Delaney, Harris to File Bipartisan Legislation to Block Foreign Ownership and Control of U.S. Election Systems

Press Release

Congressman John K. Delaney (MD-6) and Congressman Andy Harris, M.D. (MD-1) will introduce legislation, the Protecting Election Systems from Foreign Control Act, to require that election systems vendors are owned and controlled by domestic companies for federal elections. Last week, the FBI informed Maryland officials that ByteGrid LLC, a firm used by the State of Maryland has ties to Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"It's alarming that so much of our elections systems could be controlled by foreign-owned entities. This legislation will prevent this from happening again," said Congressman Delaney. "Our election systems are targets of attacks, and we must take steps to harden and protect our democratic institutions. The integrity and security of our elections transcends partisanship and I thank Congressman Harris for working with me on this important legislation."

"Our nation's free and fair elections are the foundation of our democracy. Congress must act to protect our future elections from the possibility of interference by hostile nations or foreign entities trying to undermine our democratic institutions," said Congressman Harris.

In addition to requiring that elections systems vendors are owned and controlled by domestic companies, the Protecting Election Systems from Foreign Control Act will also require the Department of Homeland Security and the Election Assistance Commission to provide guidance and technical assistance to state and local election agencies, establish a database so agencies can verify that an election vendor is not foreign controlled and to create an annual review process to examine changes in vendor ownership or control.

ByteGrid LLC owns the servers that hold the data for voter registration, election management and election night results for the State. To date, there are no indications that the firm took any actions to tamper with or influence Maryland elections, but Maryland officials have asked both the state Attorney General and federal officials to help the State Board of Elections review the system.

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