Secretary of the state ready for ’20 election threat

WASHINGTON — Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said she is confident in the state’s ability to withstand electionsystem intrusion in 2020 but is nevertheless looking for an infusion of federal cash to modernize aging software at the state level.

“Elections have been designated critical infrastructure, and you have to think of it like a power grid or a dam system,” she said at the U.S. Capitol. “This is critically important, and the federal government must provide the funds to help keep us up to date.”

Merrill, a former General Assembly majority leader who is in her third term as secretary of the state, met Tuesday with the Connecticut congressional delegation for a discussion on shoring up the state’s election system against possible intrusion.

The meeting took place against increased warnings that Russia and perhaps other nations are mounting an effort to intrude into the 2020 elections at level that exceeds 2016. The Department of Homeland Security identified 21 states as targets in 2016, including Connecticut.

Authorities were able to link one attempted intrusion in Connecticut to a Russian IP address. The effort to enter the state’s voter registry was not successful.

But Connecticut lawmakers insist they are taking nothing for granted.

“We are preparing for the onslaught that is expected in 2020,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal after the meeting with Merrill. “The last election was just a dress rehearsal for the Russians’ concentrated massive attack that our intelligence says is coming.”

The Democraticcontrolled House has earmarked $600 million to shore up election defenses. After much delay, Senate

Majority Mitch McConnell, RKy., put forth a $250 million proposal.

Blumenthal said the $250 million was insufficient, and that even $600 million was little more than “a down payment.”

“We spend $3 billion on an aircraft carrier, yet we’re spending less than a billion on the integrity of our democracy,” he said.

The state maintains the Connecticut Voter Registry but elections are administered at the local level by

each of its 169 municipalities. The state grid they feed into uses 2003vintage software that is adequate but in need of updating, Merrill said. The towns may be using hardware that is even older, she added.

“We’re going to have to replace it at some point,” she said. “It’s functioning but it could be a lot better and more secure with new technology.”

Connecticut pioneered the use of scannable paper ballots and audits to back up computerized vote tabulations. But even though an audit showed 99 percent reliability, new equipment in the next three to five years is a necessity, she said.