CT bolsters security ahead of November elections

<p>State leaders say Connecticut's election systems are safe against cyberattacks and are only getting stronger.</p>

News 12 Staff

Sep 24, 2018, 8:07 PM

Updated 2,040 days ago

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State leaders say Connecticut's election systems are safe against cyberattacks and are only getting stronger.
The state is investing $5 million for more upgrades following the 2016 elections.
Secretary of the State Denise Merrill says those upgrades include new optical scanners, new password security at local election offices and more in-person monitors at the polls. She says the threat is constant, though.
"Nothing will do more to depress voter turnout, despite all our best efforts, than sowing doubt in an already cynical public," Merrill says.
Federal officials say computers try to infiltrate Connecticut's voter rolls more than 1 million times a day.
While voter rolls are always vulnerable, a person's actual vote is not. The machines that count votes are not connected to the internet. Instead, they print out the results at each precinct.
Still, Merrill says just creating confusion could be a hacker's goal.
"They just have to create doubt in the integrity of our elections," she says.
Election Day is on Nov. 6.


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