How Mitch McConnell’s opposition to federal election security is hurting his home state of Kentucky

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has drawn a great deal of criticism for his opposition to election security proposals. Much of the criticism has come from Democrats, although MSNBC’s conservative Joe Scarborough has repeatedly taunted McConnell as “Moscow Mitch” and asserted that he is encouraging Russian interference in U.S. elections by failing to be proactive on election security. And in a report for Mother Jones, journalist AJ Vicens stresses that McConnell is turning a blind eye to election security problems in his own state: Kentucky.

Vicens reports that the Senate majority leader’s “inaction is directly harming his home state,” especially in Kentucky’s more rural counties. The Mother Jones journalist explains, “While some Kentucky officials say their counties have the equipment and funding they need to securely conduct balloting, others say counties can barely afford to meet other critical needs — let alone to upgrade and maintain election infrastructure. Ahead of this month’s knife edge-gubernatorial race, local officials faced a reduction in state voting funds. Money from Washington could make up some of the gap and help counties upgrade equipment.”

Don Blevins, Jr., clerk of Fayette County, Kentucky, told Mother Jones, “Mitch’s inaction is directly harming his home state. There’s no question in my mind.”

One election security bill McConnell opposed was the Securing America’s Federal Elections Act, a.k.a. the SAFE Act — which he dismissed as a “partisan messaging bill.” In a letter to McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes asserted,  “securing our election systems is a matter of national security. The commonwealth and this nation need your leadership.”

But McConnell wouldn’t budge.

Larry Norden, director of the election reform program for the Brennan Center, told Mother Jones that McConnell’s failure to adequately address election security is problematic for the entire United States.

“His role as to what’s happening in Kentucky is the same as his role in the other 49 states,” Norden asserted. “At the end of the day, around the country, election jurisdictions are underfunded. We don’t have national standards or a floor for election security, for the most part. And he’s one of the main reasons we don’t.”