WASHINGTON \u2014 Will your vote be safe this year from foreign adversaries working to undermine U.S. democracy? Some of the nation\u2019s governors aren\u2019t so sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
State leaders of both parties worried aloud Sunday about the security of America\u2019s election systems against possible cyberattacks ahead of this fall\u2019s midterm elections, aware that Russian agents targeted more than 20 states little more a year ago, and the Trump administration has taken a mostly hands-off approach to the continued interference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. intelligence leaders report Russian hackers are already working to undermine this November\u2019s elections, which will decide the balance of power in Congress and in statehouses across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn my lifetime, I\u2019ve never seen anything like this. It\u2019s scary,\u201d Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, said. \u201cThe biggest concern is when you have a president and an administration that denies the problem and doesn\u2019t acknowledge the existence of the problem, it\u2019s hard to believe that they\u2019re going to be offering any real solutions or funding to make our system more secure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Election security has been overshadowed by a near-constant string of chaos and controversy out of the White House over the last year. As most of the nation\u2019s governors gathered in Washington for a weekend conference, issues like gun violence, Trump\u2019s leadership and the economy dominated most hallway conversations. Yet non-partisan experts and both Democratic and Republican elected officials suggest there is no issue more critical to American democracy than the integrity of the nation\u2019s elections, which are facing unprecedented cyberattacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Trump administration has so far done little to help secure the mishmash of 10,000 local voting jurisdictions across the nation that mostly run on obsolete and imperfectly secured technology. Russian agents targeted election systems in 21 states ahead of the 2016 general election, the Department of Homeland Security says, and separately launched a social media blitz aimed at inflaming social tensions and sowing confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The search for a solution has been shaped by partisan politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Democratic governors lashed out at the Trump administration for ignoring the threat, some Republicans, such as Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin insisted the media are overstating the problem. Several other Republicans, however, were openly concerned about outside interference but declined to criticize the Trump administration\u2019s inaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s obviously nothing more important than protecting the mechanism of democracy, and they\u2019ve shown that they can at least meddle if not directly influence,\u201d Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, who leads the Republican Governors Association, said of Russian hackers. \u201cWe\u2019re paying attention to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier in the month, senior officials from the Department of Homeland Security participated in a series of \u201ccoordination meetings\u201d with state and local election officials and private companies to discuss cybersecurity for the nation\u2019s election infrastructure, the White House said last week. A Trump spokesman, however, declined to respond to the governors\u2019 concerns when asked to comment Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump rarely mentions the Russian threat. The president has instead repeatedly condemned special counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s probe into Russian election meddling as \u201ca witch hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mueller\u2019s team has charged 13 Russian individuals and three Russian companies in a plot to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI do think hackers are a threat for the nation,\u201d said Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a lot of foreign influence trying to break into our election cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Fallin, like several governors, downplayed the threat in her state. She noted that Oklahoma participated in the recent meetings with the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, an independent, said his state, which allows some voters to return ballots electronically, recently earned the top grade for election security \u2014 a B \u2014 in a national report released by the Center for American Progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re No. 1 in the nation and we\u2019re closest to Russia,\u201d he said. \u201cOur elections are in good shape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Few governors could detail what specific steps are being taken to strengthen election security when asked. Democrats in particular suggested that the Trump administration has done almost nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of the most, if not the most, immediate threats,\u201d said Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. \u201cSo now we\u2019ve been able to prove that Russia hacked. What\u2019s our response? Does our country have a response?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee, another Democrat, likened Russia\u2019s cyberattacks to Japan\u2019s Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause of some infatuation with Vladimir Putin, the president of the United States refuses to recognize that we\u2019re under attack. It\u2019s like December 8, 1941, and Franklin Roosevelt getting up there and saying, \u2018yesterday nothing happened.\u2019\u201d Inslee said. \u201cThat\u2019s the situation we have right now, and it\u2019s disturbing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AP writer Ken Thomas contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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