https://about.bgov.com/news/voting-machine-firms-add-lobbyists-amid-election-hacker-concerns/
April 1, 2019 12:00 AM
Two companies dominate the voting machine market
Pelosi’s ex-chief of staff represents No. 2 manufacturer
Voting machine manufacturers are increasing their Capitol Hill presence as lawmakers demand they do more to protect U.S. elections against foreign hackers.
Dominion Voting Systems — which commands more than a third of the voting-machine market without having Washington lobbyists — has hired its first, a high-powered firm that includes a longtime aide to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The No. 1 vendor, Election Systems & Software, added two new lobbying firms last fall.
Members of Congress have criticized those and other companies for their security methods and business practices.
Washington Advocates
In October, ES&S hired Peck Madigan Jones, and paid the firm $80,000 during the last three months of 2018.
The company also reported hiring the lobbying firm Vectre Corp.
Dominion’s first-ever lobbying firm is Brownstein Farber Hyatt & Schreck. Nadeam Elshami, Pelosi’s former chief of staff, is one of the lobbyists on the account.
“We want to make sure that we are telling the story of what Dominion is, and how deeply the company is invested in our mission, hopefully dispelling myths about our industry along the way,” Kay Stimson, vice president of government affairs at Dominion, said in an email.
Both Dominion and ES&S say they are actively working with lawmakers and told Bloomberg Government they are having productive conversations.
The Brennan Center for Justice, housed at New York University Law School, also reported lobbying on election security last year, as did Public Citizen, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), identity theft protection company CyberScout, and tech giant Oracle Corp.