Russian hackers have “penetrated” the election systems of certain counties in Florida, and “now have free rein to move about,” Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., told the Tampa Bay Times Wednesday.
“They have already penetrated certain counties in the state and they now have free rein to move about. We were requested by the chairman and vice chairman of Intelligence Committee to let supervisors of election in Florida know that the Russians are in their records. This is no fooling,” Nelson told the Times.
Russian hackers have already attacked several 2018 campaigns, including Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats in mid-July said the situation was at a “critical point.”
"The warning signs are there. The system is blinking. It is why I believe we are at a critical point," Coats said at the time.
"Today, the digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack," he said.
Nelson wrote a letter to the 67 county election supervisors on July 2 about potential threats, but didn’t go into detail about the hacking. The senator told the Times that hackers could potentially delete people from voter rolls.
“You can imagine the chaos that would occur on election day when the voters get to the polls and they say, ‘I’m sorry Mr. Smith, I’m sorry Mr. Jones, you’re not registered’. That’s exactly what the Russians want to do. They want to sow chaos in our democratic institutions,” Nelson said.
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