Congressman Van Drew Votes to Pass the SHIELD Act to Secure U.S. Elections

(Washington, D.C) – Congressman Jeff Van Drew voted to pass the Stopping Harmful Interference in Elections for a Lasting Democracy (SHIELD) Act which would protect our elections from foreign interference and disinformation campaigns. A number of the SHIELD Act’s policies were included in a package of legislative proposals the Blue Dog Coalition, of which Rep. Van Drew is the National Security Task Force Co-Chair, endorsed in response to the conclusions presented in Volume I of the Mueller Report.

This bill comes days after Rep. Van Drew introduced his own election security measure, the Protect Our Elections Act, a bill that would prohibit foreign ownership or control of our elections systems by requiring disclosure and prohibiting ownership and control of elections systems.

The SHIELD Act protects our elections from foreign interference by:

• Creating a duty to report illicit offers of campaign assistance from foreign governments and their agents.
• Improving transparency of online political advertisements.
• Closing loopholes that allow foreign nationals and foreign governments to spend in U.S. elections.
• Restricting the exchange of campaign information between candidates and foreign governments and their agents.
• Prohibiting deceptive practices about voting procedures.

“Our elections should be for Americans and by Americans, and in order to keep it that way we need to eliminate foreign interference,” said Rep. Jeff Van Drew (NJ-02), Co-Chair of the Blue Dog Task Force on National Security. “This is not a theoretical problem, but a present danger that threatens to undermine confidence in our elections. The SHIELD Act combats foreign interference with comprehensive accountability and transparency measures that will ensure our elections are better protected. Our next elections are quickly approaching. I hope that Senator McConnell puts this legislation up for a vote in the U.S. Senate sooner rather than later.”