The top headline from the Mueller probe last week – that 12 Russian intelligence officers allegedly did their devilish best to mess with America’s election process – should be worrisome to everyone.
We should be upset about charges tied to alleged theft and manipulation of Democratic National Committee emails intended to sway the election’s outcome. But, honestly, that’s been yakked about for months and now years. The new information is the names, and job titles, of the alleged perpetrators.
It’s the secondary headline that has me reaching for a sleep aid. The one accusing Russians of breaking into state election systems, although thankfully not succeeding – yet – in changing any votes.
A conversation with Jefferson County Clerk Randy Holman made me feel better – and worse.
Better, because our county is already doing the things that election security experts recommend to safeguard voting.
We use paper ballots here, we don’t use the internet to send votes or tabulate results, we have up-to-date scanning equipment (purchased in January) to count the votes, we have a bipartisan verification process after every election, and we have a paper trail to back everything up.
If anyone ever wanted to challenge the results of an election in Jefferson County, the ballots are stored for 22 months, per state law. Every vote can be hand-counted, if necessary.
So, good on us. We’re being smart here.The “worse” part, however, is outside Holman’s control, and it’s got him concerned.
The Missouri Secretary of State’s Office keeps all residents’ voter registration information – including our county’s – in one large database. Election officials statewide can check whether any voter is registered in more than one county, and that’s good. But it also leaves the state vulnerable to potential hacking.
“The state of Missouri goes to great lengths to make sure its site is secure,” Holman said. And he noted that the Secretary of State’s Office is already scheduling seminars on safe elections after the Aug. 7 primary is in the books.
But he cautions Missouri to be vigilant. “You can’t rest on your laurels, but should always be on the defense,” Holman said.
If some entity – Russian or otherwise – managed to break into Missouri’s data, identities could be stolen (bad) and elections could be corrupted (horrible).
Last week’s indictment noted voter databases in Iowa, Georgia and Florida were scanned for vulnerabilities. Another, as yet unnamed state, actually suffered a breach, in which the indictment alleges names, addresses, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers of about 500,000 registered voters were raided.
The state to the east of us is sure it is the unnamed victim. Illinois announced two years ago that a cyberattack of its voter data had occurred, but the identity of the perpetrator(s) was unknown. Leaders in the Land of Lincoln are now pointing straight at Russia.
Partisan claptrap started immediately on the heels of the indictments. Some Democrats complained that the tampering helped Trump win the 2016 presidential election, and many called for him to cancel his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Republicans crowed about the lack of charges against any Americans, and questioned why Obama had let this happen.
Trump himself put that notion out there. Up until now, the thing he appeared most worried about regarding 2016 balloting was Hillary Clinton’s popular vote win, which he said was attained with 3 million supposedly illegal votes.
Putin told him he didn’t meddle, Trump said with a shrug. He didn’t know what to think.
Now, it’s more clear to him. Something bad happened, but it’s Obama’s fault.
Maybe there are valid talking points from both Republicans and Democrats on how the 2016 election went down (sorry, not the one about the phantom illegal votes), but that’s not what I want to hear right now.
I want our leaders – no matter their party affiliation – to tell us what they’re doing, right now, to keep every American’s vote safe and countable.
Earlier this month, U.S. House Democrats released a report saying 18 states lack imperative voter safeguards and asked Congress to spend $1.4 billion in funding for election security. No Republicans signed on to the recommendation.
I’ve been voting in Jefferson County for a long time.
Before 2005, we used punch cards. I really enjoyed pushing the stylus through my rectangles of choice, although I worried I’d get giddy and mistakenly punch the wrong hole. And after George W. Bush’s first election in 2000, I had “hanging chads” on my mind.
I didn’t like the next stage – the 13 years or so we used blobby felt pens to fill in ovals on paper ballots. Staying inside the lines was hard, and if the pen was old, smudging was a concern.
The county’s new election tabulation equipment allows us to use simple ink pens. I handled the one in my booth expertly in April, the first time the new hardware and software was rolled out during a large-scale election.
What’ll they think of next?
I’ve got a suggestion. Actually, make that a plea. Let’s all join hands, hearts and brains to protect our democracy from attack. For that effort, we need patriots, not partisans.
And note to Trump: If we’re going to blame Obama for last time, guess who’ll get the blame if it happens again?
