According to Newsweek.com , McConnell received donations from voting machine lobbyists before blocking election security bills. He squ ashed 2 bills intended to ensure voting security on Thursday 07/25, just one day after former special counsel Mueller warned that Russians were attempting to sabotage the 2020 presidential elections "as we sit here."
McConnell said he wouldn't allow a vote on the bills because they were "so partisan", but as previously reported, earlier this year McConnell received a slew of donations from the top four voting machine lobbyists in the country.
McConnell said " clearly this request is not a serious effort to make a law. Clearly something so partisan that it onky received one single solitary republican vote in the house is not going to travel through the senate by unanimous consent.The plans would likely burden the two largest electronic voting machine vendors in the United States, Election Systems & Software and Dominion voting systems, with new regulations and financial burdens. Together, the companies make up about 80% of all voting machines used in the countryand both have far reaching lobbying arms in Washington DC. Many of those lobbyists have contributed to the McConnell campaign, reported by Sludge last month, an investigative outlet that focuses on money in politics.
Sludge found that Brownstein Hyatt Farber Shreck lobbyist David Cohen, who has worked on behalf of Dominion Voting Systems this year, donated $2000.00 to Mcconnell during this time.Brian Wild, who works with Cohen and has lobbied Dominion, gave McConnell $1000.00
Around the same time, on February 19 and March 4 Emily Kirlin and Jen Olsen, who have lobbied on behalfof Election Systems & Software over the last year donated $1000.00 to McConnell each.
Thursday's first bill , presented by senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer would authorize $775 million to bolster election security and require each state to keep paper trails of all votes cast. The second , presented by Senator Richard Blumenthal, would require political candidates and their staffs and family members to notify the FBI about any offers of assistance from foreign governments.
