Rubio, Nelson urge Florida election officials to seek help against 'hostile foreign governments'

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on Monday encouraged Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner and county elections supervisors to use federal Department of Homeland Security resources to protect equipment from “hostile foreign government” interference.

In a joint letter to officials across Florida, Rubio and Nelson said “county election boards should not be expected to stand alone” against foreign governments that try to interfere in elections.

“DHS (The Department of Homeland Security) will follow your lead and meet your needs with a tailored set of options,” Rubio and Nelson wrote. “We encourage you in the strongest terms to take advantage of those resources, and to let us know about your experience with DHS and FBI.”

The letter noted that “Russian government actors” targeted Florida in the 2016 election and that in findings by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, “Russia was preparing to undermine confidence in our voting process and that, in a small number of cases, cyber actors affiliated with the Russian government accessed voter registration databases.”