"We're now at a point where we have wrapped up one piece of our investigation which deals with election security," Chairman Richard Burr said during a press conference on Capitol Hill. "Let me say this with a great deal of confidence. It is clear the Russian government was looking for the vulnerabilities of our election system and highlighted some of the key gaps. There is no evidence any vote was changed."
"Russia attempted to penetrate 21 states. We know they were successful in penetrating at least one voter database. The Department of Homeland Security and FBI alerted states to the threat. The warnings did not provide enough information or go to the right person in every case," Burr continued. "We need to be more effective at deterring our adversaries. The federal government should partner with the states to truly secure their systems."
The Committee also released a one-page document outlining additional steps the federal government can take to ensure the security of elections across the country.
One-pager Recs Final Version 3-20 by Katie Pavlich on Scribd
The Committee has not released findings on Russian collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released a report last week declaring zero collusion was found.
Comment: A fairly drab recommendation for a fairly humdrum accusation. All major powers probe the cyber security of their competitors, whether during elections or not. So naturally, U.S. officials will recommend beefing up security. But there's a reason the U.S. will never sign an agreement laying out the rules of cyber "engagement": they like doing all this and more with impunity. So they don't have much of a leg to stand on when accusing other countries of "penetrating databases". That's kid stuff.