Governor Ron DeSantis is directing Florida’s Secretary of State, Laurel Lee, to initiate a review of elections systems security throughout the state. This comes after his recent announcement that Russian Hackers breached the voter information systems in two Florida counties in the lead up to the 2016 election.
When he made the announcement about Russian hacking, Governor DeSantis was quick to point out that it appears no votes were tampered with. But, he also said he had to sign a nondisclosure agreement with the FBI to not reveal which counties had been hacked. This announcement apparently came as a surprise to election officials. In an interview with NPR Paul Lux, president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections, said he hadn’t heard even a whisper about such a breach.
Susannah Goodman is Director of Election of Election Security for Common Cause, a nonpartisan nonprofit that works to uphold the core values of American democracy. She says that while she completely supports the cybersecurity evaluation, she wishes the federal government would help pay for it.
“That review is going to happen with what money? It should come with federal money…and there is no federal money going to the state. So I’m glad the review is going to happen, but it’s going to be expensive. I mean the review can’t happen without expertise, and expertise costs money,” said Goodman.
Election systems were deemed to be ‘critical infrastructure’ by the federal government in 2017, and the Florida Department of State distributed more than $14 million dollars in federal election security grants to Supervisors of Elections last year. But, Goodman says it appears there is no money for states to improve election security being considered on Capitol Hill at this point in time.
The governor’s announcement about a security review came with few details, other than saying the Florida DOS shall develop a plan to identify and address any vulnerabilities it uncovers.
