A July newsletter sent from Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton says that Russians tried to influence Montana’s election in 2016.
Stapleton provided no details, but said that Montana was among the states that “were scanned for weaknesses in our elections systems.”
Stapleton said in the newsletter: "Additionally, almost half the states (including Montana) were scanned for weaknesses in our elections systems. While no votes were changed by the Russians in our 2016 election cycle, there was a clear and significant threat to our nation’s ability to conduct fair elections."
Stapleton says his office is working with state and federal agencies to improve the state’s election security.
Some of the security improvements mentioned include two-factor authentication for all Montana counties, new IT systems, and improved signature verification for mail ballots.
Despite these improvements, Stapleton expressed concerns about the federal government’s growing involvement in local elections, continued security of mail ballots, and digital election platforms, as well as consistency in personnel and training at all 56 county election offices around the state.
Stapleton ended by stating: "We have to be continuously vigilant as a group, in order to be best-prepared for a cyber event against our election system. It’s not going to be easy and it’s not going to be cheap. But, as I’ve said before, we are not here to run the cheapest elections—we’re here to run the best elections! And that’s what we’re going to do."
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