House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

We need to ensure that our residents are receiving the most accurate, secure information possible, especially when it concerns our elections. For this reason, I plan to introduce legislation requiring that county boards of elections maintain a publicly accessible Internet website using a .gov top-level domain (TLD). This measure was previously explored by the state of New York. 

  

The .gov TLD makes government services easily identifiable on the Internet. The domain is only permitted for United States-based government entities at the federal, state, and local levels. Visiting a .gov website shows residents that they are using a trusted and secure source with reliable information. Nevertheless, there are no requirements in statute for state and local agencies to maintain a .gov TLD. This leaves the door open for potentially nefarious actions by individuals looking to confuse or scam residents with unofficial websites around voting and elections. 

  

This is a commonsense solution that will allow residents to better participate in our democracy and further secure our elections-related websites. Please join me in co-sponsoring this legislation.