Senate panel: Poll hacking damage unclear

The key Senate committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election said it still doesn’t have a firm grasp on the extent of the hacking, even with the November congressional midterms less than six months away.

But the Intelligence Committee reaffirmed one conclusion previously provided by Department of Homeland Security officials: at least 21 states were targeted by Russian operatives. US intelligence officials have warned that Russia could try to meddle in this year’s midterms.

The committee chairman, Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, stressed the urgency of acting on the committee’s recommendations as primary voters in some states went to the polls on Tuesday.

In the report, the committee said it had “limited information about whether, and to what extent, state and local officials carried out forensic or other examination of election infrastructure systems in order to confirm whether election-related systems were compromised. It is possible that additional activity occurred and has not yet been uncovered.”

The report, which describes the electoral process as the most fundamental element of a democracy, is part of a series of congressional and intelligence community investigations of how Russia sought to influence the presidential election.

“Today’s primaries are the next step toward the 2018 midterms and another reminder of the urgency of securing our election systems,” Burr said.