Maryland legislators learned last week the state’s electronic balloting system may need better security measures to protect voters’ information and that the lawmakers must be the ones to add those protections. The state’s electoral board told lawmakers Sept. 6 that they are powerless to make those changes, and that any security changes must come directly from the legislative body. Last year, the state’s Board of Elections voted 4-1 to certify a new system for online ballots, even though experts in cybersecurity and computer science publicly objected. While nearly all states have a system in place for signature verification, the General Assembly did not vote last year on the topic so there was no verification system in place, leaving Maryland as the only state in the nation without one, according to a report last year by Capital News Service.
… State Sen. Steve Waugh, R-Calvert and St. Mary’s, says he believes there is no need for Maryland voters to worry that their ballots were modified last fall.
“(The Russians) want to destabilize America by delegitimizing our government,” Waugh said. “I firmly believe though that Russian interference had zero to do with ballot outcomes anywhere in the state or the nation for that matter.”
Linda Lamone, administrator at the Maryland State Board of Elections, said at the hearing that there has been no evidence found of election interference in the state, but that extra security precautions would be good. No new security measures are imminent, but Waugh and his peers are committed to finding a bipartisan solution that won’t cost the state too many tax dollars, he said.
Full Article: Maryland election security in doubt after hearing.