Letter to Gertrude Walker, Election Supervisor - Mast Calls For Increased Transparency, Security Following CNN Report On St. Lucie County Election Security

Letter

To Supervisor of Elections Gertrude Walker:

I am writing in response to a report published today by CNN that the St. Lucie County election registration system was infected by malware in 2016. Election security is a major concern, so I am requesting a briefing from you on procedures you have implemented to ensure St. Lucie County's election database is not vulnerable to future attacks.

As you likely know, Governor DeSantis has previously stated publicly that Russian-based intrusions occurred in two Florida counties, in addition to others in Illinois and Arizona, during the 2016 election. At the time, the FBI stated, "The FBI provided information involving the attempted intrusion into Supervisor of Elections networks throughout the state. The FBI also provided assurance that investigators did not detect any adversary activity that impacted vote counts or disrupted electoral processes during the 2016 or 2018 elections." Fortunately, Governor DeSantis has publicly confirmed no votes were altered and the reporting by CNN today suggested there was no evidence that the malware had been activated.

Despite these assurances, voters should not need to be in the position they are in now, speculating based on unconfirmed news reports. That's why, after receiving a classified briefing on this subject last year, I urged that the names of the counties be made public and worked with my Florida Congressional colleagues on legislation to require potentially affected voters be notified when federal agencies identify an election system breach. In the wake of this CNN news report, I am renewing that call for increased transparency today.

To that end, while I still cannot discuss information from the classified briefing, Congress has passed hundreds of millions of dollars in increased funding for state-level grants to implement election-security upgrades, so as I mentioned in the beginning of this letter, I am writing to request a briefing from you on procedures you have implemented to ensure St. Lucie County's election database is not vulnerable to future attacks. I look forward to promptly arranging this meeting.

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