right to vote.  It’s also why I wrote the Help American Vote Act of 2002, which created the Election Assistance Commission to ensure best practices and high standards for states’ voting systems in federal elections.  I’m glad the House included $600 million in grant funding for the Election Assistance Commission in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act that passed yesterday, which will help states modernized their voting systems.  This commitment to election grants is exactly what the Help America Vote Act envisioned, and it was something important for the House to do.    “We must ensure that our voting systems are safe and that all eligible voters can perform their civic duty unimpeded.  Too many of our forebears gave their lives to secure our right to vote.  We honor them by ensuring that our federal elections are safe, secure, and accessible to every citizen, in every community