Governor Demands Bill Nelson Back Up Claims That Russia Hacked Florida Voting Systems

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/10/us/florida-elections-russian-hackers-nelson-scott.html

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MIAMI — Cryptic comments from Senator Bill Nelson of Florida this week alluded to a secret Russian plot to tap into Florida’s election systems.

“They have already penetrated certain counties in the state, and they now have free rein to move about,” the Democratic senator told The Tampa Bay Times on Wednesday.

He declined to elaborate or offer any proof. A day earlier, he had described details as “classified.”

But the suggestion that Russian hackers might have breached voter systems, vague as it was, has set off a political maelstrom in Florida less than three weeks before the state’s Aug. 28 primary election.

On Friday, Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican who is running against Mr. Nelson for the Senate, accused his opponent of scaremongering and demanded that he back up his claims with evidence.

“Either Bill Nelson knows of crucial information the federal government is withholding from Florida election officials, or he is simply making things up,” Mr. Scott said at a Tampa campaign event. “So far, no one seems to know what Nelson is talking about.”

Russian hackers attempted to infiltrate voter registration systems in Florida and at least 20 other states in 2016, according to federal officials. But before Mr. Nelson’s comments, there had been no indications of any successful meddling this year. In a July indictment, the Justice Department accused 12 Russian intelligence officers of posing as an election vendor and sending more than 100 phishing emails to elections officials in a number of Florida counties.

“While we are aware of Senator Nelson’s recent statements, we have not seen any new compromises by Russian actors of election infrastructure,” Sara Sendek, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement on Wednesday. “That said, we don’t need to wait for a specific threat to be ready.”

Mr. Nelson’s comments prompted worried voters to contact some of the state’s 67 elections supervisors. Nearly half a million voters have already cast ballots by mail ahead of the primary, and in-person early voting begins in some counties on Monday.

“Everyone wants to know what we’re doing to secure the elections,” said Paul Lux of Okaloosa County, president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections. He noted that Florida voters cast paper ballots, and the attempted 2016 breaches targeted voter registration databases, not election tallies.

Election experts say that hackers do not need to change votes to have an impact. Intruding into systems, corrupting voter rolls and taking down websites all sow chaos and erode confidence in the system.

“Elections are a system based on trust. All you need to do is inject enough doubt in people’s minds,” said Laura Rosenberger, director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy, which monitors interference in elections.

Ken Detzner, the Florida secretary of state, who works for the governor and is in charge of elections, on Thursday asked Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, to share any information that could shed light on Mr. Nelson’s comments. Mr. Nelson is the ranking member of the cyber subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Earlier this year, Mr. Detzner made few moves to obtain federal money that was available to shore up voting systems from outside attack. He said the $19.2 million in federal funds earmarked for Florida would not be available for elections supervisors to use ahead of the midterm elections. But Mr. Detzner was overruled by Mr. Scott, who ordered him to seek the money so that it could be spent before the election.

On Thursday, Mr. Detzner said he had already contacted Homeland Security, the F.B.I. and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and none had any details about possible Russian hacking attempts. The state’s division of elections, which he oversees, “has no evidence to support these claims,” Mr. Detzner wrote.

In his response on Friday, Mr. Burr advised Florida to remain in contact with federal agencies about any potential election intrusions. He also referred to a July 2 letter that Mr. Nelson and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida sent to elections supervisors about possible threats.

“The federal government has resources to help, and only by working together can we thwart Russia’s continued efforts to interfere in our democracy and undermine our elections,” Mr. Burr wrote. “That is also the message of the letter sent by Senators Rubio and Nelson, and I support their effort.”

But the senators’ letter to elections supervisors did not detail the sort of breach suggested this week by Mr. Nelson. In a statement on Friday, Mr. Rubio, a Republican member of the intelligence committee, did not confirm nor deny Mr. Nelson’s claims.

“Given the importance of Florida in our national politics, our state’s election systems have been and will remain a potentially attractive target for attacks by foreign actors,” said Mr. Rubio, who for months has warned of attempts at election interference.

A hint of corroboration came late Friday from Sen. Mark Warner, the intelligence committee’s ranking Democrat. “Sens. Nelson and Rubio are right to warn their state’s election officials about this very serious and ongoing threat to our democracy,” he said in a statement. “This is not about politics. I urge officials at all levels of government to heed the warning and work with D.H.S. and the F.B.I. to address the threat.”

Mr. Nelson did not appear to hold any campaign events or give any interviews to the news media on Friday, as the controversy over his comments continued for a third day. In a statement, he said he and Senate colleagues “are trying to make sure Florida officials are aware of the ongoing Russian threat so they take the steps necessary to safeguard our elections.”

“It’s unfortunate that some Florida officials would try to use this issue for personal, political gain,” he said.