Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, on Friday introduced the Global Electoral Exchange Act, which would task the State Department with creating an international election security information sharing program.
The bill also would allow the State Department to give grants to U.S. nonprofits to support information sharing efforts, and bring in foreign election authorities to study American election procedure. U.S. election officials also would have the opportunity to visit other countries and learn from international best practices.
“This bipartisan legislation will allow the State Department to work with our allies abroad to share information, discuss best practices, and combat the growing threat of election interference to democracies around the world,” said Klobuchar in a statement.
“The threats to our democratic electoral process and those of other democracies across the globe should not be taken lightly,” said Sullivan.
While the legislation from Klobuchar and Sullivan is a new bill, the House unanimously passed a similar, bipartisan measure in September. That bill, introduced by Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, and Mark Meadows, R-NC, contains very similar language, improving the chances that the Global Electoral Exchange Act will pass through Congress this session. However, with a very short legislative window before the next session of Congress begins in January 2019, the bill would need to move rapidly through the Senate in order to have a chance of becoming law this year.
