Democrats warned about about the vulnerability of election system they now defend

 Epoch Times:

Lawmakers, cybersecurity officials, and expert panelists warned the public years ago of the vulnerabilities of America’s election infrastructure, as well as threats of foreign and domestic interference in U.S. elections.

In December 2019, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) raised concerns about the poor condition and vulnerabilities of voting machines and other election equipment, as well as a lack of transparency, in letters sent to three private equity firms: McCarthy Group, Staple Street Capital Group, and H.I.G. Capital.

The lawmakers said three vendors—Election Systems & Software, Dominion Voting Systems, and Hart InterCivics—”collectively distribute voting machines and software that facilitate voting for over 90% of all eligible voters in the United States.”

The private equity firms reportedly own or control each of the vendors, the lawmakers noted.

“We are particularly concerned that secretive and ‘trouble-plagued companies,’ owned by private equity firms and responsible for manufacturing and maintaining voting machines and other election administration equipment, ‘have long skimped on security in favor of convenience,’ leaving voting systems across the country ‘prone to security problems'” the lawmakers collectively wrote in the letters.

The vendors barely make public information on matters pertaining to their annual profits, executive compensation, or on how much they spend on the maintenance of their voting systems, they said.

More broadly, the lawmakers also had concerns about the spread and effect of private equity investments in the election technology industry and other sectors of the economy and that these issues “threaten the integrity of our elections.”

President Donald Trump and his campaign have claimed Dominion systems aren’t secure and have filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania contesting the unofficial election results. Dominion, which says it’s a nonpartisan company, has acknowledged connections with the Clinton Global Initiative and a former staffer to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Recently, Dominion backed out at the last moment after committing to attend an oversight hearing in Pennsylvania. Dominion has a lengthy statement on its website challenging some of the claims made about its machines, including allegations that the company deleted millions of votes for Trump.

In a recent press conference, lawyer Sidney Powell alleged a transnational conspiracy involving the “influence of communist money” from countries including Cuba, Venezuela, and “likely China” to overturn the presidential race via election software.

John R. Mills, former director of cybersecurity policy, strategy, and international affairs at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, told The Epoch Times, “There is this interesting intersection with legacy software or firmware developers in Venezuela and the current slate of voting machines including Dominion.”

“Venezuela has a solid footprint of Chinese, Russian, and Iranian activities for influence operations in the Americas,” Mills said. “For these to not have an intersection would be odd.”

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With the legitimacy of the Biden call at stake they now sing a different tune.  The election machine providers are not saying much either.  In fact, their response to criticism has been remarkably muted.