SECURE IT Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Strengthening Election Cybersecurity to Uphold Respect for Elections through Independent Testing Act or the SECURE IT Act
This bill requires certain actions to strengthen the security of U.S. voting systems.
Specifically, the bill requires the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to conduct penetration testing (an evaluation method that enables researchers to search for vulnerabilities in a system) as part of the testing, certification, decertification, and recertification of voting system hardware and software by accredited laboratories.
Further, the National Institute of Standards and Technology must recommend entities to the EAC to carry out this penetration testing and the EAC must vote on the accreditation of any recommended entity.
The bill also directs the EAC to create a five-year pilot program for participating cybersecurity researchers to test for and disclose cybersecurity vulnerabilities in election systems.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on May 9, 2023. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 9, 2023: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced it on May 9, 2023, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 9, 2023, 1220 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1220 days ago, on May 9, 2023.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 118th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2025 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers