Critics say vote fraud panel could create target for hackers
Published 8:51 am Thursday, August 10, 2017
CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) — Officials from both major political parties had a consistent answer last year when asked about the security of voting systems: U.S. elections are so decentralized that it would be impossible for hackers to manipulate ballot counts or voter rolls on a wide scale.
But the voter fraud commission established by President Donald Trump could take away that one bit of security.
The commission has requested information on voters from every state and recently won a federal court challenge to push ahead with the collection, keeping it in one place.
By compiling a national list of registered voters, the federal government could provide one-stop shopping for hackers and hostile foreign governments seeking to wreak havoc with elections, critics say.
“Coordinating a national voter registration system located in the White House is akin to handing a zip drive to Russia,” said Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, a Democrat who has refused to send data to the commission.