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Friday, May 24, 2019

Bloggytown

Florida Reps. Stephanie Murphy, Michael Waltz will file bill to require official public notice of election hacking

Posted By Xander Peters on Fri, May 24, 2019 at 1:07 PM

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PHOTO VIA ORANGE COUNTY SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS OFFICE

Photo via Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office

U.S. Reps. Stephanie Murphy and Michael Waltz announced Thursday they will file a bill that would require federal officials to give notice to Congress and state and local officials when our elections have been tampered with.

The Achieving Lasting Electoral Reforms on Transparency and Security Act – or the ALERTS Act – is the Florida congressional delegation's clap-back response to their ongoing feud with the FBI after the agency provided a classified briefing on the matter last week. Following the meeting, the congressional members, who demanded that the FBI release the names of the counties to the public, were made to sign a non-disclosure agreement barring them from revealing the counties that were hacked in 2016.

Gov. Ron DeSantis was also forced to sign an NDA after a separate meeting with the FBI last week. The FBI cited protocol as their reasoning.

The legislation, if approved, would require federal officials "to promptly alert the appropriate state and local officials and members of Congress if they have credible evidence of unauthorized intrusion into an election system" and reason to believe it could damage voter information.

The Washington Post previously reported Washington County in the Florida Panhandle as one of the hacked counties in 2016.

"It is unacceptable that the Russians know which systems were hacked and not the Americans affected," says Murphy, D-Winter Park, in a statement. "When federal officials determine unauthorized users gain access to an elections system, local officials and the public have a right to know so they can respond."

Waltz, R-Boynton Beach, notes that it's been a week since the FBI briefing, yet the names of the hacked counties still haven't been released publicly.

"The FBI's notification protocol is inadequate and unacceptable," Waltz says. "If we are going to have any success securing our elections, we need to know immediately whether or not an elections system has been compromised – and more importantly, the voters need to know too."

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Tags: Stephanie Murphy, Michael Waltz, FBI, election hacking, Russian interference, Image

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